A little boy lay huddled in a blanket, sleeping silently in a hospital's nursery. Four hours ago, he was just coming into the world, taking his first breath and letting out his first tears before his mother held him for the first time. Now he lays among the other newborns with his thumb secured in his mouth under the dimmed lighting. The hospital is quiet that night, the nurses turned in and doctors checked out for the evening. Only the occasional night watchmen patrolled the halls, shining his flashlight low so as to not disturb the children.

Within the shadows is a ghost, pale white in the low gleam of the moon through the windows. His footsteps are quiet as he walks, pushing open the door to the nursery and checking over the lines of cradles. He stops by a little boy in a little blue blanket. After reading the child's chart, the ghost carefully, every so gently, lifts him up and out of the cradle. He holds the infant close as if he were afraid to break him. Stark white lips press to an equally white forehead and the ghost whispers to him.

"You're going to hate me. I'll never be there for you and you'll resent me for it. But I want you to know I love you. You'll curse me out but I will always worry about you. I'm sorry for all the pain I'll cause you, the anger you'll no doubt have. But I love you."

The child shifted and mumbled something in his sleep, making the ghost smile with a tear down it's cheek as he kissed the boy's forehead then set him back down. "I'll probably never see you again, and I only wish I could stay longer. I want to be able to hold you when you're scared..." Another tear as the Ghost sighed.

"I pray one day I'll see you before you're grown. Until then, sweet dreams, Lucas." The Ghost gave the shark one more kiss before he back away out of the nursery and withdrew from his pocket a small pearl. He peered through the glass back at his son, giving him one last silent prayer for his happiness before he crushed the pearl beneath his feet and disappeared through the water like a haze.

The next morning, a nurse scolded the night guard about safety after finding broken glass outside the nursery.


Samekichi stared at Uomi as if she had grown a second head- which he would have gladly taken over their current situation.

"How's that even possible?" He asked once his shock dissipated and frustration settled in it's place. "There are guards around the cave where the door is! I have the sacred sword that closed the damn thing! Sal couldn't get out of the Red Sea without someone noticing!"

"Samekichi, please!" Wadanohara begged with a hand on his arm. "Calm down! Yelling won't help anyone."

The great white clenched his teeth but he did settle down. For the most part.

"I could be wrong," Uomi said, folding her hands over the front of her dress. "It may not have been Sal who took Lucas. However... I do feel his is within the depths of the Sea of Death. Whether by his father's hands or not, Lucas must be rescued. I cannot begin to imagine who would want him or why but it has to be something malicious."

"Fine. Wada can open the door and I'll go and get him. I've been in there before." Samekichi was already three steps towards the door before Tatsumiya stopped him.

"No!" She said quickly, blocking his path of the doors. "Samekichi, you can't! You suffered through that dreadful place already we can't ask you to do it again!"

"I'm not going to let Lucas rot in there! He could be half-way dead for all we know by now!"

"Don't you dare say such a thing!" The oarfish gasped in horror. "He's alive and you know it but he won't be if you go in there fists flying! You could be the one who gets him killed!"

"Why you-!"

"Enough!" Wadanohara put herself between her friends, shoving them apart and keeping them at arm's distance. "None of this is helping! Screaming at each other is not getting Lucas back any faster!" The Sea Witch has tears collecting in her eyes but she paid them no mind as she stood firm between shark and oarfish.

"No one is going into the Red Sea alone. You barely made it back the first time around, Samekichi. I would never forgive myself if I allowed you to go and neither of you came back!"

The little Witch finally wiped away a trail of tears and sniffed while Tatsumiya put a hand to her shoulder and Uomi spoke up.

"Wadanohara is right, Samekichi. You can't go in there alone again, who knows what will happen? You're worried, I know. We all are. But going in bind, not knowing where to start or even how to navigate, it could leave both you and Lucas trapped there. Or worse."

Samekichi sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, gritting is teeth once more and forcing himself to not put a hole through a wall. Much as he didn't want to just sit around and do nothing, he knew they were right. Nothing good would come out if he just threw open the door and went feet first into the Sea of Death.

"So," He looked to the three of them. "What do we do then?"

"We call in all guards who were on watch during Lucas' kidnapping," The Princess said. "See if anyone them noticed anything different with the door. Then I'll call upon Tosatsu Kingdom for aid. If this rescue mission is to work, you will need more than just Fukami and the others."

Samekichi hated the idea of bringing anyone else into the Sea of Death with him, but even he knew when it was best to go in a group. He begrudgingly agreed to go get Fukami while Tatsumiya called for Idate. He didn't like the Orca but his strength was going to be an asset that could define success or failure. While running back through the streets of Deep Sea Town, Samekichi couldn't help but feel responsible.

Because whether he wanted to or not, Samekichi remembered a time when he had once been close with his twin. He would be the first to say (albeit with a bit of forcing) that he and Sal were once the best of friends. They were inseparable until both were entering their early teenage years. Sal was always the first to do everything; First to wake up, first to go to school, first to speak.

First to fall in love.

Perhaps that was where things had begun falling apart? Because Samekichi may have been young at the time, but even he could see things his brother didn't want to. He saw how the girl who claimed his brother's attention had begun growing tired of his persistence while he was only growing more infatuated.

What was worse was that Samekichi had even bothered to warn Sal what was going on. He had stood by and watched his brother's heart get broken. Maybe if he had tried harder, spoken up instead of staying silent, maybe he could have stopped the Sea of Death from taking hold of him. Maybe they wouldn't have had their falling out like that did all those years ago.

His brother would have turned into the dangerous, sadistic person that he had revealed himself to be back in the cave. Because Sandwich knew that wasn't who his brother was. His brother had once been kind; someone he was proud to call his twin.

Now all that was gone.

Was it his fault? He could never say, but as Samekichi grabbed the Sacred Sword and holstered it against his belt, he found himself missing the time when he and Sal were kids. When Sal would sit with him and they would just talk about useless things.

Sal's eyes had been blue then. A bright vibrant blue like the sea.

Sometimes he really missed the moments when Sal was still his brother.


He collected the other familiars and returned to the kingdom, not at all surprised to find Idate there with an already lit cigarette. What he was surprised by was seeing Isaac. Being comforted by his serogat mother, the other boy looked like a mess, eyes blown wide in fear and tail tucked around his legs while Tatsumiya held him.

Wadanohara and Uomi quickly gave the other familiar insight of what the situation was. Memoca sent feathers flying in a panic, Dolphi looked ready to pass out from fear, and Fukami- well, Fukami was just Fukami. Though he did seem to stand a bit straighter with shock.

"What do we do if something goes wrong with the rescue?" The Octopus asked after they reviewed the plan (if that's what this could have even been called).

"Nothing is going to go wrong," Samekichi had grumbled. "It's a in and out job. We get in, find Luvas, then get out. Simple as that."

"You seem so sure it will be that easy."

Fukami was right. It would never be that easy. It couldn't.

"It'll be fine."

Would it?


The spell to open the door to the Sea of Death was one Wadanohara was unfamiliar with but it wasn't impossible for her to pick up. Soon they were all facing an open doorway to a literal Hell.

"I can keep it open wide enough that nothing will get thriugh, but you can still find it," The witch said when she pulled Samekichi into a hug. "But please be careful. Please come back safe again."

"I did last time didn't I?" He said while running a hand over her back. "We'll bring him back, I promise."

He could tell she didn't want to be left behind, she wanted to be there if something happened, if someone got hurt. She was much more powerful than their last trip to the Sea of Death, but he was not going to risk something happening to Wadanohara. He would never forgive himself.

He waited wit Dolphi and the others while Idate took time calming his son and wife of eight years, telling them they would be fine. He muttered something to Isaac, Samekichi couldn't hear what it it had Lucas' name thrown in. Whatever it was seemed to calm the boy, even more Idate ruffled his hair before strolling to the group.

"Let's get this over with."

Samekichi had thought he would never get out of the Sea of Death, then he had thought he was never going back. Now, with one hand on the Sacred Sword, he swore to not leave until he had Lucas back alive and well.


Bright red eyes watched from behind a pillar, hidden within the shadows under a cloak to hide the figure's pale complexion. He had to be careful. If he didn't time this just right then there was no way he would be able get through the door and back into the Red Sea.

He had swore to never go back into that dreadful place, not even if his life depended on it!

But this wasn't his life on the line here. This was the life of his only son hanging by a thread. He knew of the horrors that went on in that Sea. There was no way he was going to let Lucas rot there. He would never allow it! He'd go back himself, suffer in agony, and let his mind be twisted by the Red Sea's hysteria before he let Lucas even a glance of what went on in that sea.

He may not have been there to raise the boy, never been able to, but he would be there to save him damnit!

He heard the tell-tale electrical faze of passing through the door and he quickly stood, pulling down his hood and peering around the pillar. His brother disappeared first, the brave soul, then the other Familiars followed close behind. He knew once the Orca passed his window was limited, but he was fast. He could get in without being stopped. He had too.


Wadanohara wished Idate good luck like she always did whenever he disappeared back to Iceberg Isle and would have to leave Tatsumiya and Isaac behind for some months. The Orca gave her his signature smirk as he dropped his cigarette and stomped it out.

"You should know by now I don't believe in luck."

She couldn't help but smile at the familiar response before waving him through the door. They would be alright, she knew this. They may not have had magic, but their sheer strength alone and their number should be enough. Or so she hoped.

"Now we mus-" Wadanohara never had the chance to finish before she heard the rushing of feet and she was shoved to the side with a yelp. She lost her concentration, as well as her hold on the door. She looked up in confusion onkyntonsee, for just a split second, a flash of white disappear through the rapidly closing door.

Wadanohara had never felt a more gripping sense of dread before in her life, and she could tell by the look on Tatsumiya's face she was in the same position. They both knew who it was that just went through the door.

"S-Sal?"

You didn't take Lucas...