Why did he agree to this?

Why did he decide that out of every possible action he could've taken, sheltering the two responsible for tonight's ruckus was the best idea?

This was absurd. Salem doubted his stunt would really pay off, and if he wasn't careful for the smallest of moments, most surely their cover would slip, and Jade and Yzel would be apprehended as fast as he could snap his fingers.

But of course, he just had to let his morals and pity decide what to do in the one time they weren't needed. It's not as if rational thought had aided him in getting out of trouble more in the last year or anything…

"Sooo you gonna knock on that door or not?" Yzel rudely commented, snapping Salem out of his thoughts. The blue-haired inkling shot a glance of annoyance to the taller bum before staring at the door in front of him again. His apartment door.

Thankfully, their sneak happened without any incident, and the trio were lucky that there was no one roaming the corridors of the apartment block at this hour. God knows the panic that would ensue at the sight of a mutant humanoid salmon-girl inside one's home. Still, they managed to arrive to their destination safe and sound. Now that they're here, however...

Oh, what could he even do? Outright show his roommate that they're sheltering the beast that's been prowling and hiding in inkopolis for the better part of nearly three days and somehow reassure him that this is a completely fine idea? As if that would ever work.

It was his winning option, though. Might as well commit to it all the way.

With a little hesitation, Salem knocked on his door three times. It only took a moment for some sort of response to come from the other side, in the form of the disparate, repeated sounds of items being shuffled around. Faint and hurried steps could also be heard amidst said shuffling, gradually growing louder and closer until the door was opened and the trio were greeted by a very tall, spindly-looking purple anchovy wearing square glasses.

"There you are!" He seethed at Salem, "You were certainly busy today, seeing as how you didn't bother leaving any sort of message behind after leaving, and especially after bailing on me for the night."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Had a few delays," Salem conceded apologetically, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"I can imagine.. But in any case, welcome back! You can tell me more about your ventures today once we head inside…"

The anchovy trailed off after glancing sideways and noticing the far-too-close-for-comfort Salmonling. Terror was present in his wide-eyed stare, and no matter how much he blinked or readjusted his glasses the salmonling would vanish from his sight, as if she were some sort of hallucination from his mind. Jade froze in place, in turn, and was unable to take her gaze off the eel.

Salem glanced between the two tensely, even picking up on his friend's mumbled stammering. He had to dissuade this quickly, or else either of them would end up scaring off the other. Surely the slightest of approaches on Jade's end would send the anchovy into a panicked frenzy, and it was only a matter of time before Constantine would slip into a state of panic or hurry back inside the dorm and call the cops before Jade could even move an arm.

Turning to Yzel, he tapped him on his back to get his attention, and before he could say anything Salem motioned him to go to the salmonling's aid.

"Let me explain, Constanti-"

"N-no, no! I-It's quite al-alright, haha! You two can, uh, wait there for a moment," The anchovy brushed off with a wave of his arm and a jolly tone (one that Salem could obviously tell was a mask), then promptly grabbed ahold of Salem's arm and led him back inside the room before closing the door.

Jade sighed sadly, and Yzel shook his head with a groan. He began knocking on Salem's door repeatedly.

On the other side, meanwhile, The anchovy locked the door with his own key and let out a long, shaky exhale before jolting his head to Salem with a grimace. The inkling boy wasn't really sure if his roommate was annoyed, bewildered, or both at the same time.

"So it's true?!" The anchovy whisper-shouted.

"It's okay, Constantine. They— she— won't harm us," Salem reassured.

"I'm sorry, did you not see what happened not so long ago? The carnage left in its wake?"

"That… it's complicated, okay? Let's just say that right now she isn't having the urge to attack anything in sight. Or really wants to attack anyone, period."

The skepticism on Constantine's frown was apparent, and his narrowed gaze made Salem feel as if he got in trouble for doing something stupid. Then again, this did seem like one of those occasions..

The humanoid-like anchovy turned back to the door and peeked outside through its doorhole. Nothing out of the ordinary on the other side, if one were to ignore the mutant salmon girl standing awkwardly along with the filthy-looking inkling teen that looked to be making exaggerated faces at no one in particular. Constantine could only groan at such immaturity.

"Well, at least your acquaintances are behaving themselves for now, especially that.. girl," he said in a much calmer voice than earlier.

"See? No harm," Salem chided.

"My question is why bring them here?"

Salem took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and after collecting his thoughts he faced Constantine once more.

"I get that it's sketchy. Heck, even I found their story hard to believe at first. But.. this is different. They're dealing with something severe and unlike anything I've ever seen, and no doctor or psychologist or scientist will be able to help. That.. salmonling needs someone to aid her."

"..And you believe that we are the ones most fit to do that," Constantine surmised, his words slow and doubtful.

"Yes."

"Instead of an organization that's well versed with everything regarding Salmonids, and has much better tools at their disposal... Like Grizzco."

"Great idea! They'll definitely take her in as painlessly and peacefully as possible, and they will absolutely not try to kill her on sight!" Salem retorted before facepalming with a groan.

Constantine let out a tired sigh. "To be honest, I'm not sure about this, Salem…Sheltering her is a risky move that, if we're not careful, could cost us dearly. What if we are ransacked or even apprehended for this?"

"Not if this stays a secret."

"Alright then, why should we take her and that buffoon in? What do either of us get out of it?"

Salem opened his mouth to speak, but faltered once Constantine's words truly nestled in his head. What would they gain by helping Jade? It's not as if a handsome reward would be handed to them for fixing her condition, or that their lives would change or improve much for one act of pitied kindness. Eventually, It would yield the same outcome as leaving her be and moving on with their own things to worry about.

Nothing would truly change.

He was brought out of his musings by a pat of his shoulder courtesy of Constantine. "As much as I'd like to lend some aid, I will not endanger my life or yours for some salmon girl you barely know," he exacted before walking back to his nearby desk.

Salem cringed. This wasn't going well at all. He always disliked whenever Constantine entered his 'panic mode', and this occasion seemed like one of the worst cases of it. It didn't help that he was running out of things to say, too. So much for trying to convince him..

He could try coming up with a decent incentive, but what?

The gears in his mind began to turn, and with the passing of time a new idea sprang forth.

"You know, 'Tine? I get it. You're scared. I'm scared too and it's somewhat justified. But maybe this won't feel so bad if you look at the situation in a different way".

Constantine looked back at Salem and raised an eyebrow in interest, which prompted the inkboy to walk closer to him and whisper into his ear. As Salem continued, Constantine found himself nodding, scoffing and overall questioning various aspects of the proposal, and when the inkling finished he had a look of intrigue on his snouted face. "Whaddya say?" Salem asked encouragingly.

Constantine hummed pensively, placing a hand to his chin.

"Those two are taking longer than an anemone at the clothes store.." grumbled Yzel, having given up his door-knocking and now leaning on a nearby wall. Jade, too, felt the tides of impatience building up within her as she stared at Salem's door anxiously.

It's been close to ten minutes since Constantine shut the door, and neither she nor Yzel have been able to listen in on their discussion, which in turn meant that they were absolutely clueless on what could happen. For all she knew, they were about to call the authorities, or decided that it wasn't worth it to keep her around. Now they knew, right? That she was nothing but a sham? A spineless freak?

Why stay, then. A freak like her needed no amnesty. A freak like her needed no company. A freak like her had nowhere else to go, rather than wither away..

Slowly and stealthily, she stepped away from the door frame and turned around to walk away. Only mere seconds passed before she was stopped in her tracks and felt Yzel's hand gently wrapped around her wrist. A glance back and she was faced with the concerned inkling.

"I.."

"Don't worry about it, alright?" Yzel reassured.

"Yeah… sorry.." Jade weakly apologized, turning back around facing the door.

"Can't blame ya, honestly. I'd have left by now if it were under different circumstances."

Before she could say anything else, Salem's door suddenly swung open.

"You two can come inside," the aforementioned inkling mentioned, stepping aside to let the pair in.

Jade and Yzel both glanced at each other and at Salem with an unsure look on their faces. It took some time for the salmonling to gather up enough courage to enter the dormitory, with Yzel following suit.

"A bit messy compared to my room," was Jade's first thought upon entering Salem's dorm. Indeed, despite there being quite a few pieces of clothing, utensils and junk in general scattered about, the room still remained relatively tidy. Then again, anything messier would seem rude on their end, and they'd probably want their main guest to feel comfortable. Whether it was due to discomfort or self-restraint, Jade stood awkwardly in the center of the room and silently observed the others moving about.

It was then she made eye contact with the formal-looking anchovy. Their red and black-pupiled eyes shot a stare that unnerved the salmonling, yet somehow they seemed eager to her. Or it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.

"Uh.. hello?" Jade asked timidly, giving a low and uncertain wave to the distant anchovy.

It took a solid 3 seconds for him to react, after which he cleared his throat and regained awareness of the new arrivals. "Oh, where are my manners? Hello there! I-it was.. quite the surprise to see you here!" He greeted with a chuckle.

"Y-yeah. Sorry f-for scaring you earlier…" Jade said apologetically, looking down in both embarrassment and shame.

"Please, I should be the sorry one. I wasn't thinking clearly in that moment."

"It's okay.." Jade trailed off, her reassurance coming to a whimpering end. Still she dared not to move.

It took a calling out from Constantine for her to snap out of her stupor. "Don't be shy now! you can lay down wherever you please. Like your.. friend.. over there."

Jade's gaze followed the direction Constantine was pointing at and spotted Yzel lounging on a sofa and yawning quite loudly. The salmonling frowned and was puzzled at this, but quickly brushed it off. It wouldn't seem right to Jade if she were the only one to get proper rest, anyways. She sat on the adjacent chair and watched her two companions squabbling over the sofa with faint interest.

"Hey, get off. It's not your sofa," Salem barked, grabbing ahold of Yzel's wrist and using it to pull him off the sofa.

"Am tired and wanna shleep.." was Yzel's mumbled reply as he shifted around in the sofa.

"Go do that in your own house, then."

Yzel's tired eyes wandered to a window nearby. He remained silent for a few seconds, before croaking a quick "nah". Salem merely groaned in response and moved somewhere else.

"So.. you're letting me stay here, Mr. Fish?" Jade addressed to Constantine.

"Oh yes!" Said anchovy answered with a clap of his hands, "Call me Constantine, by the way. I must say, your presence here is quite the oddity. Never knew there were Salmonids capable of achieving a humanoid form," He commented pensively, leaning forward to take a better look at the salmonling.

"Yeah.." the salmonling nodded with a nervous laugh, "There... aren't a whole lot of my type really…"

"Are there even any more like you out there? I imagine you're not very common."

"N-not really, no. Just me for now."

Constantine hummed. "And so young too.. Anyways, you must've had your reasons for coming here, no? Perhaps you were bored of the old home or the like."

"Uh…"

Oh great, now it seems as if Salem didn't even tell him of her real affliction. No real worries, however, since she could just tell Constantine the truth right away. Would he believe her, and if so, would he still be willing to lend aid?

"Y'see, I-um.. I'm not really a salmonid, actually. Not entirely at least."

"Pardon?" The anchovy asked once more for clarification.

"My appearance wasn't always like this.. before, I was just an inkling. But then I got in an accident with a chum that made me start acting weird, and then night came and while I was sleeping I.. changed."

"...What?" Constantine exclaimed with sudden, stiff force in his voice.

Jade in turn snatched the nearest cellphone she could find and did a quick internet search. "Here, th-this is how I look like as an inkling," she said, handing the phone to Constantine. As she expected, his reaction was one of shock, and the way his gaze continually skipped between the picture of her inkling self and her current face incited a feeling of dread in the salmonling.

"But this— it can't— it shouldn't be possible!" The surprised fish stammered, "No inkling can change their form into that of another species! Their physiologies are too different to have any form of intermingling!"

His cries of bewilderment startled Jade deeply, the girl proceeding to make herself look small in shame. A glance towards Jade made Constantine take note of this, however, and he stopped himself from making any more remarks.

"I'm sorry for my outburst," Constantine said, approaching Jade and putting a hand on her shoulder as a way of comfort. "It's only that this is.. unusual, to say the least. I.. give me a moment, please."

The anchovy took a moment to adjust their square glasses before scurrying off towards a desk.

This Constantine.. at the very least, it looked as if they meant no harm. Yet despite that, anxiety still squeezed at Jade, still choked her. She felt herself barely trembling again, yet no matter the brief calming exercises she did: closing her eyes, taking deep breaths, gripping the arms of the chair with her hands; All ended up contributing nothing to clear the mist swirling in her head, clouding any and all judgement on the future. She turned to gaze at Salem, and saw something.. different in him. As if the uptight, stuck-up boy from before has disappeared. "Salem?"

The inkling boy gazed back at Jade in response, "What's gonna happen to me?"

His gaze softened, doubted, questioned. Still he reassured her, "It's gonna be okay. Constantine will help us."

He had to help them.

The longer he gazed back at Jade, the more Salem's annoyance and—dare he say—pity grew. For as much chaos as her ventures caused, Salem had to remember that it was all done unwittingly. Up to now, nothing about what Jade had said or how she acted implied any sort of malicious intentions, for better or worse. Salem couldn't imagine what it had been like, to have your body twisted into a new and unknown thing, being forced to constantly hold back new senses and urges all in an effort to simply not harm a soul. It must take quite the toll to do so.

If he didn't act now, who knows what other things may happen? He needed to put an end to this as soon as possible, before it could escalate.

Salem followed after Constantine as he began tinkering on his desk. He looked to be examining something on a heli-drone, namely its underslung camera and one of its rotors and was about to continue until he noticed Salem approaching him.

"Well?"

"Well what? I'm not sure what you expect me to do," Constantine threw up his hands.

"Look into this, figure out what can be done to reverse her condition. Thought I made that clear earlier."

"Then I'll require a sample of.. anything, at the very least," Constantine asserted before rummaging through each of the drawers in his desk, until at last he found what he was looking for: a small syringe and a test tube. Grabbing ahold of them and slamming the drawer shut, he stood up and motioned Jade to come towards him and Salem.

"Please hold your arm out for a moment," Constantine requested politely. Jade did as told, allowing the anchovy to insert the syringe onto the salmonling's limb, though not without eliciting a wince from her. He swiftly removed the syringe once enough of the girl's greenish blood had been extracted and immediately got to work with his other tools.

The subsequent minutes passed by in a blur, and through the lens of his microscope Constantine observed the sample of Jade's ink. He was left puzzled: its composition looked erratic, unstable, and quite clearly mismatched. He could identify faint traces of the blood cells found in inkling ink, but they were few and far between these.. things flowing through the liquid. He could surmise that they likely hailed from Jade's salmonid half, but how they've managed to survive for so long was baffling. Surely, her antibodies would have neutralized the salmonid components by now…

Right?

Before he could speculate any further, the corner of the anchovy's eye noticed that something was happening. A spiked microbe approached one of the inkling cells and began to touch it. It seemed as if it were absorbing it, but then something odd happened: just before the microbe finished it's consumption, the inkling cell suddenly grew and overtook the salmonid one before shifting into something that looked like a fusion of the two. A closer look showed that this same action was happening between a few more of the scattered particles in the ink, and some pairs remained idle and made no move to consume or attack each other. A most unnatural process, if he said so himself...

"This cannot be.." Constantine lamented once he paused his analysis.

"Did you find something?" Salem asked, looking up from his reading of a book to meet Constantine's troubled gaze.

"Well… the mutation runs far deeper than I imagined. The blood cells within the ink seem to be at odds, yet somehow mingling together."

"The shell is that supposed to be?" Yzel butted in, looking over the sofa and at the other two.

"Do you not know how your ink works?" Constantine retorted with a question of his own, one that Yzel only responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Typical simpleton… Alright then. I'm sure you at least have some idea of why your friend looks the way she does at the moment, no?"

"It's because of the salmonid ink in me.. right?" Jade inquired for clarification.

Constantine nodded approvingly. "But it's not just that. Inkling ink, which also serves as your blood, has certain components in them: their very own blood cells. Red ones carry the things necessary for you to keep going, and white ones ward off anything that might harm you. Nothing too complicated there.

Now, salmonid ink managed to enter your body, directly into your circulatory system. Seeing as how direct contact with ink from different species, or rather different types of ink, often causes injury to inklings, it's a wonder you're not wracked with a dozen sicknesses at the moment."

"So I'm not ill?"

"No. The cells within you would have to be attacked by any pathogens carried through the salmonid ink for that to happen. Something else has ocurred instead. Come."

The two inklings and salmonid moved to Constantine's desk, the eel scooting aside and letting each of them take a look in the microscope before he could continue.

"See the spiked particles? They appear to be cells from the salmonid part of your ink, floating through the liquid alongside your inkling cells. You'd think the presence of incompatible microbes from outside would spur the white cells— and your immune system in general— to fight back, yet somehow that isn't happening at all. Both inkling and salmonid cells are flowing within your ink, neither working to cast out the other. Not only are most of the cells co-existing, some are even coming together to form new composite cells. The salmonid and inkling inks? they're merging."

"Oooh.. that's a bad thing, right? Or…" Yzel pondered out loud.

"It isn't harmful per se, but if left unattended it could yield profound consequences for you, Jade."

"But it's already made me change into this. You can't tell me there's more," Jade objected.

"Judging by the sample of your ink, your mutation doesn't look to be of the static type. If it were, the microbes inside you wouldn't be so lively. This has only affected your body, right? Your mind seems to be mostly untouched."

"Emphasis on 'mostly'," Salem added, eyeing Jade with certain disgruntlement.

"I doubt such an important part of an inkling's being would be spared from the mutation, at least forever. Perhaps.. perhaps the speed at which this affliction claims the mind is different than the speed at which it morphed the body. Perhaps it's slower."

"Who cares how slow it is, we just wanna know what's gonna happen next," Yzel complained, tapping his foot impatiently.

Constantine turned toward the microscope and looked into it again before replying, "The salmonid ink has spread all across Jade's body, enough for it to mutate. However, there's a part of her that's still distinctly inkling, which would suggest the merging process is still in an early phase, or it's just that the salmonid ink hasn't fully affected her brain yet. That might be the next target for the microbes to assimilate, after having made contact with the rest of your body."

"I fear that with time, the ink and it's contents might be able to fully seep inside your brain, Jade, and begin to influence your thoughts and urges more and more. That is, until any traces of your normal mind are scrubbed off. And if that happens? There might not be any way- or reason- for you to change back."

"What the heck?! So she's on a time limit?!" Yzel exclaimed in disbelief, gripping the edges of the couch he was on.

"Seems to be the case. If the mutation is allowed to develop as is and unimpeded, it's possible your transformation might become.. permanent." Constantine finished, his expression turning solemn.

Disbelief permeated in the room. The inklings exchanged an unsure glance, similar conclusions and feelings of concern forming on both of their got a whole lot more dangerous.

Salem's most of all was running at a mile per hour, scrambling to think of something— anything— that could get them out of this sticky situation. So many ways they could screw up, so few things they could fall back on for support, and nothing was certain except for one thing: They only had each other to count on. From now on, no one else could know.

Jade's mouth quivered, and with a voice not unlike that of a scared child she whispered, "How much time do I have?"

"Hard to really say at the moment, though at the rate the merging process is happening I can estimate that it would take some months before it's complete."

In that moment, Jade's hearts skipped a beat, and her mind went completely blank. She could only look down at the ground and take a deep breath, as if that would somehow clear the haze forming in her mind. She didn't even realize her body was shaking, and soon the voices of the others and any sound in the room was drowned out and muted.

Months.. could such a short timespan truly be enough for her current life, her current self perhaps, to simply vanish? This question lingered and festered within Jade's mind.

Salem on the other hand couldn't help but curse to himself again. "Of course time would be another problem," He grumbled mentally, furrowing his eyebrows. Time for a new course of action, then..

"Crap.. what do we do?" Yzel threw out yet another question of his own, glancing uneasily between Jade and Constantine.

"I can continue to pore over this sample in the meantime. Without your presence here," The eel-male emphasized in an almost stern manner, spinning his chair back around towards the desk and refocusing on the glass of mixed ink that lay in it. "As for you… well, I only hope that whatever it is you're planning can work."

Bewilderment graced Yzel's being as he stomped over to Constantine's desk, clutching it with a hand for support and getting in the eel's face. "C'mooooon, you're not just gonna ditch us right?"

"No. But surely you must understand I cannot be your friend's caretaker either."

"You're doing it now.. nothing wrong so far."

"Only as a favor. Once the sun rises tomorrow, I have no choice but to move you out of here," Constantine finished

"Well fine, Jade and I are just gonna move somewhere else. If we keep moving around the city, no one's gonna be able to catch her," Yzel boasted with a smirk, breaking from the chair.

"In the city? That is simply asking for another mess to happen with a suggestion like that."

"What, you want us to run away like wusses? That isn't much better either!"

The pair continued to throw suggestions, arguments and insults at each other, reaching a stalemate. Yzel was about to speak up once more, but he got cut short by a tug on his arm from Jade.

"Yzel, listen to him. I don't think there's anything we could do now."

"You're kidding, right? 2 bumps in the road ain't enough to punish yourself, Jade. He's only saying that 'cause he's a scaredy cat."

"She has to leave."

Jade, Yzel and Constantine turned to the owner of the solemn voice. Salem glanced between the trio before rising from his seat.

"I really don't like saying this, but Constantine's got a point. It's only been what, two to three days? and already Jade's caused both property damage and injuries to dozens of people. If she stays here, there's bound to be more accidents with the way things are now."

"Right… let's forget that she had no control over her actions during that time and blame her for things she wasn't aware of," Yzel protested

"That's exactly why, Yzel. If Jade isn't able to keep herself from becoming feral, she'll only end up going in more rampages. And now, people know. They'll see that the rumors were true and they'll start acting based on what they saw, and what do people do when they see a monster? They either run away or they hunt it down."

The salmonling winced upon hearing the word 'monster'. In her mind, it was clear that Salem didn't mean it as any insult, yet still emotions of hurt brewed within. Yzel didn't talk back after hearing Salem's conclusion, and only glanced at the others in the room before groaning in defeat.

"Alright, fine. We'll go to another place then like Calamari County or somethin'," Yzel proposed with a grumble.

"That wouldn't change anything though, just bring the problem somewhere else."

"But.. where else can I go, if I can't stay here or in any other city?" Jade asked with an unsure gaze, fidgeting with her fingers.

"It'd have to be somewhere no one could get hurt. Somewhere you can be a Salmonling as much as you want without anyone batting an eye on you…"

With crossed arms and closed eyes, Salem pondered over a fitting destination. There's only one place that came to mind that could possibly be what they were looking for..

"Alright, new plan: tomorrow we'll sneak into Grizzco and take one of their boats. With it, we'll sail off from the mainland and into salmonid territory," He announced, pacing over to where the window was. "More specifically the farthest one from here, which would be the Smokeyard— that's where we are gonna drop you off, Jade."

The aforementioned salmonling's hum was laced with insecurity, and her crossing of arms and looking away from the group elicited an eyebrow raise from Salem. He couldn't deny that what he suggested is a tall task, and perhaps the thought of having to live among the barbaric fishes for a time and abandon all she knew for a time seemed daunting. Heck, even he would have second thoughts on doing such a thing if he were the mutated one. Still, it was the only viable option they had, and he wasn't gonna let a little fear stop this team effort in its tracks.

"I know it's not exactly an ideal solution, but it's our only option. You'll be safer there," he reassured, looking back on the salmonling.

"That's… that isn't what I'm worried about," Jade muttered in a low voice, "I… nevermind."

The inklings shared a glance of confusion, neither knowing what to say or ask but still sharing the same sentiment. And all the while, Constantine looked on at the conversation with a sharp gaze, as if silently studying the girl.

Once the sun rose and a new day had arrived, Salem's plan was carried out without much delay or incident. The trio had found a way to hide Jade's features by way of a simple cloak and a dozen other rags that wrapped around her body, shielding all of her more notable features out of sight. Sure enough, no one batted an eye at the display of two inklings accompanying a cloaked person towards Grizzco's doorstep.

To their surprise, Mr. Grizz had started business early with a shift at the Smokeyard available for anyone to partake in, and to their relief he had allowed them to 'work' there without asking many questions regarding the girl's getup. How he didn't think much of it was a mystery as much as it was very suspicious. It didn't matter however, for either way they ended up boarding a boat.

And so, they were now sailing en route to the Salmonid Smokeyard across the polluted sea, none uttering a word during the trip. In no time at all they had arrived.

Yzel eagerly leaped out of his seat, his feet landing on the muddy shore with a little bounce. Salem was next, merely stepping out of the boat and walking ahead to where the left ramp was located. It took a call from the former to get Jade to drag her feet out the boat and into the dark orange sands after her companions.

"And we're here! No problems or suspicious people either, so that's a relief," Yzel gleefully announced as he overlooked the island from where he stood.

"This is as far as we go," Salem stated, "We'll come back for you once Constantine is able to make something, alright?"

The salmonling offered no response, and only glanced at Salem before her gaze turned downcast. Her seeming ignorance elicited an exasperated mutter from Salem and prompted him to sneak up on her.

"Alright, spit it out," Salem coaxed.

Jade flinched at the suddenness of Salem's voice, yet still made no moves to face him. "I'm just.. a little antsy about all this really. Don't worry."

"If there is one thing that really gets under my skin, it's people lying in my face. Or rather, people lying to themselves. So don't try it, please."

The salmon girl whipped around to glare at Salem, "This is too much for me, okay?! I-I don't know what to do!"

"I know, which is why we-"

"You don't get it!" Jade snapped, "First I wake up as some- some freak, then I pass out and learn that my body ran around on its own and terrorized people, and now you're telling me that I have to live here for who knows how long with them!" She peered down at her feet, then at her own scaly hands. "I-I almost.. splatted Khal…"

At a loss for words of reassurement, Salem bit his lip and glanced away from the Salmonling. As if on cue, Yzel stepped in.

"Hey now, let's hold off for a sec. You don't honestly believe what you just said now, and it's certainly not the end of the world."

"Sure feels like it.." Jade turned away from her companions. Yet no sooner did she take a step than Yzel swiftly gripped her shoulder and spun her back around to face him with quite the stern face.

"Listen here. I've only met you for what, 4 days tops? and I can say that the way you're freaking out now is not you at all."

"Maybe you don't know me that well."

"Maybe not, but I know enough to see you're better than this. Heck, you've dealt with Salmonids before in our shifts together, and you took 'em down or pushed 'em away no sweat. And back then, when you first came out with the bite, there was no fear was there? Nah, you handled that like a champ."

Jade looked up at the inkling with misty eyes. Her mouth quivered, yet no words came out. No more than a broken "But.." was exhaled out to the world.

"I mean, yeah, living with the things is completely different— and actually might be a little harder— but point is, you did fine then, and you'll do fine now. I'm sure of it. Who knows, maybe our nerdy pals over there will get a cure ready in no time and you'll only have to stay here for a week or two," he finished, jabbing his thumb to point back at Salem.

Still silent, the girl gazed between the inklings as her body began to quiver, barely holding any kind of composure. Out of nowhere, she roped Yzel in a tight hug and let out a few tears. He didn't object, however, and only granted poor words of comfort. Yet for as much turmoil that still festered within her, Jade refused to break down into full-blown crying. She wasn't going to look like more of a weakling than she already was in front of the others.

Neither of the three really took measure of the time, but a glance upwards showed the sun still high in the sky when Jade managed to calm down. She took a step back from Yzel and turned her back on them, taking her attention to the smokeyard out before her.

"Thank you for all of this, you guys," Jade said with a solemn look on her, "I wasn't sure earlier, but now.. now I feel ready."

"Right. Try to not lose your mind, ya hear?" Yzel replied with a wave before jogging back to the boat.

"Good luck," Salem bid with a small smile.

Jade nodded in turn, and she waved her friends off as they began to sail away. Soon, they were far away and out of sight and the salmonling was alone once more. Her thoughts wandered...

This was crazy. Even now, she still had a hard time believing everything that has befallen her so far, especially the fact that she was going to stay with salmonids for whoever knew how long. The very same salmonids she thought of as nothing more than annoying, rabid fishes that wouldn't stay down even if the world depended on it would be her temporary 'friends' now. Ridiculous.

Jade put her palms on her face and groaned. It's not that she was afraid of getting hurt by the fishes or anyone else, if it came to that she'd defend herself till the end. The possible effects of her intermingling with the salmonids were what troubled her. Would their barbaric, animalistic ways slowly ingrain and overtake her mind, affecting how she acted? Would being with other salmonids fester her own salmonid half's primal needs and instincts , leading to her being more prone to regress into a feral state? Would she forget her former life and end up succumbing to her impulses, becoming naught but a rabid beast?

Too pressing of questions with no clear answers in sight. What to do?

They retreated to the back of Jade's mind when a soft tapping sound slithered into her ears. The salmonling removed her hands from her face and looked ahead to see a gathering of figures on the other side of the island, which she soon realized were salmonids after squinting her yellowed eyes.

This was it, no turning back now. With a deep breath, she pushed any more worries aside and took cautious yet firm steps towards the gathering. The others offered her help, and she wasn't going to throw it away. Whatever may happen, she needed to do her part too, all to one day get her old life back.

"Well, here goes nothing."

Author's notes

Well, here it is. The chapter that's been two, nearly three months late and admittedly I've struggled with the most is now finished, and ready for you. I do hope there is still some enjoyment to be found in this story, though I doubt there's much left. I'd like to apologize for taking so long to do anything. But life goes on, and this is really only the beginning. Please look forward to more updates in the future.

Any reviews or feedback is appreciated (I can't tell the quality of my writing sometimes), and perhaps the next chapter will come soon for you all. Until next time, if there is any.