Hello! It's time for our water riders to go on their first mission. In which I'm sure everything will go according to plan, with no unpleasant surprises whatsoever!

31. Beneath the Surface

Functional.

The muscles in Barracuda's shoulders flexed on the down sweep. Glynda watched them bunch and relax, bunch and relax, blue-grey scales shining almost silver in the afternoon sunlight. Being this close to another water dragon...

She hadn't processed. She knew that. But the instant she did, something inside would break and it would take a long time to put it back together again... if she ever could. There wasn't time for that. The students needed to learn, they needed every possible advantage they could get in this mess they'd been dropped into.

Barracuda was tired, the strain of carrying two riders already wearing her down. Nymph and Guang had each taken several turns as well. Every time they landed for Glynda to climb into another saddle, the time spent walking to the next cliff or natural ramp gave all three of them time to rest their wings. It wasn't a perfect system, but the lake wasn't that far anyway.

Russel patted Barracuda's neck absentmindedly, and Glynda's grip on the saddle tightened. She wouldn't fall apart on them—not when she was supposed to protect them from all this. Not when she'd failed them so badly. If Ozpin were still... but he wasn't. He wouldn't pace back and forth at Ragnar's feet, that small frown creasing his brow as he muttered to himself. There would be no next phase of the grand strategy he'd kept in his head. The rest of them would just have to carry on with whatever bits and pieces they had left.

A small tremor rippled through Barracuda. Glynda tapped Russel twice on the shoulder, the signal to land. He twisted in the saddle and shouted, "But we're almost there!" He pointed at a shimmer of silver on the horizon.

Glynda arched an eyebrow at him. He at least had the decency to look sheepish as he guided Barracuda into a steep glide. They landed less than a minute later, with the water dragon stretching her wings and rolling her shoulders. Nymph and Ao Guang followed her.

"We'll walk the rest of the way," she decided. "I didn't see any decent takeoff points from the air."

As they went, she explained to them that flying to a mission location was much easier once dragons knew several different takeoff methods and were more used to carrying the weight of a rider. "That is part of the reason we wait until your second year to even begin combat training, and why under normal circumstances none of you would go on a mission like this until your third year."

"What about when we get there?" asked Russel. "If we can't take off—"

Only over a decade of teaching experience let her reply with a straight face. "As this is an aquatic Grimm, your dragons will fight in the water. Whether you enter the lake from the shore or from the air is immaterial."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Ren hiding a tiny half-smile. Neptune looked slightly nauseous. Color slowly drained from his face as the trees thinned, and they finally reached the shore of the lake. It looked peaceful, from here. Not even a ripple on the surface.

"What was described in the report?" Glynda eyed the three boys, all dressed in swimsuits, barefoot and with goggles on their foreheads.

It was Ren who answered. "A small Grimm about the size of a fishing boat."

"You said it was probably an Icky Ryan," added Russel.

Her eye twitched. "An Ichthyrion."

"Yeah. That."

Neptune started taking deep breaths. Loud deep breaths.

Glynda ignored her rising doubts. These students needed experience, and an Ichthyrion this small wouldn't pose much of a challenge to even one of their dragons. So she kept an eye on the deceptively placid surface of the lake, and reviewed her last few lectures on how to fight underwater—communicating with their dragons, leaving most of the straps on the saddle unbuckled so that they could resurface if necessary, and to always do so slowly and gradually to prevent pressure sickness.

This was a terrible way to structure lessons outside of an emergency like the one they'd found themselves in... but she couldn't help feeling slightly gratified by how easily she had captured their complete, undivided attention. Perhaps there was hope for them yet.

So much talking.

Barracuda took the first chance to dive into the water, once the annoying teacher had finally stopped telling them how to fight. She already knew how to fight—the annoying teacher had kept scolding her for it at Beacon.

She struck out across the surface. It was slow going. With Russel on her back she couldn't just dive down like she wanted to, and she had to swim with her toes tightly closed to protect the webbing on her feet. Ao Guang soon passed her, but Nymph lagged several dragonlengths behind them.

"Hurry up!" Barracuda hissed. "You should have left your stupid wimpy rider on the shore."

Nymph snapped at her, prompting a panicked shout from Neptune. Russel put a palm flat on her back and said, "I don't see why you're trying to fight the Grimm and Nymph. Seems like you're making extra work for yourself... but whatever." She flicked an ear at him irritably. She knew that. Now Nymph was keeping up with them.

They were near the middle of the lake. Neptune clung white-knuckled to Nymph's saddle, his face pale and his eyes wide. Barracuda considered splashing him with her tail, until a flicker of movement drew her attention. It was a ripple, long and winding. A black fin poked out of the water, then disappeared again.

"Go time," Russel said.

Barracuda tried to speed up, but she was still tired from carrying the annoying teacher. She fell behind Nymph and Guang, and was almost thirty feet away when the Grimm finally surfaced. Even knowing the sort of thing she would see... even knowing that this was the whole reason the Dragonries existed, the reason she had been hatched for Russel... even knowing that, she felt a bolt of fear at the sight of it.

It wasn't big. The sleek black body wasn't even half as long as the runt, Twiggy. A long muzzle flashed with jagged teeth, but Barracuda's were longer. It was the eyes that bothered her. They bulged behind the blank white mask, seething with blind, mad hatred. It wanted her dead. It wanted her rider dead. It wanted everyone dead. If it got the chance, it would tear every single frail little human to pieces.

Nymph lunged and sank her teeth into its side. There was a horrible screech, and it twisted around with its teeth gnashing. As it thrashed its tail lifted part of the way out of the water. Barracuda had never seen an Ichthyrion, not even a picture of one, so she wasn't surprised by the lack of a spiked fluke at the end. She noticed nothing strange about the way it kept going, like a thick black rope, until it disappeared under the surface.

The Grimm struggled free, wrenching out of Nymph's jaws and leaving a dark cloud of ichor in the water. It snapped at Ao Guang, who drew his head back and batted at it with one paw. His claws raked its side.

Then Barracuda was finally close enough. She bit down on one of its fins just as it tried to slip under the water. The ichor tasted horribly bitter. She dragged it up towards the surface, trying to get it close enough to attack with her claws. It squirmed free of her soon after that, though by now it was limping along with only three fins.

"This is easy!" She scratched at the monster's face. It shied away from her, slipping under the water and swimming deeper.

"Let's not celebrate before we kill it," said Nymph—and the three of them dove.

Barracuda fell behind again. She'd pushed too hard when she'd attacked the Grimm, and the webbing between her toes was stinging. From where she was swimming she could see the moment Neptune froze. Light from the surface danced across his face in strange ripples. His eyes closed, his mouth opened, bubbles escaping...

Useless idiot! "Nymph! Go back up, now!"

The other dragon didn't ask questions. She just shot towards the light above. Now it was only Barracuda and Ao Guang heading down and down, the water around them growing darker and darker.

Barracuda would have lost the Grimm if it weren't for the lines of red all over its body, glowing brighter now than the distant sunlight. She couldn't tell where Guang was anymore, and Russel tapped her left shoulder once—the signal warning her that he would need to surface for air soon. She kept paddling for a few seconds, even though she knew she couldn't catch the Grimm like this. It was only getting farther ahead of her.

Reluctantly, Barracuda turned around. Swimming upward had to be slower—the annoying teacher had explained why, something about Russel's body being squishy and full of bubbles, but all she really needed to remember was that he might die if they went too fast. So she hadn't gone far at all before a stream of enormous bubbles rushed past her.

Slowly, Barracuda turned her head back downward. All she could see through the murk at the bottom of the lake was a faint red haze. She hesitated. Was there time to stop at the surface, or—

Russel tapped frantically on her right shoulder, the signal to dive. Barracuda obeyed, arrowing through the water as quickly as she could, her eyes straining through the silty murk of the lake's bed.

Ren winced as Ao Guang dove still deeper, slowly gaining on the retreating Grimm. He could feel the pressure in his eardrums, and the water down here was freezing. Remembering Professor Goodwitch's lessons, he tapped once against Guang's left shoulder. He was starting to think they'd need to regroup at the surface and—

Guang surged forward and clamped his teeth down at the base of the monster's tail. It struggled, twisting to try and bite him. He mauled its side, the murky water grew even darker with Grimm ichor, the struggling slowed to a slow, lethargic twitching... and it went still.

Well. Never mind, then. Ren tapped at Guang's shoulder a few more times to signal for him to start rising. His eyes strained in the dark. He could just make out the silhouette of the thing's tail, looping in a wide arc around the two of them before disappearing into the gloom. Odd—he didn't remember them being so long.

Even as the thought formed, the Grimm exploded into motion. The loop of tail closed around them both, pinning Ren to Guang's back, and heaved. As they sank towards the bottom of the lake the silt thickened until it was more muck than water, and the darkness was absolute. Even the dim light of the Grimm was snuffed out.

Bubbles brushed Ren's face, and Guang shuddered underneath him. The tail tightened further. His ribs screamed in protest. He looked around and couldn't even see the distant light of the surface—only blackness in every direction. His hands scrabbled for the two lone straps still tying him to the saddle, but it was useless anyway with the thick tail wrapped around him. He couldn't just...

A rosy glow caught his eye. For a mad instant some part of him was convinced that this was daylight. Then the tail pulled him still closer, and the light divided into two massive, bulbous eyes. And below them... below them were teeth longer than he was tall.

Ren kicked and struggled. Guang bit down on the tail and shook his head furiously, trying to tear it apart. Only it wasn't a tail at all—it was connected to the bone mask of the true Grimm. The real monster, whose mouth opened and opened until it seemed like there was nothing else in the world.

His eyes squeezed shut. He saw teal ones in front of him, cheeks scattered with freckles... and the worst thing, worse even than the rows and rows of teeth like sharpened spears, was realizing just how badly they had wasted yesterday. How many minutes, how many seconds spent apart that he would have given anything for in that instant.

A harsh cry echoed strangely through the water. His eyes snapped open, and outlined faintly in red was the long, sinewy shape of... Nymph? Barracuda? Then she got closer and he saw the mohawk. Russel reared back in alarm as he took in the source of the light for the first time, a few small bubbles escaping.

Barracuda scratched at the thing's eyes. It reared back, and Ren and Guang were pulled along in its wake. She circled around, snapping and clawing at it, keeping it too busy to finish them off. It swam almost as fast as she did, and every time it lunged at her its long teeth missed her by mere inches.

Only one of Ren's arms were free. He scrabbled at the Grimm, but he could hardly even feel his fingers. His head spun. Russel unbuckled him from the saddle and pulled as hard as he could, but the effort was useless. He turned his head towards the Grimm, then to Ren. Their eyes met. He held up a finger—just a minute!—and kicked for the surface.

Breathe in.

The water is cold.

Breathe out.

The water is clear.

Neptune's hands shook against Nymph's back. He was freezing, his hair and swim trunks soaked and plastered to his skin. His bare feet were still underwater, his legs strapped to the saddle, tangled—

Breathe in. The water is cold and clear. Nothing like the swamp. He looked down... and reeled, bile rising in his throat as he stared into horrible, endless darkness. The lake hadn't looked this deep from the shore.

"Nneh." Nymph craned her neck back and licked his face. "Ssafe."

Was he? There was a Grimm under the water, even if the dragons were tearing it to pieces without much fuss. His fingers drummed against the saddle. Goodwitch still stood on the shore, watching. Probably seeing him sitting here, doing nothing while his friends—well, friend and Russel—fought a monster. And where the hell were they?!

Russel broke the surface with a gasp, then started hacking and coughing uncontrollably. Barracuda was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!" Neptune's hands gripped the saddle so hard he lost feeling in his fingers. "What happened?"

"Down—" Russel groped for Nymph and held onto one of her forelegs to keep his head above the surface. He coughed and spat out a mouthful of water. "Stuck. Ren and Guang—this fucking thing is huge, and the teeth—!"

The words dissolved into meaningless buzzing. Neptune forced himself to take great, gulping breaths. Nymph met his eyes. For an instant he was frozen, hating himself, thinking that maybe he should just unstrap himself and let Russel...

No. Russel looked half-drowned already, and if Ren and Guang were both trapped... He looked back at Nymph and, slowly, he nodded.

She surged forward, and there was no time for second thoughts—only enough to take a huge gulp of air, cling to his dragon's saddle, and hope like hell he could do this. Then the water was over his head, and they shot down into the dark.

He was suspended. There was no telling which way was up, no light, only the horrible slimy water pressing in around him. Plants tangling around his legs as he kicked and struggled. His own heartbeat in his ears, beating frantically as his head pounded and his chest ached...

Cold. His hands tightened on something solid. The water is cold and clear. Not like the swamp. Nymph's muscles flexed underneath him, and he ran a hand along the scales of her neck to ground himself. She wouldn't let him be trapped here. He could trust her, like he trusted her in the air. He had to trust her.

Soon the light of the surface was lost in the murk. It was worse like this, mired in mud and slime. More like the marsh. Except there was a light in the dark—a dim red glow that flashed on and off as a shadow passed in front of it.

They were closer now—and Neptune realized why Russel had kept talking about the teeth. They were longer than he was, needle-thin, jutting from a mouth that was wide enough to swallow a dragon. Bulging eyes, a thick black cord connecting it to the shredded lure... and Ao Guang tangled up in it, his struggles already weak and sluggish.

Nymph's jaws clamped down on the long lure. Guang hardly seemed to notice her—his eyes were half-lidded, and a few bubbles drifted out of his nostrils to race for the surface. Barracuda saw, though, and swam over to help. Together they wrenched in opposite directions, twisting—

The Grimm's jaws snapped shut, missing Barracuda's tail by inches. Then the lure went limp, and a cloud of ichor bloomed from it. Nymph tore it away from Guang, one severed end trailing behind her. The monster thrashed in pain and bit again, this time grazing Barracuda's hind leg.

Neptune fumbled with the straps on his legs. He undid them. And then Nymph darted forward, away from him, to grab Guang and haul him towards the surface. Barracuda charged the Grimm, clawing at its eyes and forcing it away from Ren, who floated motionless in the water.

Swim, he told himself. His body wouldn't move.

The water is cold. The water is cold. The water is cold—

Neptune repeated it over and over like a mantra as he flailed through the water. He reached under Ren's arms and kicked for the surface. Seconds later he froze, his heart pounding. Was that too fast? Was it too slow? How was he supposed to know when drowning was worse than decompression sickness?!

Hell with it. He kicked upwards, moving as slowly as he dared, wincing as his ears popped. Light danced across his face. Ren's hair floated like a silky cloud in all directions. His fingers and toes were numb.

Then, finally, his head broke the surface. He coughed and hacked just like Russel had, and then he spent several seconds with his mind wonderfully, blessedly blank—there was no room for anything except how wonderful it was to breathe, and trying not to ruin the moment by throwing up.

When something grabbed his shoulder he let out a short scream, but it was only Russel. "Is he breathing?"

Neptune's heart sank. He tried to look, but all he could tell was that Ren's eyes were closed. "I'm not sure."

"Shit." Russel stretched out his arms. "Gimme. I'll get him back to Goodwitch."

"But—"

"I'm the better swimmer." Neptune... really couldn't argue with that.

A splash drew his attention to Nymph. She was struggling to hold Ao Guang above the water while he shuddered and coughed. His tail thrashed erratically behind him, but he was breathing. And Ren... Ren probably hadn't been.

Neptune couldn't even worry about it properly. Seconds later something erupted out of the water, a huge wave broke over his head, and he went under again. By the time he resurfaced, still spluttering, there was no sign of whatever had dunked him... but he had a feeling he knew. He grit his teeth and stuck his head underwater, peering through his goggles. The telltale red glow shot towards him. He shrieked, or tried to, and lost half his air. Then he paddled frantically to one side, but it wasn't enough—

Barracuda's tail slammed into him and sent him flying out of the water, just before the Grimm's teeth slammed shut on the space where he'd just been. As he spun he caught a glimpse of the thing. It was bleeding badly now, one eye gone, the other glowing with hatred. Then he hit the lake face-first, flailed some more, and finally got himself upright and treading water.

Guang's coughing had slowed down, and he was swimming on his own. Nymph reared up out of the water and roared a challenge. Barracuda joined the cry, clamping her jaws down on one of the monster's rear fins.

It struggled, almost ripped out of her grip—but before it had the chance Nymph grappled it with all four legs, digging her claws into its sides. Ao Guang opened his mouth, and a jet of water slammed into the Grimm's face. It made a noise like a train whistle and finally thrashed free... but it lost one of its fins and most of its tail in the process. It limped through the water, its mouth opening and closing convulsively, until Guang circled around it and bit down just behind its head. Then, finally, it started to dissolve.

Neptune felt like someone had just cut his strings. He went limp, and then his head slipped under the surface and he was treading water again, his heart pounding so hard he thought something might pop. It was too much, it was too much and he just wanted out.

Cool scales met his reaching fingers. He stopped swimming and clung to Nymph's head, his whole body trembling. "Nneh," she said, and lifted him onto her back. He curled into himself, still shivering, though now with cold as much as fright.

It was a long way back to the shore. When they got there Professor Goodwitch was kneeling next to Ren, holding his head as he coughed up lake water. Russel had collapsed nearby, his legs sprawled in the dirt and a towel draped over his shoulders.

"Okay," he said, when Neptune and the dragons walked up to them. "What the fuck?"

"Language," Goodwitch snapped. Ren made a noise that might have been the start of a laugh, but it dissolved into a coughing fit that shook his whole body.

Neptune tried to say something, but it came out as muffled gibberish. His legs gave out. Nymph caught him with one foreleg and gently lowered him to the ground beside the others. It took a moment before he could manage a coherent thought. "What... what was that thing?"

Goodwitch helped Ren sit up. "As none of you have described it to me, I haven't the faintest clue."

"Teeth," Russel said, and shuddered.

"It looked like it had the other Grimm on a fishing line..." Neptune trailed off as another shiver went through him.

Goodwitch frowned. "That... doesn't sound like a freshwater Grimm. It must have come from somewhere else—if I remember correctly, there's a river connecting this lake to the ocean. If it swam here in a heavy storm, it would have gotten stuck once water levels receded."

"Then why did it have so many teeth?!" Russel demanded. "That was way more fucking teeth than we signed up for!"

"Grimm that live deep in the ocean tend to be... strange."

"Strange? Try goddamn terrifying—!"

Neptune tuned them out after that. He watched Ren's chest rising and falling, reassuring himself. Then Nymph pressed her snout against his side and crooned, and he wrapped both arms around her neck. "I did tell you," he murmured. "When you picked me. I told you I was useless."

"Nno," she said sternly. "Nneh-toon... buh. Brray."

There was a lump in his throat. "Are you... do you mean... brave?"

She nodded and started to purr. "Bray."

Neptune buried his face in her scales, his shoulders shaking as he took great, shuddering breaths. "Sorry," he managed. "I'm not upset. I'm..." He trailed off, because he was pretty sure the word he was looking for didn't exist. He felt like a wet dish towel, damp and wrung out. He felt like he'd just touched the sky...

And more than anything, he felt like sleeping for a week.