For a few moments, Rin stared at the surface of the water to check that Haru was gone. Then he turned to Makoto.

'Do you understand what you've done?'

'I had to let Haru go!' Rin snapped. 'I couldn't just sit there and watch you torture him trying to perform an exorcism, when... whatever Haru needs that demon for, it probably has something to do with me! Haru said he'd found a way to get rid of the curse-'

'He said he'd found a way to get around it.' Makoto replied. 'You were there when I told Haru it can't be removed... weren't you listening? Honestly...'

'Will you kill me for letting Haru go?' Rin asked. 'O-or... will you remove your grace from my soul-'

'Actually, I'm not interest in either of those things,' Makoto replied. 'If Haru does neglect the ocean and the eco-system suffers for it, humans will be the ones charged with the effects; that will be your punishment. You may go.'

Uncomfortably, Rin turned away when Makoto called him back:

'Rin...'

He watched Makoto hold out an arm, examining the branches that had gnarled and twisted around it- admiring the white flowers imbedded within them.

'I-I don't... understand the beauty of flowers. I thought that when Haru became like this, he'd be the same, but... maybe not. Do you understand what I'm saying?'

'N-no,' Rin admitted.

'Of course not. Just remember that Haru isn't your mermaid princess from the fairy-tale.'

'H-how do you know about that?!'

'I'd like you to leave,' Makoto answered softly, closing his eyes and adapting a peaceful expression. Rin pulled on his lip in annoyance, letting it out with a suck sound before finally leaving.

Returning to the ship took Rin three times longer than his first journey, because he didn't have Haru to tell him where he was going-he was aggravated as he stumbled through the forest, muttering to himself as he pushed back his hair. He'd known from the night when he'd first looked upon Haru that he wasn't innocent, and their journey together had only further proved that; Haru had bitten a sailor's neck and severed the main artery because the man had tried to touch him, then attempted to drown an entire building because some of the inhabitants had almost tagged his ear. Rin knew that Haru wasn't some pure, naïve, little mermaid-Haru was thoughtful. Silent. But Rin wasn't stupid enough to mistake his silence for unintelligence.

Still... why had Makoto's words made Rin's blood feel as if it ran cold?

He was exhausted when he found the beach again, expecting Haru to be waiting in the water around the ship-he wasn't. Rin slept on the deck that night and waited but Haru still didn't come, so when he awoke in the morning he set sail alone. He had an idea where Haru might be, although it was nothing more than a suspicion.

Rin remained alone on the ship for almost a week, although his journey seemed to last forever. Every time the sun and moon finished chasing each other, they brought with them something different; one night, a storm came beating down on Rin's face and he grimaced throughout the cold, cramps settling into his body limb by limb at a time. Other nights were calm but unbearable, because Haru had said that he could feel and hear through each drop of water in the ocean which meant that he knew where Rin was, but wanted Rin to come to him. On the final night of his journey, the sighs of the wind pushed Rin's ship along as the tearful, pearl grey sky above him trembled with its last drops of rain. The ocean hadn't seemed so very big before, Rin thought, when he'd been traveling with Haru, but right now it was bigger than a galaxy, it was a universe, and even though Rin knew exactly where he was going he felt lost, drifting amongst it. He looked up from watching the moon rippling on the waves and realised he'd reached his destination.

He was back at the caves where he'd first kissed Haru.

Rin knew that Haru had been the one who'd broken the wires on Mikoshiba's boat all those weeks ago, forcing them to pull over because he'd known that the sirens had heard Rin's last name shouted out by Mikoshiba when their boat had driven past the siren's territory, and would want to kill him in hopes of setting themselves free. That was why, Rin supposed, Haru had lured him into that cave and tried to persuade Rin not to get back on the ship-which was why Haru had crashed it and taken Rin away before sirens could attack... not that Rin had understood it then.

'HARU?'

The water was quiet.

'Haru, answer me...' Rin moaned. 'I know you're here! Q-quit messing around.'

Nothing.

'Either you swim up to the rock or I'll drown myself! Are you listening?!'

Silence. Rin sighed.

'I hate you,' he muttered. 'Actually hate you.'

Then he drew a breath and slid into the sea, letting it swallow him whole.

The ocean at night was chilling and Rin shuddered as waves crashed over his head, mind scrambling as his oxygen ran low and his body lost its will to float; he was immersing, but remained unafraid-Haru could feel through the water as if it were his own body, his own arms-and Rin knew he couldn't drown in them. Haru wouldn't let him die.

From underneath the freezing waves, Rin gave a small sigh as the icy coldness overtook him. Somewhere above in his mind's eye, he could see a prick of light... then he was pulled to the rock.

'RIN!'

The image of Haru was wavering as Rin felt two hands shake his shoulders. Then he begun to cough water.

'Knew you were here...' he mumbled, lips blue. 'The second time you've pulled me up from drowning... but I had to get your attention somehow. Were you in the cave?'

Haru nodded and Rin extended a hand to touch the lacerations on his cheek where Makoto's vines had squeezed him. He ran his thumb over the cut... then hit Haru in the arm.

'Why the hell did you run away like that?!' he demanded. 'Stupid idiot. You could have waited by the ship-'

Haru shook his head, avoiding Rin's eyes.

'...why?'

'Why did I come after you? Haru... you don't have to ask me that. I-I came to see you, I-I mean... we need to talk.'

A red dawn cracked through the black night-weeping and bleeding into the darkness-and as the sun slowly rose, the sky became coloured like autumn leaves, stained in slashes of amber and scarlet. The surface of the water appeared ablaze with the colours, dying both Rin and Haru's backs red.

Rin watched it and wondered where to begin.

'On the rescue ship, when you were put in a cage,' he decided. 'Haru... you told me you were human.'

'Human... absorbed God's abilities,' Haru said. 'Sea demon in body also.'

'You let a sea demon live in your body,' Rin translated. 'Why?'

'Rin's father... dead. Driving sex slave ship then crashed into iceberg. Demon sensed despair of captured women in ship and came to make deal before ship went under. Feel everything in water so knew... had to protect ocean.'

'So you went to the site where my dad's ship crashed to defeat the demon... and succeeded?'

Haru nodded.

'Strong demon. But won.'

'Good for you,' Rin grinned. '...you fought the demon and won. So, why did you put it in your body instead of killing it?'

Haru turned away from Rin, and the drops of water caught in his dark hair shimmered in the light of the rising sun.

'Demons eat dark feelings,' Haru explained. 'Sadness... won't feel.'

It took a long time for the words to settle into Rin, because he'd expected Haru to tell him a convoluted tale about how the demon was needed to feed him power, but the reality was simpler; Haru had put a demon inside of himself to eat all of his sadness so he wouldn't have to feel it. He wasn't trying to break away from controlling the water like Makoto had thought, and he wasn't trying to become stronger using the demon as Rin had suspected; in reality, Haru was upset. He'd been alone for thousands of years in the ocean, never talking to anyone, only listening to sailors who crossed the waters and learning from their speech whilst trying not to be seen. Of course Haru was sad, Rin realised-he couldn't talk to humans. They would either view him as a threat and kill him, or consider him beautiful then kill him anyway, to sell him to a collector and make themselves rich. Even if he did have the abilities of a God, Haru's soul was still a human's... he still wanted the same things Rin did.

With a chill, Rin remembered the story Nagisa had told him about the single God in the beginning who'd been so lonely that he'd tried to destroy himself, which was why his soul had split itself into four and four boys had harboured the parts; it made Rin feel... empty.

Even if a God is really there, with no one to know about his existence, they'll be no one to consider him real. He'll be forgotten, left as a part of the shadows... a God that will be there forever, but whom has ceased to exist in the minds of others. Is that how you felt, Haru? Like you were drifting out of existence, alone in an expanse of blue without anyone else to tell you that you're real?

'You are human,' Rin realised. 'You were telling the truth.'

'Not siren. Or God, or demon. Haru.'

'Yeah,' Rin agreed. 'You're Haru.'

He lay down on the rock.

'But I still don't get it,' he murmured. 'Haru... I don't understand why you wouldn't let go of that demon during Makoto's exorcism. If you could just find another one to replace it-'

'Can't replace,' Haru replied. 'Strong... needed for Rin.'

'For me?!'

Haru nodded.

'Use it. Keep Rin alive.'

'Of course...'

That was when Rin understood what Haru had meant when he said he'd found a way to get around the curse. Rin had a curse on his soul which meant that he would go to Hell when he died, and the curse couldn't be removed. But... Rin couldn't go to Hell if he never died.

'I think I get it now...' Rin hummed. 'Well, maybe: there are still a few things I'm not clear about. Haru, when the ship pulled up here and we met again... do you remember all of the things you said? I was sitting a little further away from where we are now and you threw rocks at me to get my attention... then you took me under the water and into a hidden cave, where the walls were covered in diamonds. And you told me... you said you needed my consent.'

'Need permission to put sea demon in body,' Haru explained. 'Rin has to welcome it.'

'So, you want to put a sea demon in me.' No wonder Haru kept his motives a secret for so long, Rin thought, bitterly. '...then what?'

'Fuse demon soul with Rin's... make Rin immortal. Rin take it's abilities,' Haru explained. 'But... difficult. Rin's soul... weaker. That's why grace needed.'

'Oh.'

They watched the sunset together for several more minutes, and Rin felt the sea swirl underneath his feet where his toes were dipped in the water and the waves turned to froth as they hit the rock shelf that he was sitting on. Haru had been nurturing a sea demon and he wanted Rin to invite that same demon to come from Haru's body into his own. The divine grace (or 'blessing,' as Makoto had called it) that Rin had been bestowed with was a form of sacred protection which meant that the demon couldn't eat Rin's soul or possess him once it got inside of his body, so Rin figured it would be stuck inside of him until Haru merged their souls together... but even though Haru spoke confidently, Rin was afraid. Would he even be himself, after taking something out of Hell inside of his own soul? Even if he could control it, what kind of wants and abilities would come with the demon-how much would he change?

'There's another thing...' Rin muttered. 'When I first followed you into that cave, you said you were going to kill me. You said you wanted to sacrifice me to the water-'

'Give up humanity,' Haru said. 'Endless drifting in sea. Same as death.'

'Does it hurt?'

'Fusion painful,' Haru nodded, then took Rin's hands. '...With me after. Always with me. Rin said -'

'I know I told you I wanted to be like you and swim forever!' Rin sighed, pushing away Haru's hands. 'But this is different-you're taking something from Hell that's twisted and lives from the pain of others and merging it's soul with mine... there has to be another way.' He frowned as he thought about it. 'Haru... when you were talking to Rei in private on the beach and you thought you were alone, I heard both of you and Rei said the curse will go away if you just kill the demon, so why can't we do that? That way, all the sirens will be released and I can go back to being a human.'

There was a long moment of silence. Haru's expression hardened.

'...no...'

'No?'

'Rei... wrong. Only way to get around curse-Rin has to live forever in ocean with me.'

'But-'

'No other way,' Haru repeated.

'Now that you mention it...' Rin murmured. 'When you were talking with Makoto, he said that killing the demon wouldn't work... agh, Haru, this is just fucking confusing! If you're all part of the same God then why do Rei and Makoto both say different things?'

'Rei wrong,' Haru offered.

'And if he's not?'

'Then demon will die,' Haru said. 'And Rin lose last chance to save soul from Hell.'

Rin frowned, suddenly not feeling so confident that he wanted to take that chance. He wanted to live forever in the ocean with Haru, but the deal wasn't that simple-

'What will happen to me?' he whispered. 'After the demon merges with my soul... will I still be myself?'

'Same as me,' Haru replied.

'Right... you know how this worls because your soul got fused with part of God's, which is why you're so confident about doing the same thing to me with a demon. But that doesn't answer my question: Haru, the way you are now... were you like that, when you were human?'

'Don't want to talk,' Haru shook his head. 'Want to do it now.'

'Now?! Haru-'

'Now,' Haru replied, stubbornly. 'Or not at all.'

Then he slipped into the waves, staying visible on the surface of the water as he swum so Rin could follow. Rin sighed as he climbed over the rocks-just like the last time-then dove into the water, seeking out the hidden labyrinths. After moving through them, Rin found the first cave Haru had taken him into, noticing the hunting knife he'd dropped last time glimmering from underwater. Then he proceeded to the diamond studded cave.

It looked the same as before.

Blue lights twinkled and glistened from each one of the cave walls, their light seeming to emit a soft glow which comforted Rin, because it was too dark here-it was too still, the only movement coming from the water where it rippled as drops fell from cave stalagmites. Rin sat down over the rock and watched Haru pull himself up onto the surface, placing a hand on Rin's chest and laying him down. Rin's eyes didn't leave his.

Haru's fingers were light and rose up before the collar of Rin's sailor uniform, his thumb resting on the wet fabric as his fingers slipped between the folds, and he popped one of Rin's buttons. Rin felt himself swallow hard as the braces were unclipped, letting Haru slide the white shirt over his arms then pull the blue one over his head. His breathing had gotten heavy... but it wasn't in arousal.

'Rin... mine,' Haru said, putting his head on Rin's bare chest and closing his eyes. There was a possessiveness in his voice that Rin recognised from the last time they'd been here; he shivered.

'Haru, you're clinging... get off-'

'Rin comfortable?'

Uh, I'm lying on a block of hard stone about to have a demon forced into my soul so no, not really, was Rin's first thought, but he smiled.

'Yeah. Let's get this over with.'

As Haru looked up, his blue eyes seemed to shine in the darkness and a prick of discomfort spread through Rin-he didn't feel confident about this. He opened his mouth to protest when Haru put a finger to his lips.

Then Rin felt the demon enter him and screamed.

He knew immediately when it came into his body- the transfer of that thing from Haru to him felt like a bludgeoning punch. It hurt, but he knew he couldn't resist-he had to welcome and embraced it like Haru had told him, so Rin tried to accept it. That was the hardest part.

Shadows seemed to spread over Rin and engulf him, causing him to gasp as his heartbeat turned violent. The demon penetrated everything- it got into his thoughts, into his head as Rin could feel it whispering to him as he twisted against his own will, trying to remember that it was okay to let it in, but surrendering hurt. He sunk his teeth into his lower lip until the blood trailed down onto his neck and screams were ripped from his throat, two hands pinning his wrists above his head to stop him from hurting himself. Rin moaned at the end of the sounds, and when Haru came into his vision he whispered:

'I can't do this.'

Then his eyes shut of their own violation and he screamed again. Pain seemed to spread like spider webs through his core, through his very soul, scorching like fire and piercing like hot knives, all hurting and burning and itching at the same time as he felt the demon burrow and twist into his soul, but it was beyond physical, beyond anything he could stop. It went on for weeks that seemed like millenniums and when he felt the pain finally begin to subside, Rin's entire body was weak.

His vocal chords were long-torn so that his throat felt raw with dried blood from where he'd bitten his tongue or coughed, unable to make a single sound. He'd scratched himself all over, bitten his lips into shreds and every single muscle was quivering, tearstains dried onto his cheeks. He was hot-hotter than he'd ever been in his life... so hot that he was scared to move for the fear that his body would collapse into embers. A numbing calmness washed over Rin and when his eyes opened, he thought he saw Haru above him.

Then he fell into black unconsciousness, wondering if the ritual had worked-and if it had, what he'd become.