To Grey Fox anon: Sorry, but I'm going to leave what happened to Dr Anderson to your imagination. Just visualise the most cathartic death you can imagine and pretend that's what happened.
The third time it happened, they were finally caught.
After being patched up in the infirmary, Giorgio was sternly instructed to take it easy and avoid straining his injured arm.
Naturally, once he was released from medical supervision, he waited for a while and then headed straight back to Evan's room.
As Giorgio entered, Evan's eyes were instinctively drawn to the bandage on Giorgio's wrist. Seeing the damage he'd done, he flinched, turning away and backing towards one corner of his tank.
"Evan come on, look at me," Giorgio pleaded. "I can't talk to you when you're hiding like this."
"You shouldn't be here talking to me at all," Evan retorted bitterly. "Look what I did, Giorgio! I bit you! Like some sick animal that doesn't know any better!"
"I know you didn't mean to do it," Giorgio insisted. "You're not an animal, Evan. You're my friend. You're just… unwell."
"Giorgio…" Evan hesitated, then slowly turned around. Giorgio could see the tears forming in his eyes.
"You know what's wrong with me, don't you?" He pleaded. "I saw you looking at me, the first time it happened. You suspected something, right?"
"Look, let's not talk about this." Giorgio tried to brush off Evan's questions. "The scientists will find out what's wrong and fix this, and then—"
"Fix this?! Fix what?" Evan shouted. "Fix me trying to eat you, like a monster?!"
"YOU'RE NOT A MONSTER!" Giorgio yelled.
Silence descended.
"…I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted." Giorgio was the first to speak up. "Evan, listen…"
"Before I knew you, before all of this, I had nobody. I was just… Agent Giorgio Bruno, a competent agent out in the field but a total mess at being human when off duty. Alan and Wesley were nice enough to me, but I just kept pushing them away."
"You're my first real friend, Evan. And I want you to know, no matter what happens from here on, I'll do whatever I can to protect you, as much as I can. Because I'm so, so blessed to have known you."
"…What exactly is it, Giorgio?" Evan asked quietly. "What's wrong with me?"
As Giorgio opened his mouth to speak, the door behind him creaked open.
Turning to look at whoever was there, Giorgio failed to see Evan's eyes go unfocused, madness creeping into his hungry gaze.
"Giorgio!" Someone shouted.
A thud echoed as something collided hard with him, followed by a bloodcurdling shriek.
15 minutes earlier
"Are you sure about this, Wesley?" Alan whispered.
"Sure about this? Don't tell me you believe Giorgio's bullshit story about tripping?" Wesley hissed back.
The two of them were heading down the hallway leading to the basement stairs with the intention of spying on Giorgio and Evan, trying to keep their voices down so that people wouldn't overhear their conversation.
"Of course not, but this is Evan we're talking about!" Alan retorted.
"The guy has such a tender heart that he literally cried when Richard complimented his latest painting. There's no way he would hurt Giorgio, especially with how close the two of them are."
"You saw the wound, Alan," Wesley said quietly. "It looked like a set of bitemarks to me."
"…I know, but…" Alan looked helplessly at his partner.
"Look, I like Evan too, but if something's wrong with him, we need to know," Wesley told him. "Giorgio's too close to Evan to be logical about this, so we have to do something. Alright?"
"…Fine." Alan gave in. "I still don't like this though."
"Alan! Wesley!"
A sudden shout interrupted their conversation.
Looking up, the duo saw Rachel Miller running full tilt towards them, panic clearly written on her face.
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Wesley put a hand out to steady her as she ran up to them.
"Where's Giorgio?" She asked, trying to catch her breath.
"Probably down in the basement with Evan again, why?" Alan asked.
"We just finished piecing together the last bit of Dr Anderson's notes. It said… It said…!"
And then she filled them in.
"What?!" Wesley's eyes widened in alarm. "That means, Giorgio…!"
"You have to find him and tell him, now! Before it's too late!"
Alan and Wesley made for the basement as quickly as they could. As they approached, they could hear raised voices in a heated argument.
"YOU'RE NOT A MONSTER!" They heard Giorgio yell.
The duo exchanged a look. Evan wasn't a monster in spirit, certainly, but with what they'd just learned, it seemed that this was truly a case of the flesh being weaker than the spirit's desires.
Slowly, Wesley pushed open the door.
As Giorgio turned to look at them, Evan lunged.
"Giorgio!" Alan shouted.
Diving across the room, he tackled Giorgio out of the way just in time as Evan's snapping teeth bit into the air above them.
Robbed of his prey, Evan let out an unholy shriek, snarling and hissing as he leaned out of the tank, snatching at them.
Fortunately, by this time, Wesley had already raced across the room and was helping Alan to drag the winded Giorgio safely out of reach.
"Evan, stop it!" Giorgio shouted. "Snap out of it!"
"Are you crazy, Giorgio?" Wesley asked him in disbelief. "You knew about this all along, didn't you?"
"Wesley, not now." Alan shook his head, giving his partner a warning look.
"Evan, come on! Please!" Giorgio ignored the other two agents, continuing to plead with the mermaid to return to his senses.
"Come over here!" Wesley insisted, grabbing Giorgio by his uninjured arm and tugging hard, pulling him over to the corner of the room furthest from Evan's tank.
"Wesley…" Giorgio shrank back a bit as he looked at the older agent, seeing the anger in his eyes.
"Don't 'Wesley' me, Giorgio! What were you thinking?" He shouted, Evan's shrieks filling the air in the background.
"I just… Look, you know this isn't him. Evan has a gentle soul inside him; he doesn't want to hurt anyone, you know that!"
"Regardless of what he does or doesn't want, he can't control himself!" Wesley snapped, expression hardening. "He already injured you once. And you saw what he tried to do to you… He would have done far worse if given the chance!"
"I…" Giorgio swallowed, dropping his gaze to the ground.
Rationally, he knew that Wesley was right. If Alan hadn't pulled him out of the way in time, Evan would probably have bitten right through Giorgio's neck.
But that expression on Evan's face… The fear, the guilt of having attacked Giorgio twice and not knowing why he'd done so…
That expression stayed in his mind even as he knew that Evan was dangerous in his current state.
"Wesley, please… There has to be something we can do! Once the scientists finish studying the notes we salvaged from Dr Anderson's lab—"
"They're already done," Alan interrupted. "That's why Wesley and I were sent to find you in the first place."
A tendril of dread began to creep up Giorgio's spine.
"Alright… So what did they say? Did they figure out a way to stabilise his condition?"
Slowly, Alan shook his head. "We can't save him, Giorgio."
Giorgio's heart skipped a beat.
"What are you talking about? If we know what's wrong with him, then—"
"You know what's wrong with him! You've known what was wrong with him for a while, and you kept quiet about it this whole time!" Wesley shouted.
"'Evan can't have other visitors because he's in low spirits'? How about 'Evan can't have other visitors because if he turned feral in the presence of any other agent besides you, they'd have reported it in an instant'?!"
"…Wesley?" A quiet voice interrupted him.
It was at this point that the three agents realised the shrieking in the background had stopped.
"Evan," Wesley greeted him neutrally, but with a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"What's wrong with me?" Evan asked weakly. "Please, I need to know! I don't… I don't know why this keeps happening. Please…"
Wesley looked at Giorgio. The younger agent looked like he was about to cry. Whether from Wesley yelling at him (which Wesley felt a bit bad about now), the stress of the situation, or the heartbreaking realisation he was being forced to face, Wesley wasn't sure.
"Giorgio?" He asked softly.
Slowly, Giorgio looked at Wesley, unshed tears forming in his eyes.
"…Tell him," he finally rasped.
"Evan, we finished studying the notes that Dr Anderson left behind," Alan gently told Evan. "We finally found out what she'd been feeding you the entire time."
"What was it?" Evan asked, trembling.
There was a long moment of silence.
"…Human flesh," Alan finally said, very softly.
Silence filled the room again.
"…No…" Evan whispered.
"Evan—" Wesley began to say.
"NO! No, it can't be, please…!" Evan cried out, an anguished expression written across his face.
"I'm sorry," Wesley said gently. "But it's true. Those bursts of aggression you've been experiencing… Those weren't simply a side effect of your hunger. They were a feeding instinct."
"Dr Anderson was trying to condition you to be some sort of bloodthirsty attack animal. Feeding you human flesh was part of that training, so that you'd be conditioned to attack and kill on cue. The heck if I know how she expected to not be eaten herself though."
"So… I really am a monster after all," Evan whispered bitterly. "…They're not going to let me live after this, are they?"
Giorgio finally spoke up at this point.
"Don't say that! This… There has to be some way of fixing this! What if we… I mean, surely, there's a way to reverse—"
"Giorgio, listen to me." The hint of pity in Wesley's firm gaze made Giorgio's insides twist sharply. "I know you care about Evan, but…"
"No, you don't know Wesley! You don't understand! I promised… I promised I'd save him!"
"And you did, Giorgio." A quiet voice interrupted him.
Turning in surprise, Giorgio saw Evan looking straight at him with his pale blue eyes, as though he was gazing right into Giorgio's soul.
"You saved me from that terrible lab, and you gave me a home. You gave me friends, and a place to belong. Most of all, you gave me you. Your friendship. You promised to protect me, and you did. You've protected me all this time, Giorgio… But you can't protect me from myself."
"I'm so, so glad to have been your friend. But you have to let me go. Please… I want to die as me, not as the monster I'm becoming."
"Evan…" Giorgio's lip trembled, and it was all he could do to keep from bursting into tears.
"Please, Giorgio. Do it for me," Evan begged.
Finally, Giorgio nodded. With his composure crumbling, he turned and fled the room, before the other agents could see his tears.
"For what it's worth, Evan… I'm really sorry," Wesley said quietly. "I wish there were another way."
"I know… And… I'm really glad I got to meet you guys," Evan replied with a soft, sad smile. "I'm sorry I almost attacked you just now."
"We know you didn't mean it," Alan told him. "I'm glad we got to be friends, even if it was just for a while. I'm sure the other agents feel that way too."
"Tell them… Tell them I'm sorry, and goodbye, alright?" Without waiting for an answer, Evan turned and swam away to the far corner of his tank. If the agents listened carefully, they could almost hear him sniffling.
Wordlessly, Alan and Wesley left the room, letting the door shut behind them with a soft click.
Giorgio was still outside Evan's room, sitting on the bottom step of the stairs and holding his head in his hands.
Alan and Wesley took a seat on either side of him. Neither of them commented on his puffy eyes or tear–stained cheeks.
"Giorgio… you don't have to watch when they… When they do it," Alan said gently.
"No," Giorgio managed to say as he finally found his voice. "Please… I need to be there."
The older agent glanced at him worriedly. "Giorgio, I don't think—"
"He's my best friend!" Giorgio shouted.
Alan looked startled by Giorgio's vehement response, but the younger agent was in no state to feel self–conscious about it.
"I couldn't… I couldn't save him, so at the very least… I have to be there with him at the end. So he won't be alone when the time comes."
"Giorgio… This wasn't your fault—" Wesley began to say, but Giorgio shut down that line of conversation with a sharp shake of the head.
"Wesley, please… Just don't. I can't… I just… This is something I need to do. Please, try to understand."
Wesley hesitated for a long moment, then sighed. "Alright… I'll put in a word for you, but no promises."
"I… Thank you." Giorgio scrubbed a hand roughly across his face, making a futile attempt to wipe away his tears.
"Listen, Giorgio… I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier," Wesley apologised. "I was worried about you, and when I realised you'd been keeping Evan's condition a secret…"
"But, I understand, in a way. You were trying to protect him. Even if I don't agree with what you did, I understand why you did it."
Giorgio murmured something in response.
"What was that?" Alan asked.
"I said, I wish that, for once, I didn't have to keep saying goodbye to people I love," Giorgio said again.
Neither of the older agents could think of anything to say in response. And so they sat there, the three of them, each grieving the imminent loss of a friend in their own ways.
That night
Giorgio lay awake, staring at the ceiling and listening to the ticking of his clock.
It had been a long time since he'd last lain awake at night like this. Even with his recurring nightmares plaguing him, he'd never had trouble actually falling asleep.
Of course, it was hardly a surprise that he couldn't sleep now. More than anything, he dreaded the arrival of tomorrow.
After discovering what had happened in Evan's room earlier, the Director had called for a meeting with the scientists involved in Evan's case, as well as the various agents who had previously been visiting Evan frequently.
Although he was sympathetic to Evan's situation, the Director had agreed with the scientists' assessment that Evan was a danger to both himself and everyone else in his current state. As such, he had instructed them to humanely euthanise Evan the next day.
In his heart, Giorgio knew that the Director took no pleasure in this. Neither did the scientists, or any of the agents who had become friends with Evan. But all the same, he couldn't help feeling as though he was the only person who truly cared that Evan would be gone forever by morning.
But that isn't true, is it? You saw how sad all of them looked during the meeting. And Evan himself said that he wanted to die as himself rather than live on as a mindless beast.
Unable to bear the restless thoughts filling his mind, Giorgio got out of bed and left his apartment.
Giorgio hadn't visited Evan at night since the first time he'd done so. It seemed so long ago now, as though the memory of it belonged to a different Giorgio and a different Evan.
Pushing open the basement door, he saw Evan still awake and swimming in circles around his tank.
Upon hearing the door open, Evan's frantic motions stilled.
"Giorgio? What are you doing here?" He was still facing the wall, not looking at Giorgio.
"How did you know it was me?" Giorgio asked.
"Who else would be visiting me at this hour?" Evan replied, finally turning to look at Giorgio. "Seriously, what are you doing here?! It's not safe!"
Giorgio raised his hands defensively. "I'll stay over here by the door, alright? I just… I couldn't sleep. I wanted to see you one last time, before… well… before… the end."
Evan let out a sigh, settling into the water of his tank.
"I couldn't sleep either," he admitted. "I was trying to be brave about this earlier, but… I'm really scared."
Bathed in the moonlight shining in from the small basement window, Evan looked as small and frightened as he had in the early weeks of being rescued. Wishing he could offer Evan a comforting hug, Giorgio nearly took a step forward before catching himself.
"It's alright to be scared," Giorgio said softly. "I would be worried if you weren't scared, honestly."
The two friends sat (or floated, in Evan's case) in silence for a while.
"I've been thinking over and over about doing something stupid," Giorgio finally said. "Finding a way to break you out, and taking you away before they can euthanise you, or something. Because I'm scared too, and I'm selfish. I'm not ready to let you go."
Evan shook his head. "Giorgio, please don't make this harder for both of us. Don't you think I wish I could live too? But you know this is for the best. I'm still me, for now. I'll be me till the very end, even if it hurts."
"It won't," Giorgio assured him. "They've decided that they're going to pump a powerful anaesthetic into your tank tomorrow. It'll be just like falling asleep."
"That's something, at least." Evan gave him a watery smile.
"Do you…" Giorgio hesitated. "Do you wish you hadn't been rescued?"
"Never!" Evan shook his head fiercely. "Even though this isn't how I hoped things would end, I've had the time of my life for the past few months. Tomorrow may be my last day, but at least I got to live in an amazingly colourful world, if only for a while."
"I wish we'd been able to build the wheelchair we were designing for you before this happened," Giorgio said wistfully.
"There's so much I wanted to show you. I'd have loved to have taken you to visit the rest of Headquarters… let you meet the intelligence officers and other field agents… bring you over to the Residential Wing and let you hang out with all of us in our apartments…"
"That sounds amazing," Evan agreed. "I wish I could have seen all of that too."
"I don't know what to do, Evan," Giorgio confessed. "We've only known each other for a few months, but already I can't imagine continuing to live in a world without you. I have nobody else; I'm so alone."
"That's not true, Giorgio," Evan insisted. "You said it yourself, you kept pushing away people like Alan and Wesley when they tried to make friends with you. There's more to this world than just pain and loneliness; I only had a few months to experience the gentler parts of this world, but I know that now."
"I can't live and meet new people and have new experiences anymore, so you have to do it for me. I want you to keep living; make the friends I can't make, and see the beauty in this world that I never got a chance to see. Can you do that?"
Silent tears were rolling down Giorgio's cheeks by the time Evan was done.
"I don't… I don't know if I can. But… I'll try, for you," Giorgio promised, breath hitching as he tried to swallow his tears.
"Thank you, Giorgio. I'm so glad you're my friend." Evan's eyes were sad, but he smiled at Giorgio anyway.
Abruptly, Giorgio felt ashamed of his own behaviour.
He's the one dying, but he's putting on a brave face for me.
"I'll live on, Evan," he said again with renewed determination. "I'll live a wonderful life for both of us. And I know you'll be watching too, from somewhere beyond."
"I'm happy to hear that," Evan said, and his smile was a bit more genuine this time. "You should probably get some sleep; it's getting late."
Reluctantly, Giorgio nodded. "Yes… I should go. Goodnight, Evan. I'll see you in the morning."
As he left the room, he realised that despite the heartwrenching knowledge of what was to come, the turmoil within him had been replaced with a sense of peace and acceptance.
Epilogue
Evan was put to sleep the next morning, overseen by a sorrowful Dr Rachel Miller as well as his friends, with a red–eyed but calm Agent Giorgio Bruno amongst them.
With a soft hiss, a powerful anaesthetic was pumped into Evan's tank. Within seconds, his gills breathed in the anaesthetic–laced water and his eyes closed, his movements slowing until his tail finally stopped moving for good.
As he slipped under the water for his final slumber, Evan's hand rested against the glass of a tank, as though waving goodbye to his friends. Nobody commented on how Giorgio had reached out with his own hand in response, as though he wanted to meet Evan's palm with his own.
Evan's body was buried in the same graveyard that the VSSE used to lay agents who had fallen in the line of duty to rest. His friends often visited and laid flowers and other small items on it in his memory. Giorgio, in particular, visited at least once a month and also kept his gravestone well–maintained.
The biggest change of all was in Giorgio himself. Though he was still a loner by nature, he began making a conscious effort to stop hiding away and avoiding other people off duty.
Slowly, he started responding to Alan and Wesley's offers of friendship and began spending time with them. Over time, he even befriended other agents outside of the duo, eating lunch with them in the cafeteria or even simply tagging along when they hung out.
Though there was always a sadness in his eyes that never quite went away, he seemed more at peace with himself than he had been in years.
Giorgio lived for another 3 years after Evan's death. Then, he was sent on an urgent assignment to deal with the theft of a top–secret weapon developed by the US military: An insect–like biological weapon, referred to as "Terror Bites".
Although he completed his mission successfully and stopped the terrorists responsible from blowing up the country with nukes, Giorgio had been bitten a few times by said weapons while fighting his way to the terrorist leader.
Unbeknownst to him, the Terror Bites had a secondary form of attack: A powerful venom in their bite, which caused seizures and violent hallucinations.
Giorgio collapsed in the helicopter on his way back to VSSE HQ and was rushed to the infirmary. But by the time the VSSE realised what had happened, the toxin had already degraded his body and cognitive functions beyond the point of no return.
And then…
It's dark.
Giorgio struggled to open his eyes, feeling an all–encompassing ache enveloping his body.
From somewhere above him, he could hear snatches of conversation.
"…Can't do anything else at this point…"
"Keep him comfortable…"
"How long can he stay… life support?"
What's happening?
He struggled to focus, drawing on whatever strength he had within him and forcing his eyes open.
"Giorgio?" A familiar voice called out to him.
Turning, Giorgio saw Evan waving to him.
"Evan, is that you?" He said in disbelief.
How…?
Suddenly, he realised his body didn't ache anymore. In fact, he hadn't felt this good in years.
He was lying on a sandy beach, and Evan was smiling at him from the ocean as gentle waves crashed against the shore.
"Of course it is, who else would it be?" Evan laughed. "Come on, the water's nice and cold. Let's go for a swim!"
A wide grin stretched across Giorgio's face as he sprang to his feet, taking Evan's hand and swimming off into the horizon, where the sun was just beginning to rise.
It's often believed that mermaids lack souls. When they die, they transform into sea foam and dissolve into nothingness.
But if a mermaid tries to fight against its nature and live as a human, could it learn to grow a soul?
Perhaps, on a distant shore in the next world, a mermaid who chose to die as a man swims freely alongside a man who chose to befriend a monster.
Perhaps they've found peace together at last, in an endless ocean with clear, inviting waters and a sun that never sets.
Notes:
"Fun" fact: When I started thinking about this fic 4 years ago, the ending was originally meant to be much, much more gruesome. Hence the trigger warning at the start of the fic.
To summarise, during the part where Giorgio visits Evan at night, he ignores his instincts and goes closer to comfort a crying Evan, only to have Evan attack him, drag him into the water and eat him. After Evan comes back to his senses and realises what he did, he drowns himself, and in the morning, the VSSE find Evan's corpse holding Giorgio's skeleton, like two lovers wrapped in an eternal embrace.
Of course, once I *actually* started writing it, the tone ended up being less horror and more of a bittersweet exploration of healing and humanity. Since it wouldn't fit anymore, I decided to change the ending to something less gory. My apologies to anyone who was hoping for something more hardcore.
Also, the reason I specifically chose raw pork for Evan's food in the last chapter? Human flesh, when consumed cannibalistically, is often referred to as "long pork". It was meant to be an additional hint to the nature of Evan's condition... Though it might have been a bit too subtle.
Last but not least:
Now that I'm done with this fic, I'm thinking of rotating between my existing big works (VSSE Miitopia, Apocalypse and Temporal Fates) and posting one chapter of each in a cycle, so that I get them moving again. I might start a shorter fic or two here and there along the way, but I really do need to get back to my existing works soon. My apologies to anyone who might still be patiently waiting for updates.