Rue was gone before Ahiru was up that morning. Was Ahiru building a habit of sleeping in?
Fakir on the other hand, being awake around the same time was pretty confused hearing the phrase: "I'm going to see dad today" escape from his sister's lips. Are we sure he was the one awake?

"I just need to get something from there." Rue said flatly.
"What could you possibly want from that demented sadistic fossil?" He asked bitterly.
Rue stopped in the doorway with her back to her brother.
"I wanted to get one of mom's books." She said quietly. Fakir made no response. "Keep Ahiru company for me, okay?" Rue left the house before her brother could object.

Fakir sighed and tried to go about the rest of his day until Ahiru would wake up.


Ahiru finally stumbled out of her room around 10 am. Taking a quick scan around the house, she couldn't see anyone. Everything was really quiet… like, really really quiet.
The silence was quickly broken by the sound of a knock at the door. Before Ahiru could get a closer look at who was there, Fakir seemed to appear out of nowhere to answer the door. He cracked it open just enough to stick his head out. But before anything could be said, the door was forced open, causing Fakir to almost lose his balance.
In came Freya.

The moment the two girls made eye contact, Ahiru's stomach was in knots.
Freya's face momentarily curled to disgust, but quickly turned to a more polished welcome.
"How are you feeling?" She said in a somewhat exaggerated tone.
Ahiru took a deep breath, "I… I'm fine… Um… how are you?" She didn't even try to hide her discomfort.

Freya tossed her hair, "Great." She turned to Fakir, "I thought we could be alone for a bit." There was a different tone in her voice. She turned back to Ahiru with daggered eyes. Poor Ahiru was petrified.
"No- um…" Ahiru began, "I'll just… I'll just go sit at the beach…"

Fakir only looked at Ahiru. "Fine by me, I don't care what you do."
Man that was pretty rude.
Ahiru sighed, "Right… because you asked." Ahiru started walking towards the door. "And since we're friends, I'll respect your wishes." And she walked out the door.

Fakir watched as Ahiru walked away. A pang of guilt hit him from those last words she gave. Why did he say that to her? He knew Rue had called him out before, and he made peace with Ahiru about that. So where did that come from?
He turned back at Freya, than back to the door. Something felt very wrong about all this.
"Well…" Freya began, "Can we talk or not?"

Fakir looked back at Freya and sighed. He was probably going to regret this.


Ahiru sat at the edge of the beach where the sand and water met. She watched the waves longingly, wishing desperately for that part of herself she lost not too long ago to return. To be able to ride with the waves, to breathe in the salt water, to chase after sea life, watching the humans from the distance. Ahiru plucked the invisibility pearl from her necklace and rolled it between her fingers. She didn't really need this around Fakir, he already saw right through her.

Ahiru caught herself in mid-thought.

Why did she suddenly care about how Fakir saw her? They were friends, absolutely! But… things felt different around him. A strange feeling she wasn't quite familiar with though…
She clipped the pearl back onto her necklace. It shouldn't matter about this feeling. She would lose it eventually anyway. Plus it's not like she would stay here forever.

Getting lost deeper into her sad thoughts, Ahiru had not noticed someone joined her on the sands.
"What'cha thinking about?"
Ahiru went stiff. Was that…?

The moment Ahiru turned her head to her new companion, her heart almost jumped out of her chest.
"I… uh… I was just…" She couldn't find the words to say.
Fakir only gazed at her waiting for her to finish.
"It… it was nothing…" she finally said.

Fakir sighed, "Well, Ahiru. I just wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have treated you like that."
"It's fine." Ahiru said, trying to hold back the sadness she was recently drowning in.

Fakir leaned back and cocked his head to look at her, "Are you okay?"
Ahiru looked away. This whole situation at the moment felt really weird. "Don't worry about it."

Fakir took one hand and placed it over Ahiru's shoulder to turn her back towards him. "Come on, you can tell me."
Ahiru moved his hand away, "Why do you want to know so badly?"
"Because last I checked, we were friends. And friends help each other out when something is bothering them."

Ahiru let a small sigh escape at that line. "I was… I was missing someone is all."
Fakir nodded, "Can I ask who this 'someone' is?"
"She's gone… And I just miss her."
"Wait, is this someone you remember?" Fakir said, not shielding his excitement.

"No… She was gone after the storm…"

Fakir sat on that phrase for a moment. What did that mean? Fakir looked out to the waves to try and figure out what she was talking about. Let's see… someone she lost after the storm… oh wait!
"Does this mean you remember something about yourself?"
Ahiru looked at him carefully. She wanted to tell him the truth… but she felt some sort of presence that kept her from speaking.

"Something about the water. I don't know…" She said in a half-lie.
"Well that definitely explains how we found you on the beach then."
"Say Fakir…" Ahiru's voice seemed to shrink as she spoke to him, "what got you to like surfing so much?"

Fakir raised an eyebrow. That came out of nowhere. Did Rue tell her about all that? Probably, considering how much time the two spent together.
"Um… I'm not too sure. Maybe the stories my mom used to tell about mermaids…" Fakir began to scratch the back of his head, "Let's see… the fact Rue and I grew up doing swimming contests." He looked back at her, "Sorry, I guess I'm not good at answering this question."

"No, its fine. I was just curious…" Ahiru said shifting a bit in the sand. "Don't suppose you have any interesting stories from surfing do you?"
Fakir paused. Was there a good story he could tell her? He searched him memory for a moment he treasured that was good enough to tell… but only one came up. One that only had a pang of sorrow attached to it.
"I remember one." He said in a hollow voice. "There was this competition my sister and I entered. And… there was this girl-"
"Freya?" Ahiru interrupted.
Fakir shook off his misery for a just a second, "What, no. She was… her name was Giselle. And… She was a good friend to us." Fakir sighed heavily, "She was my first love…" his voice was practically a whisper. "We had been together for years, but she… she drowned almost a year ago." A nostalgic sorrow enveloped Fakir's heart. Ahiru could have sworn she saw him on the verge of crying.
Fakir ran a hand through his hair, "I haven't thought about her in months…" His voice was breaking.

Fakir was so lost in his depression that he hadn't noticed Ahiru threw her arms around his head.
"I'm really sorry to hear that… I shouldn't have asked."
Fakir tensed at Ahiru's touch for a moment, but quickly relaxed. Something about her holding him at this moment made him feel safe. "No, it's fine. I really needed to talk about her… maybe that's why I've been acting like a royal pain lately. Maybe… I'm not over her at all…"
"I know how you feel." She said stroking some of his hair, "Maybe when you're ready, you can tell me more about her?"

Fakir reached for Ahiru's arms and held on.
"Yeah…" He whispered, "I'd like that."

At the moment, Ahiru was willing to let the paranoid feeling she had before settle down. If she had paid more attention, she probably would have noticed the slim blond figure in the distance with glaring green eyes watching the whole scene with great malice.


A/N: Sorry about that! But I am back with a belated Christmas treat for you all! Let me know what your thoughts were about this chapter!

I want to Thank:

Ern Estine 13624 for reviewing (Sorry you had to wait so long! But I hope you liked this one!)
AnimeaMari for reviewing (Not this chapter but the next. So sit tight!)
mayuralover for reviewing (Fakir is on the road to finally getting his head on straight! And yes, next chapter we meet the terrible father!)
AdeliaAira for favoring and following
RainbowSaga for following
Princess Hephzi of Arendale for reviewing and following (Merry Christmas to you too! I'm really thrilled you like the story so far!)

And of course you, for reading this far with me!