Hey y'all. So! It finally happened. After this chapter, we are officially, Above Surface. And I have officially moved back into my college dorm for my junior year. To get really real with you all, as I feel like I do poor my heart into my writings, I want to explain a little about this chapter.

I've never particularly had a hard time writing in ether Zen or Shirayuki's perspective. But this time, god, writing through Zen's eyes was a challenge. Full honesty: I didn't really wanna come back to college. Last semester absolutely broke me, in all ways. I think the only thing that kept me from flunking out or just dropping it all and refusing to come out of my bed was keeping up the basic body schedule you're actually supposed to do; exercise for at least 30 mins every day, eat your veggies and fruits, and keep up with your friends (not sleep, who needs that?). So, I spent this summer trying to forget and trying to rest, which I very much got a lot of healing done! But I still have scars, and I don't want...I just don't want another repeat. While I was healing, I just kept going in circles over whether or not I would come back.

And then I found out when I voiced my opinion to my parents - they were horrified to find out that I was thinking about quitting. My mom and dad never got their degrees, and both wish they had. My mom literally said she "wouldn't let me end up like her". Although, I think that's crazy as my mom makes 100,000 + annually, but I digress. I always thought my parents had my back, and they really still do. I don't mean to write them as life controlling crazy parents, they're honestly the best. Heck, they paid for these past two years for me! And I do really love Potsdam, I love all my friends and I love laughing til I cry with them over stuff. The classes can be super fun and I like all the freedom I get here. So it wasn't like I absolutely want to be out of here 100%, as if that was the case I know my parents would let me. But since I'm hesitant, they're jumping on that and pushing at my love for Potsdam.

I didn't cry when my parents first dropped me off in my dorm in the summer of 2016. I cried the moment my dad finished helping me get my suitcases in my dorm 3 days prior to writing this.

And so! Before this gets way to serious and sad and I start to cry about it again, what Shirayuki feels in this chapter is all coming from what I feel right now. That's an amazing thing about writing, I can take all my emotions and throw them at poor innocent characters who did nothing wrong. I, like Shirayuki, also want to get my tail back and swim to the bottom of the sea.

I'm super sorry for this hideously long intro and that little sob story, but I wanted to explain why this chapter might feel a little off. It's hard to edit all your emotions, but I did my best.

I hope you enjoy, please don't worry about me if you are that lovely person who will, and remember, review.

Shirayuki threw her body weight forward, pulling herself as far up the rock as she could. Water dripped from her chin, running down every inch of her body onto the rock below her as she caught her breath. The air stung her throat, but she ignored it and straightened. She curled her fin and slithered back and forth until she was at the tip of the rock. What she saw made her gulp.

Zen surfaced below, grabbing the rock but making no moves to climb it as she had. He brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Well?" He gasped.

Shirayuki looked back at him. The night air was cold around her and she shivered. "It's the last one."

Zen groaned and let himself slip back underwater for a second.

This was one of the four breaks they had managed during their long and hard day. Calling the hours they had spent powering through the Circle of Tides was nothing short of pure physical torment.

After Obi had opened them a way through the first whirlpool, the two mers had immediately been swept to the side. Together, they managed to power through it, and then found themselves in the first of many tide pools. Where the ocean was moving, but it was easy enough to hold still. And this is where the rocky outcroppings grew as well. However, navigating the pools to these tiny spots took incredible effort. Zen and Shirayuki had to keep stopping for breaks, so of course the full moon was high by the time they had reached this spot.

Shirayuki slumped against the rock. She could feel the vibrations of the pools against the outcropping, but that wasn't all. This entire place thrived with magic energies. When she checked her pearls, she found them just glowing with reaction. After assuring Zen they wouldn't explode, she had no choice but to let them radiate like they were.

Speaking of magic, her knife sliced free of the water and hovered in mid-air, as if on guard.

Zen laughed wearily. "At least one of us still has energy."

Shirayuki huffed and slid down the rock until her fin tips broke through the shaky surface. "Whenever you're ready."

Zen nodded. He ducked under the water and resurfaced, brushing his hair back to keep it out of his eyes. "Let's do this."

Shirayuki dove over Zen's head and back into the water. Zen splashed after her clumsily, and they charged into the last whirlpool.

Bubbles exploded around Shirayuki's body as she forced her way through. Her ears popped, but at that point she was so used to it the shock only caused her to blink. The sound was horrible, as if a million rocks were scraping against iron. It echoed in her head and made her teeth jitter. But this last whirlpool, there was something odd about it.

Zen and Shirayuki glanced at each other through the current, which suddenly began to hum – proper hum. Shrayuki's pearls glowed so strongly they shone through her purse. Zen blinked at her, and Shirayuki nodded. "I hear it too!" She shouted. She jumped as her knife began to wobble rapidly, as if it was having a seizure. She started to reach for the handle, but then the current intensified.

Zen gasped as something shoved him away. He slipped by, so fast Shirayuki blinked and he was flying by her.

"Zen!" Shirayuki practically had to scream over the hum. She reached for his wrist, when suddenly a white flash blinded Shirayuki. "Ah!" She cried, lifting her arms to defend herself. In that lapse of concentration, the current grabbed her and shoved her away swiftly.

The light wasn't fading, but no impact was reaching Shirayuki. Plus, through the blinds of her eyelids, Shirayuki could tell the light was flickering. Cautiously, she opened her eyes in slits.

All she could see was an endless rainbow of colors. They were blinding, but also enchanting. Blues to reds, yellows to purples, some of them Shirayuki couldn't name or describe. The current kept pressing against her tail, and she grunted as she tried to free herself from the current's grip. Panic was pressing at her chest, but Shirayuki tried to summon the Aigua. The current hissed, but she managed to propel herself upwards in that lapse. Her head broke the surface within seconds. The air was filled with the salt of the sea, the spray was so great. Out here, at least the light wasn't as blinding.

"Zen!" Shirayuki tried calling out. She couldn't stop herself from slowly spinning, pushing downwards to the center of the pool; but she could keep her head above the water. "Where are you?!"

There was nothing but the roar of the sea, until Shirayuki heard something. It was very faint, but it sounded a little like her name.

Shirayuki tried to scan the whirlpool as she floundered, cursing Zen's white hair. "Zen!" She tried again.

This time, she for sure heard his voice.

She started to swim against the current, wanting to stop her descent, and she felt something like an electric shock. Not like she had recently experienced with the eels, but just a slight jar in her bones. Like she had just brushed the tendril of a jellyfish. Combined with the current, the small jolt was enough to send her backwards, her head back under the water. She took a breath of salt water, blinded once again and trying to regain her bearings.

"Shirayuki!" She heard Zen shout.

"Zen!" Shirayuki called out. She was grateful for that pin the pod had given her, it held all of her hair up in a tight bun nicely. This had been a lifesaver in the water. She almost struggled against the current again, but then she remembered the jolt and stopped.

Shirayuki bit her lip. She couldn't fight the current, so…

The point of the whirlpool, the very last whirlpool, was a tight spiral that didn't even seem like Shirayuki could fit in it. But she remembered her instructions.

She took a few breaths. "Okay." She forced her tail to relax, and let the Aigua go.

The whirlpool took her so fast it made her choke on air. She was under the water again. She closed her eyes against the light, and curled up. She hoped that Zen would meet her in the middle: that she wouldn't be spinning around for eternity, alone and surrounded by magic.

After only a few moments, Shirayuki found her head broke the water again. She opened her eyes, water dripping off her nose and down her cheeks like tears.

Zen was staring at her, his blue eyes wide and panicked.

They were still moving, but they were at the bottom of the pool, stuck spinning so tightly and so close Shirayuki could feel his breath.

Zen took a shaky breath, then gave her an apologetic smile. He started to reach for her, but hesitated. He tried to say something, but Shirayuki couldn't hear it.

The fear was bubbling in her chest. This was really it. This was her goodbye to her home. Real tears leaked from her eyes – she hoped Zen wouldn't tell that they weren't just from the sea. Still, she reached forward with both hands and gathered Zen's shirt in her fists. She yanked him into her, closing her eyes just before his lips met hers.

While power and strength flooded through her, a sense of calm and a soothing presence floated across her physical body like a wave, she still cried.

Goodbye.

When Zen woke up, it was because a seagull was poking at his arm.

Zen's vision wasn't quite right, he was seeing double. But as he blinked, it cleared and steadied. The seagull saw that he was awake, and gurgled with alarm, spreading its wings and flying over him.

For a minute, Zen just lied there. Staring at where the seagull had been. He was lying on his back in some hot sand. He was staring at a partially soaked brown rock. Around his bare feet, he felt the foam of the sea supporting him. Waves were licking at his soles.

That experience made his entire body tense. He had feet! He wiggled his toes!

Toes!

A smile broke over Zen's face, then made him wince. His lips were severely chapped and dried out.

While yes, the water felt good on his feet, he became more aware of a lot more unpleasant sensations around him. The sand was burning, the sun felt as if it was actually tearing his skin apart, he was severely dehydrated. His head was pounding, and he was sore all over. There was also sand between his butt cheeks – never a pleasant sensation.

With a huff, Zen pushed himself into a sitting position. This discarded sand from practically every inch of his body, but also pushed more into the space between his butt cheeks, and he was not enjoying that. He coughed weakly. He still had the white shirt on, although it didn't do its job as well as it had when it was soaked. It felt more like dried seaweed.

Zen stumbled to his feet. His legs shook, but he couldn't stop staring at them. They were much paler than the rest of his body, but they were his legs. He had to smile again. He stumbled and leaned on the rock, his hair hanging down in front of his eyes. The Prince took a few quick breaths to get his composure back. He pushed off the rock, and managed to get his legs back in order. He walked around in a small pace, before deciding he couldn't take the sand a minute more.

The ocean looked as distant as it had ever been, as if Zen had never met it.

He stumbled back into the water. The sand around his feet quickly turned into clay, and he relished the feeling of his feet getting sucked into the freezing mud. He stopped about waist level, the slight rises of waves slapped against his stomach. Zen scooped some of the cool water into his palms and scrubbed himself all over. He ducked his head under the water and pulled it back out with a gasp of air. As the water around him fell from his hair, he hurriedly checked his neck.

He couldn't feel any gills. He looked at his forearms, which had slight white marks where the extra fins he had gotten from the Aigua once were.

Sure enough, there was not a scale on Zen's body.

He still had the necklace the pod had given him, and he was glad to see it looked as if it functioned just as well outside of water than inside of the water. He let it drop, and looked around the shore again.

He had washed up in a small cove, surrounded by high cliffs of uneven rocks, each layer a different shade than the last. It looked climbable, with the top of the cliff holding high stalks of yellow grass invitingly swaying in the slight breeze.

But Zen pursed his lips and brought his eyes down to the cove again. He stripped off his shirt and instead curled it tightly above his waist, covering his privates. "Shirayuki!" He couldn't really raise his voice, but he tried two more tries before realizing he would need some sort of water in order to actually clear his vocal cords.

He stumbled back to the hot sand, climbing the rock and looking around, shading his eyes.

But it was pointless. Shirayuki wasn't with him.

Shirayuki woke up on her side some hours after Zen had. She wasn't lying in a cove, she was on the edge of a beach. Her back was pressed against a burning hot stone, her arm and side almost completely buried. Luckily, the tide was coming in. The light was orange – it was already sunset. She tried to feel for her fin, but instead her toes curled.

She jolted and blew out a breath of air. Slowly, she sat up. Her butt slipped into the sand, she felt burned and her skin was definitely darker. In this light, it was impossible to tell if she had been tanned or just burned. Her hair fell down across her face in dry wisps. Shirayuki grabbed a few, ignoring the hard pull on her skin. She ran her fingers through the strands. They were smooth and soft, but very frazzled. She pulled her fingers through her hair, stretching out her arm towards the sea. Her arm fins were gone, thin white lines sitting in their place on her skin looking like scars. Her legs were…were so weird! Her skin was mottled, bumpy even. She shivered, feeling cold.

At least she still had the ocean on her. The froth left bubbles of sand and pockets of air dripping along her upper legs. Seagulls cawed, sounding so much louder without the barrier of the surface to block them.

Shirayuki felt along her neck, but she had no gills. Not a scale on her.

She pulled herself free from the sand's grip, trying to actually stand. She couldn't seem to keep her feet underneath her. Tears pulled at her eyes, and once again they were so much worse Above Surface. Her chest felt tight as she fell onto her knees, splashing into the water.

The sound of the water made her heart ache.

The light was blinding on her eyes.

And the tears that ran down her cheeks burned.