Yo peeps! This is not actually the chapter that was scheduled to come out today :O BUT I'm having a SUPER hard time writing that one because it needs knowledge of the Guardians of Childhood canon that I do not know/have access to. SO. If any among you have read Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King and are okay with me asking you questions, please send me a PM. I am desperate.

In any case, this is a request from DarkInuFan. HeavensLuminousArc and I had a great time brainstorming titles for it (most of which are too ridiculous to actually use). I hope you all enjoy it ^w^

Disclaimed

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Six Feet Under(water)

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Jack was starting to regret ever having taught the Burgess kids how to manipulate people with puppy eyes. Just as well they hadn't used it on him in summer; he couldn't be sure he wouldn't have crumbled to their will regardless that the heat might have melted him. As it was, he'd been coerced (not that much coercion had been necessary, truth be told) into joining them a few weeks into spring at the lake for a swimming trip. He supposed they considered him the 'responsible adult supervision', regardless of the fact that, physically, he was only a few years older than them.

Sitting in the shallows, Jack made sure to keep one eye on the kids further out, who were making full use of the inflatable water slide and other assorted 'pool' toys Monty had gotten for Christmas, and the other on Sophie in front of him, who was decked out in a bright pink swimsuit and so many floaties that there were almost more of them than there was of her. So far she seemed content to just splash around, but he wasn't going to leave her by herself (both because she wasn't a strong swimmer yet and because he didn't want her to feel left out).

Eventually, though, the sound of laughter and splashing from the older kids caught Sophie's attention, and she stood waist-deep in the water, staring out at them.

"What's up, Soph?" Jack asked. "You wanna go down the slide?"

Sophie nodded enthusiastically, not bothering to look at him.

"Okay," Jack pushed himself to his feet. He reached down and scooped her up, depositing her on his shoulders. "Hold on tight!"

Leaving his hoodie-clad staff sticking up in the dirt of the shore, Jack started to wade deeper into the water. The kids had set up the slide roughly around the point where the water level reached their shoulders so that they could still stand up (though they had to keep nudging it back into place every now and then) – and so it was only around chest-height for Jack. He was nowhere near as scared of water now as he used to be, but he had to admit that he was grateful that he wouldn't have to go further than what his feet could reach. Sophie kicked her legs, and Jack indulgently bobbed down so that her feet were submerged.

"Sophie's got dibs on the slide next!" he called up to Pippa, who was just getting ready to go down herself.

"Slide! Slide! Slide!" Sophie echoed excitably.

"Do you wanna go down with me, Soph?" Pippa called back.

Sophie clung to Jack's head, shaking her own decisively.

"I think she wants me to take her," Jack chuckled.

Pippa shrugged and pushed herself off, landing in the water at the bottom with a resounding splash that drenched Claude, who'd lunged after a runaway beach ball.

"C'mon, Soph, let's get up there," Jack said, tilting his head up to look at her. At her enthusiastic agreement, he waded around to the back of the slide and started climbing. They'd barely made it to the top before Cupcake was joining them.

"Race you," she smirked, prepping herself on the far left of the slide.

"Ha! You'd need a miracle to beat us," Jack grinned back. "Right, Sophie?"

"We win!" Sophie giggled as Jack lowered her down to sit in front of him.

"Not yet you haven't," Cupcake pointed out. "Oi! Monty!"

Monty squeaked, immediately turning to look up at them at the same time Caleb tossed the beach ball to him. It bounced off his head and back onto the water with a dull splat.

"Can you be judge?!"

"Ah, okay!" Monty returned. "Um, ready? Set! Go!"

They pushed off at the same time, and Jack eased Sophie back a bit so they were almost parallel with the slide. A second later they plunged into the water. With all the floaties, Sophie barely even went under.

"Who won?!" Cupcake asked the second her head cleared the surface.

Monty wordlessly pointed to Sophie and Jack.

"We won! We won!" Sophie splashed, and Jack scooped her up in victory.

"Undefeatable!" he crowed.

Cupcake huffed, but there was a smile on her face. "I want a rematch!"

"You're o–"

"Hey, where's Jamie?"

Claude's question cut Jack off, and with rising horror, Jack realised he couldn't see Jamie anywhere.

"When did anyone last see him?" he asked loudly, twisting in place, hoping to catch sight of him. But it was like he'd vanished.

Or drowned.

Jack shoved that thought aside. There was no way he was going to even entertain the thought. Not Jamie. Not in this lake. He'd probably just run back to the house to use the bathroom or something.

"I don't know," Pippa returned uneasily. "I saw him maybe five minutes ago?"

"Yeah," Caleb agreed. "He said he was going for a swim."

Jack's heart pounded in his chest. If Jamie had gone for a swim there was no reason they shouldn't have been able to see him. "Jamie?!" he called. "Jamie, you here?!"

Nothing.

Fear crept up on him, catching in his throat. Wordlessly, he passed Sophie over to Cupcake, who took her without protest. All the kids were wearing expressions that matched the way Jack was feeling, but he knew he had to stay calm – for them, as well as for Jamie. It wouldn't do if they freaked out because he freaked out.

"I'll be right back," he promised, then dove under the water.

Even without the old fear of being submerged, Jack didn't think he'd ever get used to, let alone like, the feeling of being completely under the water. And keeping your eyes open at the same time was rather uncomfortable, to say the least. But he pushed any and all unease aside and forced himself to swim out deeper into the lake, eyes peeled for a smudge of brown hair or green shorts. He stayed under for just over a minute before he knew he needed to surface for air, and then it was straight back down again.

It felt like it took an age, but finally, finally, he spotted movement and a bit of colour that didn't match the rest of the lake far below him. Jack didn't waste any time. He swiftly descended further, ignoring the growing paranoia and fear creeping up on him. If Jamie was that far down and hadn't surfaced for ten minutes…

His fingers brushed an arm, and Jack quickly clamped down on it before he rocketed his way back up to the surface. He barely even paused to breathe before his attention was fixed on Jamie as he dragged them both back towards the shallows.

Jamie, who was staring up at him with wide, confused eyes.

Jamie, who was very much alive.

Not dead. Not even unconscious.

Jack let out a huge sigh of relief, pulling the kid to him in a furious embrace the second his feet brushed against the sandy bottom of the lake. "Are you okay?!" he demanded, pushing Jamie back to arm's length.

"I'm fine?" Jamie reassured him, but it sounded more like a question.

"How can you be fine?! You were under there for, like, ten minutes!"

Jamie stared at him for a long moment before slowly opening his mouth. Sitting on his tongue was a very familiar scale. A mermaid scale. He'd never been in danger of drowning at all.

A hysterical laugh bubbled up in Jack's throat and he made no move to stifle it.

"Jamie, are you okay?!" the other kids hurried over to him, wearing the same mixture of relief and concern on their faces.

"Yeah," Jamie smiled at them, taking the scale out of his mouth. "Nothing to worry about!"

"Nothing to–?!" Jack took a deep breath. "Don't ever, ever scare me like that again."

Jamie had the decency to look apologetic. "Sorry."

"I don't mind if you want to go for a dive – especially if you've got that scale – but tell me next time! I thought you'd drowned or something!"

"What scale?" Monty frowned.

"Hey, is that the mermaid scale you were talking about?" Cupcake lit up.

But Jamie wasn't really paying attention. Instead, his expression turned to one of realisation, before swiftly morphing into something sad. "I'm sorry I scared you," he said. "I promise I'm fine."

"It's okay," Jack breathed. "It's fine, just… just don't go off on your own without telling someone, okay?"

"Okay. I really am sorry, though."

"I know," Jack ruffled his hair. Then, deciding that wasn't good enough, he hugged him again. His mind knew Jamie was safe, but his heart hadn't quite gotten the memo. He'd probably be a little high-strung for a while.

Jamie returned the hug this time, and let him hold it for as long as he needed.

"Hey, Sophie, didn't you get one of those scales, too?" Pippa asked, drawing their attention back to the rest of the kids.

Sophie's eyes widened, as if only just now realising that this would have been the perfect opportunity to use it.

"Let's go get it!" Jamie suggested. "We can go explore the bottom of the lake!" He paused, turning back to Jack. "If that's okay?"

Jack cracked a grin, though it felt a little forced. "Sounds like fun," he said. "And I'd feel better if two of you went down at a time instead of just one." Safety in numbers, and all that.

"I'll take Sophie back to the house to get it," Cupcake volunteered. Sophie, on her back, didn't protest.

Jack took the opportunity to retreat to the bank for a moment, letting the texture of the wood of his staff ground him. Jamie was safe. He wasn't dead. No one had drowned.

"Are you okay?" Jamie hedged, coming to sit beside him.

Jack let out a long breath. "Yeah," he replied. "I just need a minute." Jamie opened his mouth to add something, but Jack was quick to cut him off, smiling. "You don't need to keep apologising. I know you didn't mean it."

"Still…"

"I'm glad you're okay, kiddo."

"We got the scale!" Cupcake's voice called.

Jack and Jamie looked over their shoulders to see her running over to them, Sophie still clinging to her back like a baby possum.

"Come on," Jack jumped to his feet and offered a hand to Jamie. "We've got a lake to explore."

Guest Review Responses:

Painapple: Sone, that could be the name of my biography

theonetheonly: Thank you! :D

Oppie: (Ch.19:) Haha yay that's what I was going for XD (Ch.20:) *revives* No dying pls (Ch.22:) I'd like to bring him back again eventually! Hopefully I'll get the opportunity :) Thanks for the reviews!