"Oh nononononononono…" Tino was whispering, clutching the tarp to his chest like a lifeline as something bumped into the boat again. "We're going to diiiie."

"No- I won't let you die." Matthias said, shifting his weight in the boat just a bit so that he was closer to Emil. He tore what little shreds of his shirt were left and tied them around Emil's hand to stop the bleeding. Emil was still frozen as a mannequin. "It's not gonna happen, I won't let it."

"Why didn't your blood draw the sharks?"

"I made sure to be careful and not let it fall in the water. It was fine up until then." Matthias explained. "They don't typically care for infected blood either, I don't think."

"What do we do?" Berwald asked as calmly as he could.

"Stay calm. Don't move too much, or it'll attract more of them. Don't let any more blood fall in there, or there'll be more." Matthias sighed. "Try staying away from the sides and make sure none of our water rations fall over the sides either."

"Okay, anything else?" Lukas mumbled, still in denial of the scream that had just split from his lips. He refused to admit to the strange sound that had passed from him.

"Not really. Just do as I say-" Matthias felt his heart freeze up for the fourth or fifth time that night as another bump came from beneath the boat, but to his worse fear, the bump came from right under him, hitting his leg. He grimaced as pain shot through his whole leg from the wound in his thigh.

"Matthias…" Lukas muttered, noticing the pain that was nothing but visible on the swimmer's face. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I told you- we'll all be fine. And then I'll make you watch the Lego movie and we'll be friends… I hope anyway." 'Don't panic. We've been out here for a week now, and sure, we're starving now, I can't swim very well now, and I'm down to our last bottle of water, we can make it. Maybe we can learn to fish… as soon as these sharks- if they're sharks- leave. We could use string or something from our shoes or maybe… gah. What can I do to get us out of here?' Matthias held his head between his hands as he tried to think of a way out.

"I wonder if Sharks like chocolate…" Tino mumbled.

"We ate that yesterday." Lukas reminded him, along with the loud growl of his stomach. Another bump came from under the boat, right in the center this time.

"Well… darn." He sighed. "What do we do if we get attacked by the sharks?"

"If they even get close to you, hit them in their gills. That's their weak point." Matthias mumbled the information without opening his eyes. "And whether they like infection in their prey or not, I think I'll be the first one they go after." He sighed. He looked at Berwald. "Is your head still bleeding from the first night?"

"No." he answered simply.

"Good. Any injuries I didn't know about before? Any of you?" All of them shook their heads. "Good good…." Another bump to the bottom of the boat.

"We don't have any food… and we probably smell like a well cooked meal after all the sitting we did in the sun." Lukas groaned, shifting his weight again, trying his best not to move the boat too much.

"Eep!" Tino felt a bump hit his arm. "I wanna go hooome…"

"And you will. Just don't try to do anything stupid." Matthias said sternly. "I've been trained for this and I will get you through it. Promise."

Silence fell over the group as the bumps to the bottom of the boat became more and more frequent. They huddled together and tried to calm themselves down. Matthias would occasionally say something to try and reassure them, like 'we'll make it' and 'They'll leave soon.'

"Please… go away. Go away, go away…" Tino began to repeat the mantra is if it were a song. A lifeline even. And it didn't even make them feel worse, because they were positive that they couldn't ever be more scared.

Suddenly the mantra was interrupted as a strange sound started to erupt from Matthias' jacket. All heads whipped to it as he dove for the discarded clothing. He ripped the now rattling radio out of the front pocket and started turning the dial over, trying to track the signal.

"Please work, please work, please, please…." Matthias held the radio close to his face. "Please."

"kkkk… nyone?...kkkkkkkk… this is the US coas-kkkkk"

"Ohmighosh-" Matthias pressed the button on the side of the head piece and spoke. "THIS IS SCANDINAVIA… COME ON IT'S ME! MATTHIAS!"

"kkkkkkkkkkkk… dinavia? Did you hear that Herc…kkkkkkkkk… I think we found…..kkkkkkk"

"Heracles? Is that you? Who-?"

"Kkkkkkk… We found Alfred, Kiku, Antonio and Francis. They're alive. Where are you?!" Matthias was near tears of joy at this point. He was never so happy to hear the almost sleepy tone of Heracles Karpusi at any time in his life.

"Holy Thor- really? I thought for sure they had died!" Matthias cried. The man ran his hand through his blonde hair in excitement, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks. "Listen, I've got four more guys here, we're all fine, but we're surrounded by sharks!"

"Only you would end up surrounded by sharks. We're tracking your signal right now, we should be there soon." The voices were a whole lot clearer now.

"Thank Moomin." Tino said as he heard the voice. "We're going home!"

"Yeah!" Matthias said with a small fist pump, then cringing in pain. "I told you we could make it!"

"We never doubted you." Lukas sighed, leaning back against the boat side.

"Yes you did. You told me you did." Matthias pouted. Everyone looked at him with small hints of pouts. "Oh don't look at me like tha-LOOK OUT LUKAS!" The swimmer suddenly screamed. Lukas turned his sore and tired body around just in time to be shoved aside by Matthias, and see the great white clamp his teeth around his shoulder.

In his place.

"MATTHIAS MATTHIAS OMIGOSH" Tino screamed as Emil jumped aside and away from the shark. Matthias shouted and screamed in pain, trying to hit the shark in the gills, but he was unable to reach when his arm was at such an odd angle. He felt his breath leaving him as he stared the huge fish right in his beady, black eye.

Then, to make matters a significant amount of worse, another shark jumped up from nowhere, snapping at Matthias' arm. He ripped it free, leaving terrible lacerations, tearing the muscle almost to the bone, rendering it useless. The shark sunk back into the water, beat back by the thrashes of the first beast.

Berwald raised his fist above his head. Swinging it forward, he bashed the side of the shark's skull, repeatedly. The sandpapery, sharp layers of skin on the shark made his hand bleed instantly, but he didn't stop. Matthias still bellowed in pain as he still kicked and bashed at the assailing fish. Lukas leaped up to his feet, cringing at the tilt of the boat as he did and began slamming his fists into the side of the Shark's head. Its teeth dug and tore at the RS's shoulder, and the Dane could feel it's teeth scraping against his collar bone and shoulder blade. Emil leaped up as well, holding onto the swimmer's ankles to keep the shark from dragging him underwater. He roared again as the shark lost its grip, and fell into the water again from the assailing on the slits in his neck to each side in combined efforts of the boat's occupants.

Matthias fell, gasping for air and writhing at the bottom of the boat. Tino and Lukas both crawled over to him, while Berwald was panting, holding the bag to his chest for dear life.

"Matthias, ohmigosh…Stay awake, okay? You've got to stay awake!" Tino grabbed a jacket- he wasn't quite sure whose- and pressed it on Matthias' shoulder, trying to stem the flow of blood. Lukas did the same, pressing the blue hoodie to the man's upper chest.

"E-Emil… get… the radio…" Matthias said through gritted teeth. "Call… in… See if you can…" Emil nodded. He scrambled to pick up the small headpiece, and clicked the button on the side. Lukas was staring at Matthias right in the face, an unreadable expression on his face.

"You saved me." He whispered, still registering what had happened. "That was supposed to be me."

"Uh… this is Matthias' group. We just… got attacked, are you there?" He asked, trying to swallow the terrified squeaks that kept bubbling up in his throat. "Hello? Matthias is down?" He was only responded to by the horrible "kkkkkkkkkkk" of the radio.

"I should be dead…" Lukas said, eyes wide, still staring at Matthias with unblinking horror.

"Shh… it's fine… we'll talk about it…. Later." Matthias groaned. "Over coffee or somethin'-?"

"Hello? Hello! Is anyone there?! Come on, please…. Is there anyone there?!" Emil screeched into the radio in a horribly out of character panic as Matthias, their rescuer, lay at the bottom of a floatation boat, bleeding and writhing in pain. His flesh matted and torn…

"COME IN. IS ANYONE THERE WHERE ARE YOU?" He screamed into the radio, still only answered by crackling silence. "DEAR THOR WOULD YOU ANSWER?!"

Only the crackling silence, and the roar of the water as sharks circled them.

"We- lost the signal? We, we're alone?!" Tino asked, looking up from his work. "Where did they go?! No!"

"G-give it." Matthias held his trembling hand out. "L-let… me…" He hissed through his teeth.

Emil handed it to him, gingerly closing the man's bloodied hands around the radio and pushed the button for him.

"This is Matthias." The man tried to speak clearly. "Scandinavia to Hercules. Where are you?"

"kkkkkkkkk…" The hope almost drained from Matthias and the four fishing victims as they waited. The crackle of the radio sapped the energy right from them, hope slipping away with each moment.

A ringing erupted from Matthias's pack. Strange lyrics exploded from the bag, declaring the least expected thing of all.

"EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU'RE PART OF A TEAM!" Berwald practically dove for the phone that had been almost completely forgotten about.

"How is this working, it got wet didn't it?" Lukas asked, taking a small amount of pressure off of Matthias' wounds in his curiosity. He took the phone from the larger blonde and Matthias took it shakily from him. "Let me open it." Matthias just nodded. Emil took over applying pressure to the wounds.

"You think I don't have a waterproof phone?" He chuckled weakly, another terrifying bump hitting the bottom of the boat. "I'm a rescue swimmer." He watched as Lukas slid up the lock screen and looked at the call number.

"Dear God, It's Peter." He whispered, seeing the picture of Matthias with the small blonde boy both smiling in front of a tiny Christmas tree. "I can't answer, what'll he think if someone else answers his dad's phone?" That wasn't why Lukas didn't want to talk, and they all knew it.

"He knows what to do… answer it." Matthias whispered. Lukas just nodded, but handed the phone to Berwald.

Berwald hit answer just before it was about to hang. He put the phone to his ear.

"H-h'llo?"

"Signals back! I can't hear them, but it's back!" Lovino Vargas shouted over the shouts and scurries of the people in the broadcast room. "I got the coordinates!"

"HQ to Zeus! Are you there?! Are you okay?!" There was no reply. "Sh-"

"Language Lovi. We're right here." Antonio's weak voice came over the com. "We're heading to the coordinates be- what?"

"We lost the coordinates. They're gone, along with the signal. There's a storm coming in too, we're losing it." Heracles said. "There's nothing left."

"Merda!" Lovino cursed, slamming his hand down on the desk. "Where did they go?!"

"Daddy? Berwald? Where's Matthias?" A small voice asked from behind him. He turned sharply, looking to find Matthew and Peter sitting where Gilbert had left them to wait. Peter had a cellular phone pressed to his ear. "Where is my Daddy Mister Berwald?"

"Peter, did you get a hold of your dad?"

"Yeah! My phone made it through!" He said with a panicked happiness. "I don't know how, but my Dad's phone connected!"

"They must be somewhere near a phone tower!" Lovino jumped down from his small desk area. He leaped over multiple desks and found himself crouching next to the boy. "Keep talking. Keep that conversation going, if you have to stand on Matt's shoulders to keep that signal, do it." He stood and turned. "Track that signal! Use every phone service tower to reach him and track that tower down!" Lovino shouted at the room's occupants. Everyone shouted a yes sir and started their work right away.

"Mister Berwald, is my Daddy okay? Can I please talk to him?"

"He wants to talk to you Matthias."

"Kay… hold the phone… to my ear." He told the giant man. He nodded and handed it out to Lukas, who, with shaky hands, held it next to his ear. "Hey… buddy. How's it goin?"

"Daddy!" Peter's relieved wail sounded like bells of hallelujah in Matthias' ear. "You're okay! I knew you'd be okay!"

"Yeah, yeah I'm… okay." Matthias said with a weak smile. "Ho- How are you Peter?"

"You sound bad, Daddy." Peter said softly. The signal was terrible, but Matthias willed it with all of his might for it to stay. "Really bad. Are you hurt?"

"Well yeah... You will not believe all of the crap… your Dad's… been through in the past… week." Matthias groaned, sucking in a breath to try and ease his pain to talk. Emil reached out and took his hand, squeezing it. For some reason… that helped. "Is Uncle Matt takin' good care of ya?"

"Yeah- he is." Peter said happily, tears choking his voice. "He is, real good, daddy."

"Alright, what about everyone else? Did anyone else get found?" He already knew… but he needed to keep hearing that voice… that precious voice.

"Yeah daddy! Alfred's here, he's in the Hospital and Kiku too! Kiku is all better already, he was only unconscious when they found him. He has a couple bad burns and a… a co-concoction!" Peter struggled to find the word. Matthias felt tears of hope falling down his cheeks and the pain was lifting slightly from his body. That wasn't good. He needed to get it together or he would die.

"Concussion you mean?" He asked, chuckling slightly. "He's got a concussion? That's it?" Matthias heard his phone give a beep. That horrible beep that meant it was dying. No! He had to keep talking…

"Yeah! Uncle Alfred protected him when the Helicopter crashed." Peter explained. "That's what Kiku told them. That's why he's way more hurt than him."

"Haha, I'm sure he did." He felt another bump from the bottom of the boat. Oh dear Nordic God's that hurt… There were more beeps.

"Is Mister Berwald the one you saved?" Peter asked. Matthias nodded, as if the boy would hear that.

"Y-yeah… Oh ouch… hey Lukas, could you put him on speaker?" Lukas nodded and took the phone and pressed the buttons (with much struggle) and then sat it on Matthias' good shoulder. "Can you hear me buddy?"

"Yeah Daddy, I can hear you, but you sound like you're in a tunnel or something." The boy admitted. Matthias decided that didn't matter so much. The phone beeped again.

"I got it! We got the coordinates! I'm sending them right now!" A voice echoed in the background of the call. Matthias distantly recognized the voice, but didn't strain his thought about it. "We found you on the map Daddy, they're sending help!" Peter said, choking past tears. Matthias instantly wanted to hold the child. But he felt his consciousness slipping.

"Alright, good job buddy. Thank you." He said slowly, trying to get the words past his thick tongue. "Now do Daddy a favor, okay?"

"What is it daddy? Tell me!"

"Be there when Daddy wakes… up." His eyes drooped.

"Matthias!" All four occupants cried, surrounding him. They tried to wake him up, slaps to his cheeks and shaking his arm. Nothing came of it.

"I'll be there daddy! I pro-!" The call dropped, and the phone died.

"I hear the Helicopter!" Emil cried, pointing in the direction it was coming. "I hear it!"

"We're getting out!"

"I see a life boat, just due east. Ivan, Ludwig, Gil, you're up!" Sadiq's voice said over the com. The three swimmers nodded, pulling on their gear and helmets. They made sure the coms worked, then nodded to each other and went to the door, awaiting the signal. He felt the FM tap his chest once, and leaned out.

"Set, go. We're on site." Heracles voice said.

The three were hovering on the cables, waiting for them to lower them to the water and hopefully, right into the lifeboat below. The bright orange boat was floating not a meter off from right below them,

"Holy Loki they're here!" One of the passengers were calling. Gilbert was slightly surprised to see that Matthias was no where to be seen. Where was he? They told him that he was…

He saw a flash of silver faintly below the water.

"Sharks." He mumbled in confirmation. "Get us to the boat! Hercules, we're going to need a medical bed sent down directly to the boat." He said into his ear piece. "It's worse than we thought."

"Roger that." Heracles said back.

They dropped the last couple of feet, as trained. The three RS forced their way to the boat and grabbed the edge of it. Pulling themselves up all at once, they made sure to balance the boat so that it didn't tip.

Gilbert was instantly horrified at the sight that he beheld upon entry. The bottom of the boat was coated with a mixture of water and blood. An inch deep, he thought. Bumps that came from the bottom showed the insistence of the sharks beneath. He didn't know how many of them there were, but there were a lot.

Matthias was laying on the bottom of the boat, he found. His head was in the lap of a blonde, who looked about ready to pass out. Another blonde was applying pressure to the wounds on his upper body with what looked like a bunch of T-shirts and jackets, and the largest blonde was standing in the center, with a pack of supplies, ready to whack at any sharks that decided to pop up again.

"Matthias!" He shouted, making his way carefully over to the swimmer. "What happened?" He demanded, looking at the silver haired fellow that sat on the other end of the boat. "Ivan, get him to the middle, the Bed'll be here any second."

"He… he saved me." The blonde at the end where he held Matthias' head said. "He was attacked by two sharks, his arm and shoulder…"

"Got it." Ludwig nodded, helping move Matthias with gentle care. "We'll be heading back to HQ right away." He assured.

"Will he live?" The smallest blonde asked, his big, brown eyes glimmering with worry.

"If we hurry." Ivan said with a nod. He looked up just in time to see the medical bed hanging from the strong cables. He grasped it and directed it down to right next to Matthias.

"Two at a time. You," Gilbert pointed to the shell-shocked one that had been holding his friend's head and had a cross-shaped pin in his hair. "Get in with Matthias. He needs to keep his head and feet elevated." The man nodded and climbed in with the help of Ludwig, sitting on the end of the bed. Then Ivan and Gilbert worked to lift Matthias into the bed as well. He tapped the chords that held it up and signaled for the bed to be raised.

Raise it did. And then it was lowered again, until each and every member of the boat was inside the helicopter.

The four leaned against the side of the helicopter, watching as a frenzy was created in front of them and CPR was put into effect when no breathing was detected. Gilbert and Ludwig took turns practically pounding on Matthias' chest, getting blood all over their hands in the process, to get his heart going. Ivan, who had taken up holding his head, would breath twice into his mouth every 30 compressions.

Lukas and Emil were huddled closely, Emil trying to calm the elder's hyperventilating. Berwald was trying to see what was in front of him, his vision so blurry now that he couldn't hardly see at all. But even without being able to see, he could tell that Matthias was in horrible condition. Tino was also trying to calm Lukas, who was convinced that this was all his fault.

His world was falling apart. The man in front of him, as irritating and unnaturally cheerful as he was, had sacrificed himself to stop the attack on, he, Lukas. The breath in his chest refused to be fully released or inhaled for his panic that he had built up. He clutched Matthias' cell phone in his hands, having not let go since he had taken the phone off of the man's shoulder.

Suddenly, a watery, wet, gasp sounded from Matthias. His chest lifted slightly off of the ground from the force of the breath and the three other swimmers let out breaths of relief.

"Is it over?" Emil asked, a childish hope in his chest. Lukas looked down at the phone in his hand, grimacing. The dead screen only showed a blurred reflection of himself in its depths. But he remembered the picture of Matthias and that boy- Peter.

"No… it's far from over."

Woooot! ONly one more chapter guys! Drop by a review and tell me what you think!