Grillby paced his room for the thousandth time, or what felt like it anyway. It was only just after dinner, too early to turn in quite yet. Not to mention the restless energy suffusing his core. He turned sharply to the door and yanked it open, perhaps getting out of the room for a little while would help.

Once out in the hall his stiff posture didn't relax at all, in fact his shoulders only stiffened further. His flames flickered wildly as he forced himself to take slow steps down the hall. The doors lining either side were all firmly shut, only to be expected this time of evening. All too soon he had made a full round and was back in front of his own room. Grillby let out a steaming sigh.

Three weeks, it had only been three weeks into the journey and they still had a good five or more to go. He was going stir crazy, he had cabin fever, he couldn't stand being cooped up any longer! But the only alternate was to go out on deck and stare at the vast reaches of freezing water he was surrounded by.

With a slump to his shoulders, Grillby turned and started for the stairs leading up to the deck. The dining hall would still be open, and it was only a short walk between it and the stairwell. Perhaps he could have some dessert or some coffee, maybe talk with whatever passengers were still there or even the chefs. Anything to keep his mind off his cramped room or the fact only some very flammable wood stood between him and a whole ocean of miserable death liquid.

Once up on deck his eyes flitted over to the railing against his will. It had grown dark since dinner, without the sun glaring off the waves the ocean almost looked like nothing at all. Just a vast void, almost a reflection of the empty night sky above. That… didn't seem so bad. Grillby carefully walked up to the railing and put a hand on it as he looked out at the ocean. Between the heavy clouds and the faint reflections of the ship's lanterns on the water it really wasn't so bad. The air was still horribly damp, but he could deal with that.

The view would be better without the ship's lanterns, Grillby turned his head slightly, a dark patch in his peripheral catching his attention. There were less lanterns at the ship's rear, and there was railing back there too. Before Grillby knew it he had drifted to the very back of the ship, leaning with his elbows on the railing, hands limp, feet still, staring at the vast emptiness behind the ship.

"pssssssst. hey!"

Grillby perked up, looking around and behind him to find the voice.

"down here."

Grillby looked down. There was someone clinging to the back of the ship, half their body sunk in the dark water. What little light Grillby cast was barely enough to outline their still wet body.

"hi."

Grillby cautiously raised a hand in greeting.

"i've never seen a monster like you before. why are you lit up so strangely like that? all… flickering."

"… I don't really have much of a choice," Grillby answered slowly. "What are you doing down there? Did you fall?"

"nah, never been on one of these things before, but they're always so interesting." They reached up and started to haul themselves further up the side of the ship. Grillby leaned over, the slight change in the angle of the light he cast just enough to help him see more clearly as they hauled a tail out of the water. Grillby stared in awe as they seated themselves on a porthole. "people are always throwing things over the back, can't figure half of them out. and food too, which means whole schools of fish following you guys around like guppies. makes my life easier."

"… A mermaid," Grillby said in awe. It was rare for land monsters to interact with sea monsters, especially those that lived in the deep waters. It was just as rare for a fire elemental to brave traveling by ship, it was no wonder they had never seen anyone like Grillby before.

The mermaid laughed, "i mean, i guess you can call me that if you want. i prefer what the humans call us: sirens. or you can just call me sans." They winked.

"… Grillby."

"nice to meet you." Sans reached up and offered a hand. Grillby had to crouch down and snake an arm between the railing. When his hand made contact with the siren's thin and knobby hand the moisture on it sizzled and evaporated.

"… Nice to meet you too."

-line

The following two weeks were better. Grillby's new friend turned out to be a fount of information on the ocean, which Grillby had to admit to a morbid curiosity about. Sans was just as curious about Grillby and life on land.

"… You could ask anyone about what life is like for land monsters."

"not anyone lights up the way you do."

Grillby had to laugh at that, his fiery nature is what had caught Sans's attention enough to get him to talk in the first place. Grillby was sitting at a gap in the railing at the ship's back, legs dangling over the edge, Sans next to him, both with a plate in their laps Grillby had brought from the dining hall.

"… I have to admit, the ocean is very frightening for most land monsters."

"i don't see why, it's a whole lot of nothing this far out."

"… That's exactly why. Most of us can't breathe water, if I fell in the water would smother me and snuff me out." Grillby shuddered at the mere thought.

"if you fell in, i'd rescue you. i promise."

Grillby looked up, something about the solemn tone Sans spoke in pressing home just how serious he was being. "… Thank you, that means a lot."

The next time they spoke Sans had brought a live fish with him and handed it over to Grillby proudly. Grillby rolled up his sleeves before taking the slippery thing and lighting his hands up. Sans laughed at the display.

"don't you land monsters usually gut and descale them?"

Grillby shrugged. "… Like I know anything about fish." Somehow he thought that fish tasted better than the ones in the dining hall, no matter how expertly the chefs had prepared them.

-line

Grillby was sleeping in his tiny bed inside his cramped room. The ship groaned and swayed, a usual occurrence for a ship out to sea but something about it woke Grillby up. He sat shivering on the bed, flinching with every groan and lurch of the ship.

"… It's okay, it's okay, just some rough water, nothing we haven't dealt with before." It was almost funny, when it rained the first week he had absolutely panicked. They had had an actual storm between then and now, it had been just like this. Grillby pulled his blanket tighter around him and reminded himself that this too shall pass.

And then water started seeping under his door.

It was a puddle slowly spreading into the room, like someone had dropped a bucket of water near his door. But his room was below decks, if the ship took on too much water it would sink. Grillby threw off his blanket. A coat was hastily pulled on over his night shirt, feet shoved into boots without a care for socks. He wrenched the door open with a loud squeal. The hallway was flooded. Water seeping faster as he watched. Grillby yelped, then ran for the stairway. He banged on the doors he passed, though several already were open and had wide eyed monsters peeking out. When he got to the stairs they were a waterfall, more and more water kept pouring down them faster and faster. Grillby climbed them frantically, ignoring the sting as water splashed over him. There was no intent to this water, no harmful magic, it could only be uncomfortable. It would take far more water for it do him any real damage, and even drowning would be slow because like all monsters he was made of magic first and foremost.

Grillby tried not to think about any of that as he reached the top of the stairs. The sight that greeted him was horrifying. Sailors slipping and sliding over the wet, bucking deck as they tried to do whatever it is sailors do during a storm. Huge waves crashed against the side of the ship and rushed over the deck. There was a flash of lightning. Before Grillby's vision even cleared the boom of thunder followed, slowly fading to be swallowed by the roaring wind.

"Are we sinking?" Someone yelled frantically from near Grillby's shoulders. "Should we go to the life boats?"

"What good would those do with waves this high?!"

Grillby pulled his jacket tighter against his body, squinting in the wind and rain. It wasn't far to the dining hall. It was a big room with wide open space and lots of things that could fly at him as the ship lurched sickeningly, not to mention the large windows that could easily be shattered by the wind. But it was still better than sitting in a slowly flooding room.

Grillby gripped the wall and slowly started making his way to the dining hall, leaving the other passengers to argue about whether it was better to start a bail line or abandon ship. Grillby's feet slipped and nearly flew out from under him three times in the short distance to the dining hall's door. Grillby had just barely made it when a loud sound deafened him, followed by groaning and shrieks. The deck tilted further than it ever had before. Grillby grabbed the door's handle.

Locked.

He clung to it desperately as his feet finally slipped out from under him. A wave crashed over the ship. The force and painful burn wrung a cry from Grillby as he lost his grip and slid over the deck. He managed to grab the railing and clung to it desperately. The next wave washed over him completely, leaving him drifting. Drowning.

This was it, the slow, suffocating death he had feared when he started this journey. The risk didn't seem worth it now, he should have just stayed home. As he sank into the dark, cold waters his flames shrank and dimmed until he was just a vaguely Grillby shaped ember sinking further and further. The sound of the storm above him faded. His light was so low now, the cold burned so badly, his vision swam and dimmed. He must have imagined the glint of something approaching.

He was almost too numb to feel the arms wrap around him, thin and hard. A blurry face came vaguely into view, only the barest of light reflecting off smooth bone, the brightly glowing pair of stars in twin voids darker than even the vast, empty ocean. Grillby tried to smile though the motion was painful. Sans was here, he had kept his promise. Too bad he was too late, Grillby had sunk too far. No matter how fast Sans swam there'd be no way to make it to the surface before the last vestiges of heat were drained from his core and his soul shattered. Sans pulled Grillby close, their faces gently touching.

Grillby's last kiss.

He closed his eyes, savoring the last moments of his life. The kiss was nice, surprisingly warm for how cold the sea monster's touch had always been. Or perhaps that was the numbness from drowning. Sans pulled him tighter, deepening the kiss as he did so. The warmth spread out from Grillby's face, tingling as it spiraled from his chest to his limbs. He felt strange, light and heavy all at once, warmth glowing from within, pushing the cold away until the pressure from the water felt more like a comforting embrace. Sans pulled away, somehow suddenly much clearer despite the water only growing darker as they continued to sink. Sans grinned, his hand gently squeezing Grillby's.

Grillby looked down at their hands, his looked strange for some reason. It was just as orange as usual, which was odd considering it should be a dull gray and crumbling by now.

"breathe, grillby."

He did, one deep, easy breath he let out slowly. His chest felt strange, his legs even stranger. He held up his other hand, squinting as he pulled it close to his face. It seemed to glint in the dim light, but strangely it wasn't flickering. He looked back at Sans, clearly seeing his bright blue tail with brilliant yellow fins even in the dark. Then he looked down at himself. His chest was still covered in his nightshirt and sturdy jacket, out of the bottom of which came a long orange tail with fluttering fins ranging from a cheery yellow to rosy red-orange tones on the ruffled edges.

"… I… I don't understand… what… Sans…?"

"i promised you, didn't i?" Sans grinned all the harder. "now you don't have to worry about drowning ever again." Sans tugged on Grillby's hand, drawing him further down.

"… Wait, there were others on the ship."

"and there are other sirens, it's why i took so long to find you in that mess, sorry about that."

"… Oh, that's… I… it's…" Grillby pulled Sans close, reveling in how much warmer he felt now. Their faces touched. This kiss was very different from the last, his face no longer an amorphous mass of energy and plasma. It felt nice, weird, but nice. "… thank you."

They pulled apart, now only their foreheads touching as Grillby smiled at his rescuer. Sans's face lit up, a soft blue glow that barely touched the dark water around them. "you're welcome."

They stayed like that, slowly drifting with their foreheads barely touching, staring into each others' eyes, Grillby's thumb gently running over Sans's hands. Sans seemed to shake himself out of it, pulling away and tugging on Grillby's hand again. "c'mon, there's so much i want to show you!"

Grillby chuckled as he let himself be led further down, "… I look forward to it."

Bonus:
"… I don't know why more of you don't do this."

"eh, it's pretty far to go. most of us don't have a reason to bother."

"… Not even your brother?" Grillby nudged Sans's shoulder with his own as he smiled at him.

"he may have way, way, way more motivation than me to do just about anything, but he still has to have a reason to do something first."

"… That is true. Well I have a reason, and so here we are." And they were. The pair surfaced, swimming slowly through the gathered ships and the many ropes tangling the water. "… I hadn't taken just how high up the docks actually are from the water either."

"yeah, it sure doesn't help."

"Hey there! Did you two fall in?" A monster was crouched near the end of a dock, they seemed ready to run for help.

"… No, we belong in the water. But if you could do me a huge favor, I have a message I'd like to get to my family..."