A/N: Because FF still won't show me reviews, if you have any questions or concerns about the last two chapters (and this one, because I don't think reviews are functioning yet), please PM me!
Despite the excitement of the previous day, Fontaine slept soundly through the night and woke early. She stared at the ceiling of her room for a while, expecting to fall back asleep, but she was wide awake.
Fontaine sighed and stretched, then experimentally sat up. Nothing ached and her head was clear, solidifying her theory about the illness just being the curse acting up.
Fontaine paused. "Guess I can't ignore the curse thing anymore…"
She shrugged and stood. She changed into her wetsuit, then called Finn's tablet. It opened automatically, showing an angled view of Finn still sleeping on the cot.
"He must have left his tablet on," Fontaine mused. "Hey, Finn, are you sleeping in today?"
When he didn't respond, Fontaine bit her lip. She squinted at the screen, remembering how Finn had passed out after the squid incident, but Finn sounded fine and he looked completely relaxed.
Fontaine closed the connection. Finn had had to move around more than Fontaine, who hadn't been allowed to take a single step, so maybe Finn just needed some extra sleep. Which made sense, but Fontaine had to worry a bit.
Fontaine shook her head and told herself she was overthinking it. She left her room and headed for the bridge. Kaiko would definitely be awake by now. And Will had noticed a message from an old friend of his; something about a creature he'd spotted. Her family was sure to investigate, and surely it wouldn't hurt if she joined them?
"No."
Fontaine blinked. "But, if I-"
"No, Fontaine," Will said sternly. "You aren't leaving the Aronnax so soon."
"Da-ad," Fontaine complained. "I thought you guys were done worrying over the curse taking me away or whatever."
Kaiko, sitting at her console, turned the chair. "That was before we knew your dying was a possibility."
"Mum, if I stay on the Aronnax for a second longer, I'm going to die of boredom!"
Fontaine's dramatic statement brought a smile to Will's face. Kaiko glanced at Will, mouth twitching, then turned back to her console.
Fontaine considered their response a win. Both of them had been so frantic over Nereus' story the previous day, Fontaine had had a hard time hiding her nervousness. She spent half the day reminding herself that Finn was on board and safe, and that nobody was taking him away. Nothing -not even the curse- could hurt them as long as she and Finn remained calm.
Now, after a good night's sleep, Fontaine was more than ready to get outside. She just had to convince her parents…
"Less than twenty-four hours ago, you were throwing up so much, you fainted," Kaiko said, sobering. "Even without the curse, you shouldn't exert yourself so much."
"I feel fine, though!" It was really hard to not whine, but Fontaine was getting bored. "What if I was in the Rover with you? All I'd be doing is sitting."
Kaiko hesitated. Fontaine knew she had logic on her side, but if Kaiko thought going outside in even the Rover would be too much, Fontaine wouldn't be going anywhere.
"I really don't see the harm," Nereus said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"Uh, we try to not say that on the Aronnax," Ant piped up. "Not after last time."
"What happened last time?" Nereus asked.
"We almost got eaten by giant squid," Ant said.
Nereus blinked at Ant. "You don't say."
"Yeah. We would have, too, if it hadn't been for Cooper."
The bridge fell silent at the mention of the resident ghost.
"Oh? And what did he do?" Nereus asked after a moment.
"Well, he didn't do anything about the squid, but he did fix the air supply. Or else we would have been fish food."
Fontaine resisted the urge to point out that "Cooper" had only been helpful. Arguing the intentions of a ghost wasn't going to sway her parents.
"Nereus," Will said thoughtfully. "What are we going to look at?"
"You know as much as I do," Nereus said. "You heard Ken's call."
"Uh-huh," Will said, not sounding convinced. "Ken isn't the easily spooked type, so I can't imagine why a diver would scare him so much."
"Maybe it wasn't human?" Ant suggested.
"He wouldn't have called it human if it wasn't human, Ant," Kaiko said, smiling.
"Do you have any idea how many 'looks human, but aren't really human' things there are in the ocean?" Ant asked. "You think you're looking at another human, then next thing you know, you're being dragged into the deepest depths of the ocean!"
"That's a… great mental picture," Fontaine said, remembering all the myths she'd heard and read.
Will frowned. "Ken called yesterday, but I haven't heard from him since. I hope he didn't investigate himself."
"Ken is safe."
Nereus' confident statement made everyone look at him.
"Did you see him on your way here?" Will asked.
"No, but some of my… associates met up with him."
Fontaine rolled her eyes. "You can just say 'Guardians,' Nereus."
"Rest assured, Ken's discovery is safe," Nereus went on.
"What discovery?" Kaiko asked.
"Whatever it was that he saw."
"Which you totally don't know anything about?" Fontaine said skeptically.
"I've been here since you got the call," Nereus defended himself.
"You knew about the sea worm."
"This, I know nothing about, believe me."
Fontaine just hummed, unconvinced. At the same time, Kaiko announced that they were nearly to where Ken had made the call.
"Will, Ant, suit up to dive," Kaiko said, turning. "Fontaine, you're with me in the Rover."
Fontaine perked up. "I can go?"
"Can't have you dying of boredom, after all," Kaiko said with a smile.
While Kaiko prepared the Rover, Fontaine retrieved her camera from her room. While she had a few minutes, she also called Finn.
This time, Finn was awake and had his head hanging off the edge of the cot. His hair was smushed sideways and his eyes drooped halfway, as though he'd just woken up.
"Hey, Finn, how do you feel today?" Fontaine asked, passing on the chance to tease his bedhead.
"I sentio melior," Finn mumbled.
Fontaine laughed. "English, Finn."
"Better." Finn yawned. "I feel better. What time is it?"
"Just past seven."
"Really?"
"Yeah, pretty early still."
"That's late for me."
"Oh, yeah." Fontaine shook her head. "How do you do it? I've been up for over an hour. Two, if you count the half hour staring at the ceiling."
Finn blinked at the screen, then abruptly grinned. "It worked!"
"Uh… what worked? Are you awake for real?"
"Yeah, I'm awake," Finn said, sitting up and grabbing the tablet. "I tried something last night, and-"
Fontaine's comm beeped, then Kaiko asked, "Fontaine, are you coming?"
"Coming, Mum," Fontaine said, then turned her comm off. "Listen, we're going to investigate something a friend of Dad's saw. You'll have to tell me what you did later."
"Okay, that works. Are you sure you should go out?"
"Yep, and I'm raring to go. We're all going out, so you can stretch your legs if you need to. Talk to you later, bye!"
Finn waved, then Fontaine turned off her tablet, grabbed her camera, and dashed from the room. With any luck, her family would be in and out of the Blue Hole, and Fontaine could get back to Finn.
A/N: Fontaine should really know better by now. XD Don't worry, things will pick up soon. That being said, just a reminder that I'm going to be largely AWOL for the next week and a half. Plus, the next chapter has a fairly large Reject parallel, so I'm working on that, too.
Finn translation: I feel better.
