Chapter Thirty-two: Clear As Day

"MOOOOO! MOOOOO! MOOOOOO!"

The erupting screams filled the woodsy ether. The young woman's legs waded in the thick, nonacidic enzyme pool around her pivoting, short form. She held her breath and dunked herself multiple times. Only to resurface, take in more air, and scream again. And again.

"MOOOOOOOO!"

And again.

Disregarding a heavily raw throat and irritated eyes, Joy tried to go underneath the murky ooze once more. However, the slimy mixture gradually dispersed; its density shrinking. Getting up and sputtering, Joy splashed to her knees, running her hands along aimlessly, desperate to feel for anyone to grab onto.

"MOOOOOOO! …MOOOOOOOO!"

At length, in the center of the enzyme seeping into the water and the dirt, the weeping woman staggered to her feet. She stood alone. The local wildlife had retreated to distant trees and burrows from the recent pained roars.

Joy lowered her idle gaze, blinking droplets to the damp ground.

What happened? Did she do something wrong? Was the… surgery too fast? Too slow? She wasn't a nurse. Could her mother have performed the procedure better?

Joy took in another trembling respiration. None of that mattered. She couldn't go back and try again.

Because now… was now…

With both hands, she rubbed watery, burning eyes. She blinked at the dangling sailor trinket, adorned on her right wrist. Joy's chin quivered.

He had put it on for her…

Still breathing heavily and hoarsely, the woman clamped her hands to her chest. It was like her ribcage had been shattered. Joy saw the withered, gentle face whenever she shut her eyes, and it made her not want to ever reopen them.

He was gone.

No more laughs together...

No more games together…

No more Go Fish together…

No more making meals together…

No more sharing presents together...

No more bedtime reading together…

No more snuggling together...

"MOOOOOOO!"

No more together…

No more…

"MO! I NEED MY MOMO! MOMO! I NEED MY MOMOOOOO! MOMOOOOOOOO!"

The desperate shrills waned to quiet sobs. Joy unclenched her hands while steading her abnormal inhalation so she wouldn't faint.

When her vision cleared, Joy's flushed tear-filled face blankly surveyed her surroundings. She caught a glimpse of the last of the 'seafoam' evaporating from the early spring's warmth. Tightening her eyelids, the young woman sniffled before swallowing mournfully.

There went the last parts of her cherished, best friend.

Joy clung to her upper arms in a solo embrace. She didn't think she would feel this broken again.

No… More than that… Fallen apart. Incomplete. More 'losteded' than she'd ever been…

A low whoosh sound broke the silence and Joy's peripheral vision triggered her to swivel, just in time to witness the large, green lump dropping out of sight. Hearing the resounding splash, the woman yelped and rushed toward the great lake, hurdling herself in without a second thought.

Reaching the edge, Joy kicked her back feet rapidly, her arms towing the semi-conscious being to land. She made sure to keep his face breaching so he wouldn't aspirate water. Joy couldn't recall all the things she'd learned from her swimming classes, but this technique she would always know what to do.

"We… made it… Mo!" Joy grunted, tugging him toward the water's border. "C'mon, Mo, please!"

Hearing the fretful yet encouraging voice, Moreau feebly spun himself and began to crawl out of the water; his super supportive friend guiding him along.

Once they were two meters away from the lake, Moreau sputtered water and then collapsed.

"Mo!"

Kneeling, Joy pushed her friend on his back, wriggling his head.

"It's alright! Are ya alright?! Do ya need air?! I can help with dat!"

Remembering another crucial lesson from swimming class, Joy bent over the square-contoured face and readied to pinch the little nostrils…

The woman straightened as Moreau spat up more water. Wheezing, he struggled to sit up, and he sensed the gentle pressure of his friend's hands aiding him to balance.

Joy sighed with relief after Moreau coughed a few more times, followed by several lungfuls of oxygen. She draped her arms over him. Although Moreau was still regaining his bearings, he managed to loosely grip a limb around her.

While Joy discerned his torso, her friend finally flittered his eyelids.

"…Joy? Wha… What happened?"

The woman untied their embrace, sniffling and smiling sweetly. She cleared her voice since it was still tender from the previous scare.

"Tee-hee… I was gonna ask Mo dat."

She rubbed his back. With a low groan, Moreau felt the side of his head.

"I… remember… the cadou crumbling… I closed my eyes and…" He placed his hands atop his knees. "And that's all I know."

Moreau groggily blinked at his legs sporting the olive pants that his precious person had bestowed him after his first bath. So, they succeeded. He was part-mer-person once again. The altered man huffed to himself heartily. His precious knight had slain the beast of the lake.

As his perception improved, he realized his pants were drenched and Joy's hair and clothes were also dripping. At least the water purified her attire from that harrowing experience.

Moreau turned his view toward her. "Did… Did I almost drown?"

The young woman's beam that her soft features carried wouldn't waver.

"I made sure dat my bestie didn't."

Moreau slowly returned the smile, and his friend scooted back and took his hand.

"But please don't worry about dat, Mo. 'Cause dat was den and dis is now." Joy compressed his hand. "How does Mo feel?"

Her friend wiped his face. "Mo… feels like Mo?"

He blinked quizzically at Joy for she had canted her head, displaying pearly whites.

"Ya don't feel like more Mo dan da Mo who I first met?"

"H-Huh?" Moreau idly scratched his cheek. "Feel like more than…?"

He trailed off. Clarification seeped into his mind and down to his core. Moreau had questioned if he'd almost drowned in the lake… With his internal gills and swim bladder, that would've been implausible.

Unless…

Hastily, he swung his arm below his back and searched for the hanging, aquatic organ. He grabbed nothing but air. Moreau's twitchy fingers patted his throat then his jawline. They were much, much smaller. And he realized that his slurry, throaty voice sounded low and calm.

The broad sights of the altered man flicked to his friend as she held up his arm. The chain adorned buckskin cuff, and the jellyfish and anchor tattoo had resurfaced on the thin limb. However, Moreau's trailing eyes went stock-still at his laced fingers.

Joy softly released her hold, and her friend brought the left hand to his gawping face.

The long digits were no longer webbed.

Moreau jerked his view to his beaming, best friend, her eyes welling up.

"Mo's a whole person now."

"A-A-A whole…" The wide-eyed man tried to regain his renewed voice. "Whole per…?"

He dipped his head and flipped his hands over and over, then flittered his sights at the small, wriggling feet. Moreau grinned at the flat, short nails and toenails. His complexion was no longer ashen, but a light olive tone.

Gasping with anticipation, on his hands and knees, he scrambled forth to peer over the edge of the natural reservoir.

Despite his reflection being wavy, it was still clear as day. It was so strange yet amazing to see a human being looking straight back at him!

Albeit, due to being infiltrated by the cadou for so long, Moreau's mentality was unchanged, and he retained the same facial structure. Moreau was still himself in a way, big brow, a bare hairline, and uneven length. However, the wet, brown strands were much thicker, and his skin was much smoother, resembling his human age of thirty. The deeply aged creases on the man's forehead, around his eyes and mouth had vanished along with his misery.

Notwithstanding a bit crooked and arched, because in place of the raw flesh, lumps and eyes were aligned shoulders and a back, covered in skin.

Smooth, healthy, human skin.

Moreau looked closer. Light ruddy lips bared a huge smile at his flat, white teeth, rounded earlobes, grown-in brown eyebrows, a non-bulbous chin and neck.

And… his eyes…

Moreau fluttered them. Not only did he have lashes, but his wide sights weren't cloudy and milky white anymore. Instead, they were a colorful hue… Just like the ocean in his birthday painting.

The small man's grin spread further across his smoother features.

Joy was right! My eyes are bright blue!

Moreau sprang to his feet, elated at how he did it with such ease. He plopped to the ground but repeated the action. With an ebullient laugh, the man jumped, tapping his heels, almost tilting over again. He couldn't recall the last time his two feet had fully left the ground!

Moreau glanced at his midsection. Even though the rotund abdomen remained, it had neither bumps nor calluses. Besides, without the metastasized mass weighing him down any longer, his sturdy, short legs weren't bent. He was as light as a writing plume!

The possibility of transmuting to a human was no longer a pipedream. But it happened. It really happened!

"Thank you, Joy!"

Moreau leaped to his friend, and he had to slightly look down for his posture had improved. Nevertheless, the strength she had granted him made up for that.

Moreau lifted the surprised young woman under her arms, twirling them both.

"I'm, I'm, I'm all better! Thank you, thank you, thank YOU!"

"Tee-hee," giggled Joy softly. "Mo is most welcome."

After the cavorting, the man gently set her down. Then the best friends stepped closer to peer at the glimmering lake.

"I never thought I'd be a whole person again." Moreau's fingertips trailed from his forehead, down to his short, bent nose. "He-hee-hee… I'm still not real fancy looking, but I'm, I'm happy I can learn to be the real Mo again."

"Mo was always da real Mo," Joy countered quietly.

Moreau's smile heightened while turning his view toward his friend. However, her countenance had become somber with crossed arms over a heaving chest.

The inner corners of the man's renewed eyebrows arched with concern.

"Is, is Joy dizzy from Mo spinning too fast?"

Joy mustered a small smile, though she continued staring at the water.

"No… I'm just…"

She dropped to her knees and instantly, Moreau followed suit. He cupped her small shoulder and let out a gasp.

"Oh, no! Joy's cold!" He straightened up, raking his sights for something to help his shivering friend. "Wait, wait, wait! Mo sees what Joy needs!"

Moreau jogged a small way away for the found item. It was the little winter coat, lying on the damp ground from when she'd made that chancy plummet in the water. Swiping up the sunny yellow apparel, the man hurried back, ignoring the very fact that this was the first time that he was running since…

Well, probably only God knew.

"Here!"

The puffy coat was draped over the young woman's shoulders.

"There…"

With a small grunt, Moreau knelt in front of the little profile again.

"Is that better?"

Joy's fingers clung to the zipper teeth and gave a short nod.

"…Ye-Yeah."

Moreau's bottom lip jutted with a bemused tilt of the head. Because his friend was still shuddering.

"Is… is Joy warming up?"

"…Uh-huh."

The small man discerned her sloped posture and waited a minute for the winter garb to help her retain some warmth. And by her rapid, fidgeting movements, it wasn't working. He blinked worriedly.

"Is Joy feeling any better?"

Hitching a quivering breath, the woman veered her teary sights.

"Nuh-uh!"

With another startled huff of air, Moreau held onto her coated shoulder, triggering Joy to shift on her knees, fronting him.

"No, no, no need to be sad!" declared her consoling friend, taking hold of her other shoulder. "Joy should be happy! You've made Mo a whole person again!"

"Oh… I am happy about dat," she responded with a brief beam. "Very much. But I just feel… I dunno… shaky…"

"Hmmm… I know, I can feel your shakes… Does Joy have the flu?"

The retired doctor placed his knuckles over her small brow for several seconds. Thankfully, there was no detection of a fever.

"Maybe my bestie has a cold. I, I can get some soup from our lodge! I can run now, so I'll be uhhh… super-duper fast!"

He readied to remove his hands, but they were urgently kept in place.

"No-no-no, please, don't go, Mo! I'm not sicky-wicky."

"Uhh… All right, I'll stay. But what can Mo do to help?"

The young woman laid her hands over her small thighs and showed her palms, beckoning partially painted nails. Her friend took the quiet incentive and Joy gazed at their interlocked hands.

"Mo's making Joy better by being here."

The small man's mouth-line curved again. That was true because Joy's quavering had waned. However, her expression had not changed for the better.

And before another inquiry about her well-being was emitted, Joy raised wide, pained eyes.

"I think I feel dis way 'cause… 'cause…"

Moreau squeezed gently.

"Because?"

Joy sucked in a sharp breath…

"'Cause I keep thinking when I couldn't find ya! I… I thought Mo melted!"

Moreau blinked profoundly. "But, Joy, Mo didn't melt! Mo's right here!"

The woman sensed warm moisture streaking down her cheeks. She sniffed her passageway clear.

"I know dat. …But my heart doesn't know dat!"

The retired physician placed his right palm beneath the woman's collarbone. He could feel the elevated tempo beating through his hand.

"Joy's heart rate is very fast," he stated quietly and with concern. "Try, try not to think of Mo melting to help your heart relax."

Joy grasped her friend's extended hand, staring down at her folded legs. Her lower lip was still trembling.

"I… I can't help it!" Joy tucked in her chin, screwing her watery eyes shut. "I was so scared 'cause I thought ya died! And I felt like I was gonna die without my Momo!"

"Wh-Wh-What?" Moreau stammered, jerking back.

Was 'Momo' a new nickname? She had not once, ever called him that before… The stunned man blinked broadly. The foggy retrospect of muffled pleas being perceived by enzyme-clogged ear canals, before he plunged into the lake became clear…

'…I NEED MY MOMO! MOMO! I NEED MY MOMOOOOO! MOMOOOOOOOO!'

So, he had not misheard. And she had called him hers?

Licking a thin, top lip, Moreau swallowed deeply.

"Your-Your..? Uh'hem… Your Momo?"

The quiet woman clinched his hand tighter against her damp sweater, triggering Moreau's diaphragm to work just as hard as hers.

"…Joy?"

After ten very tense seconds, Joy slowly reared her head. Her cheeks were flushed more than Moreau had ever seen. The redness spread over the short bridge of her small nose.

Sensing the warmth of his rubicund face, the man's teary sights locked with the shimmering, bright green pools.

Suddenly, his own quote came into his head and warming chest.

Eyeballs can say lots more than mouths can.

Moreau gulped again.

"U-h-h-h-h-h? J-Joy? Jo-!"

The whites of his eyes went profound when the little lips suddenly compressed onto his. Instinctually and yearningly, his body loosened, sliding moist eyelids closed as he pushed in. The petite pair gradually stood on their knees. Moreau cupped Joy's jawline as she embraced his upper back, her coat dropping to the earth.

And while the revealed sun shined down on the two linked beings, they remained close and still. The only thing moving was their flowing, linked shapes, reflecting in the vibrant, clear blue water of the great lake.