Hello all! The summer's almost over for me, I have to go back like 2 weeks earlier to my college because of my job and I'm honestly so heartbroken. But, it's been an amazing summer, and I hope you've all had a great one too! In case you are interested, I had to rewrite this chapter like four plus times. Once because I didn't like how I was writing the journey, twice because I lost the document somewhere in the files of my computer, three times because I didn't like my writing style in the one, and the final time because I FORGOT ABOUT LIOJ! I was so ashamed of myself as an author. Anyways, I was trying to recreate the feeling of the chapter in the actual manga where the three were journeying to Lyrias. I think it's like Chapter 91? I hope you enjoy, see you all next time! Remember, Review!

The journey was a four day swim. The first day of swimming, Zen got tired and summoned the current to pull him along besides Obi, lounging in the current until Shirayuki shoved him out of it with a giggle. They camped out in the night, finally giving their poor fins a rest. For light, Obi gathered a bunch of glowing planktons and settled them in front of the three mers and the stingray. Lioj had followed dutifully throughout the journey, looking a little glummer than usual. They were hidden in a kelp forest, the strands around them bent enough to give them – while not plentiful, enough space.

"Why are we hiding here? We have the Aigua, nothing can touch us." Zen asked. They had returned to speaking English again, as Obi said Shirayuki should get used to the language.

Obi shook his head at Zen. "Never think you're invincible, surely you know that by now."

Zen dipped his head. "Fair enough."

"Plus, I don't want to have you two woken up by some creature trying to bite our heads off." Obi had burrowed his spear into the ground, leaving it standing like a menacing guard. Shirayuki's knife, which was still enchanted, floated next to it, as if comparing blade sizes.

Shirayuki couldn't keep her eyes off the knife's almost life like movements through the water. She had asked Obi, who had shrugged and believed it must have been the Aigua giving Shirayuki's powers a boost. But it wasn't really the knife she was thinking about.

Lioj curled up closer to Shirayuki with a soft sigh.

Zen nudged her tail with his own after a moment of silence, during which Obi munched on some of the fish they had caught earlier for dinner.

Shirayuki stirred from her trance. "Sorry?"

"You okay?"

"Y-yes." Shirayuki gently ran her hand down her scales, reaching down to slowly rub her fin. "Daydreaming."

Zen gave her a sad look. "Land's not so horrible." He said.

Shirayuki gave a little jolt. "How-How did you know….?"

Zen shrugged. "I know you."

Shirayuki blinked at that, then for the first time it really hit her. She used to hate Zen, but he had somehow become a good friend. Just like that. Shirayuki tried to feel if she had any hatred lingering, considering the first time she met him she was very much thinking about drowning him. But no, there was nothing but calm. Did she even hate humans anymore?

Obi swallowed and cleared his throat. "My advice is not to dwell on it, Shirayuki. The land is foreign, but you will have the moon's protection."

Shirayuki and Zen exchanged a look.

"What?" Obi blinked, his golden eyes were dim in the low light.

Zen scoffed, pulling his tail up and resting his chin on the bend of it. "It's not that simple, Obi." He took a deep breath. "At the risk of making you more anxious, I will say I'm a little worried about returning as well."

Shirayuki was so surprised, she had to put her hand down into the soft sand to lean on. "What?! You? Why in the name of the sea would you be worried? You're going home!"

Zen nodded. "But, I'm a Prince. So, my return would mean…well, it means a lot. For starters, I've been gone roughly about f9ve whole weeks. An entire month. My brother, the first Prince….probably has revealed to the kingdom that I've gone missing. The entire kingdom of Clarines – they all think I'm dead." Zen took a shaky breath, staring at the lights of the plankton. "For all I know, Clarines might have accused another country of stealing me. We might be on the brink of war. So, when I do return – I don't really know how to do it. There's also…well, there's you."

Shirayuki blinked, then felt a cold stone drop into her stomach. "Me?"

"I'm coming back home, yes. But I'm coming home with no real explanation of where I was, who took me; nothing. I can't just say that pirates had me for a month, two people saw me. Two people saw me rip open wooden boards in the middle of a storm to run to the ocean and vanish. And then I have you, who doesn't exist as a person on land."

Shirayuki made a face. "What are you saying?"

Obi's eyes widened and he gave Zen a warning look.

Zen looked up at Shirayuki, and his blue eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, no! Shirayuki, no!" He grabbed Shirayuki's hands. "I'm not saying I'm going to just leave you. I would never, ever even think of something like that."

Shirayuki felt something warm soak across her chest, and she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh."

"You didn't leave me for dead down here, I won't leave you for dead up there."

Obi nodded once. "Good. Now that that's settled, get some rest. We have another long day of travel ahead of us." Obi turned to his spear, pulling it free and gently rewrapping the seaweed around its hilt.

Zen didn't let go of Shirayuki's hands for a moment longer than he should have. But Shirayuki was too busy staring in his eyes for her to really notice. When she did, she pulled back slowly. "Ah…."

Zen's cheeks were hard to see in the low light, but she could have sworn he was blushing. He turned away. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Shirayuki repeated numbly. She turned over and curled up, listening and feeling the currents in the ocean tonight. Lioj gently laid a wing protectively across her as he too slowly began to relax.

They woke at the first few rays of dawn and swam on. The plankton had long gone, and Shirayuki didn't appreciate having to pull chunks of sand from her hair for half the day, but they trekked on. Into the deep blue oceans, and into the next world.

They encountered another monster only once, and the three of them created quick work of it. It was in the middle of the night the next night. Shirayuki felt the tell-tale swishing of its massive fins and curled her hand into a fist, picking up grains of sand into her palm. She sat up, seeing the boys had already done the same.

They didn't have the luxury of a kelp forest this time, and were piled up near one rock, sticking slightly slanted out of the sandy ocean bottom. Shirayuki had a crab on her hand that gave her a pinch for shaking it off, cursing her enough that Shirayuki waved her hand and sent the crab spiraling away in a miniature whirlpool.

Above her, Obi was curled around the rock like a seahorse, holding his spear and the full moon glinting far above his head. His golden eyes scanned the ocean like a predator, and Zen was slowly lifting himself up next to the Sharkman from the ground, little trails of sand dripping from his hair and fingers as he looked around. "Where is it?" He grumbled.

Obi sharply turned his head to the left, and sure enough, a dark shape was still, staring at them about a mile away. Its eyes glinted, two tiny sparks in a sea of shadow.

Shirayuki's dagger zipped to her side, ready to defend her. She straightened from the ground, rubbing the back of her hand where the crab had pinched her. "There." She breathed.

Obi twirled his spear. "Be ready."

Shirayuki's fin twitched, and she took a deep breath of salt water.

Lioj leaned against the rock, content to watch the fight than participate. While proven himself more than capable in battle, the ray tended to only lash out if he had to.

For a moment, there was such a hush that Shirayuki could barely hear the hiss of the waves, far above. The mers stared down the predator, who stared at them right back.

Then, they lunged for each other.

Shirayuki darted ahead and around its maw, slipping around the jaws with a rush of water to push her forward. She jammed her elbow into the monster's eye, causing it to roar and thrash its front fin towards her. She swam straight up and avoided the slap, just as Zen swam directly down and pushed the monster into the sea bed from its spine.

Obi was waiting for it. He sliced his spear across the monster's neck, ripping it clean open and causing a waterfall of blood to wash over the Sharkman. Shirayuki thought it was a killing blow, but it clearly wasn't as the monster then launched off the ground and charged straight upwards, one of its eyes closed and swollen from Shirayuki's hit. Its other glinted madly, locked straight on to Shirayuki.

"Shirayuki!" Zen grabbed her arms and on instinct, Shirayuki grabbed his arms. They swam up, both of them using their Aigua to propel them. The surface approached fast, and Shirayuki barely had time to register the massive hull on their starboard before they broke through the waves into Above World.

For a moment, Shirayuki and Zen flew. Droplets surrounded them, little bubbles all reflecting miniatures full moons. The salt hissed and the ocean sang. Shirayuki's fin splayed at the touch of the air. Clear of the water, the moon backed the two as they spun. Shirayuki looked down, seeing the monster open its wide jaws as it also launched itself free of the Sea.

"No, you don't." Zen grumbled through gritted teeth. He raised his arm, and a massive swell rammed into the monster's side, knocking the prehistoric beast off course and back into the sea, just in time for gravity to grab Shirayuki and Zen and pull them downwards.

Shirayuki gave Zen a sort of hopeless smile, then they pushed off each other, pulling their arms over their heads against the wind to dive perfectly back into the sea without so much as a splash.

They had no idea of the humans on that fishing cruise they had just scarred for life, but right then they had more pressing matters.

They returned to Below Surface and found Obi had driven his spear deep into the monster's other eye. Blood pooled around him like an anemone's tendrils. His eyes glowed an even gold. He didn't flinch at the onslaught of the red liquid, a shiver ran through Shirayuki as she opened her gills to breathe the water once again. He was sometimes so careless and fun, she forgot how Obi was an immortal killer.

Shirayuki's dagger zipped towards the fray, interrupting her thoughts. It zipped through the monster's gills, and the monster stopped thrashing.

As it began to sink, Obi pulled his weapon free. He pushed his hand down, and the current shifted downwards, drilling the monster into the ground below. Zen moved his arms from the left to the right, and a wave of sand buried the body, until all that was left was a few patches of blood.

Shirayuki caught her breath, then smiled at Zen. "You've never breached before, have you?"

Zen shook his head, running his hands through his hair. This close to the surface, his tail caught the light of the moon and shimmered silver instead of gold. His white hair glowed almost fiercely. He was…in all truth, stunning. "It was…whoa."

Obi snorted as he swam towards them. "There's some humans on that boat, I'm sure. If you'd like, we could have another go – just to make sure they saw us."

Shirayuki blinked. "Are you being sarcastic?"

Obi grinned, then suddenly made for the surface.

"Oh, wait for me!" Zen laughed, following the Sharkman.

Shirayuki shook her head as the two breached, watching their figures spin and twirl as they flew through the air, then dive back for the ocean.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. As they traveled, Shirayuki had to admit that not only did she think of Zen as a friend, she thought the same of Obi. A human and a Sharkman, one she wanted dead and the other she wasn't even sure was real; two of her best friends. Go figure.

The final night, they made camp and Obi popped an odd question. "Zen, can you sing?"

Shirayuki, who had already been trying to sleep, turned around on her side and stared at the Sharkman.

Zen had a mouthful of krill, which he was showing by having his mouth slightly open in shock. He made a forceful attempt to finish chewing and swallow. "Um, not really? I can keep time pretty well, but…"

Obi was shaking his head. "No, I meant do you have the siren gift."

Zen scoffed. "I highly doubt it."

"One way to find out." Obi nodded. "Let's hear what you've got."

Zen laughed. "I think I'll spare you that. I don't even know any Siren songs."

"You know the one Shirayuki used on you." Obi offered. "You can't have forgotten it, it's literally the words that made you run back to the sea when you were still human."

Shirayuki snorted, if only just to try and not feel too bad about that.

Zen frowned. He closed his eyes, and then started to hum the tempo of the Siren's luring song. "This…is the Song of the Sea.

It sings to you and me.

It sings to all who feel lost.

And even those who feel found…."

At this, Zen stopped. He held the last note evenly, slowly opening his eyes with a wince. "Sorry." He said. "I know that was bad."

Obi and Shirayuki exchanged shocked looks. "Bad?!" Obi finally exclaimed.

"Zen, you were amazing." Shirayuki reassured.

"You've got it! That's a Siren song, alright!" Obi hooted. "Oh, my Seas. I'm so sad we didn't know this earlier."

Zen blinked. "No way. I can't sing. I've never been good at it."

"You're good enough to lure humans to their deaths." Obi nodded thoughtfully. "That must have come with the transformation. Isn't that awesome?!"

"No." Zen looked pale.

"Sorry, sorry. Bad wording." Obi raised his hand; placating. "But seriously, that's one of the mers best powers. He has the Aigua and he can sing: he's literally the perfect guy!" Obi threw his head back and laughed, Zen buried his head in his hands, and Shirayuki smiled at that before closing her eyes and trying to sleep again.

And then the journey was over, and the new world waited. The mers weren't as jolly as they had been for most of this journey, and for good reason. Not even Zen, who was excited about going home, could look at the massive wall of a current in front of them and not feel anything but fear.

The current roared, a literal wall of moving ocean in front of them. The sound was so consuming, there seemed to be no other noise. Shirayuki couldn't even see through it. Rocks sat in a weird sort of border, uneven and in all shapes in sizes – like a little bubble holding back the water on the seafloor. If Shirayuki hadn't swam most of the ocean, she could have easily believed that she had reached the end of the world here.

Zen shivered. "Alright. I'm assuming this is the Circle of Tides. How do we do this?" He had to raise his voice to be heard.

Obi took a deep breath. "I can open an entrance for you, but that's all I can give you. The rest is up to you."

"Great." Zen leaned down and stroked Lioj's head.

Shirayuki stared at the surface, which was so froth with bubbles it looked like a layer of moonlight was trying to block the sky. "Look at the size of this. How big is this whirlpool?"

"Whirlpools." Obi corrected. "The Circle of Tides isn't just a single vortex. To get to the middle, you will have to try and swim straight until you reach the 25th pool. There, let yourselves be separated by the current, meet in the middle and kiss."

Both mers looked at Obi sullenly.

Obi turned to stare at them, a sad smile on his face. "Yes, this is goodbye. For now, Shirayuki." He turned to Zen, then held out his hand.

Zen clasped it, then pulled Obi in for a hug. "It's been…well, you know."

Obi laughed and clapped him on the back. They released each other, and Obi patted Zen on the shoulder. He turned to Shirayuki. "You'll be home again soon."

Shirayuki fought back tears. Mers did not often cry – there wasn't much point under the water, tears were just pulled away basically as they left the eye. But still, Shirayuki had to swallow a sob. She stared at the ocean, at her home. She took a deep breath of salt, then reached out and threw her arms around Obi. "Thank you." She whispered in Mermish.

Obi hugged her back. "Be strong, fight for your home. For us. And come back safe." Obi pulled himself free and moved towards the whirlpool. He got so close, the tide pulled on his hair and forced it up and to the side gently, giving him quite the hairdo. He brandished his spear.

Lioj moaned, and Shirayuki gasped, ducking down to lie on his back like she had done for so many weeks when she was paralyzed.. "Oh, thank you, Lioj! You've been so great, one of my best friends. Tell me you'll come get me when I return?"

Lioj grumbled agreeably, then wrapped his wings around Shirayuki. He then flipped free and did the same to Zen.

"Aw, be good, boy." Zen said, rubbing his hands down the manta's wings.

Lioj then let them go, and swam back a few paces, looking despondent.

Obi flicked his spear, what little sunlight broke through the surface catching the blade. "Are you ready?"

Shirayuki and Zen exchanged a glance. Zen reached over and grabbed her hand. "Together?"

Shirayuki pursed her lips, then nodded, curling her own fingers around his palm. "Together."

Obi spun his spear, eyes glowing. With a battle cry, he stabbed his weapon into the wall.

The roar was as if he had actually just stabbed a monster and it was howling in pain. But sure enough, the Aigua whipped to life, holding the Sharkman in place and literally pulling apart the current.

"HURRY!" Obi roared, his teeth clenched and sharpening into those of a Great White's.

Zen and Shirayuki lunged for the tear, which was pouring out currents wildly, pressing them back. They both summoned the Aigua under their tails, and Shirayuki had never kicked harder in her life.

Zen lifted his free hand forward, Shirayuki did the same. Together, they dove straight into the rip.