"Please send my son here. I wish to speak with him."

"Yes Marinette. Please wait while I find him. I believe he was in the tunnels last I knew."

She nodded and watched one of her clan swim away. Within moments, two returned, her son in tow. He stopped in front of her while their clan member swam away. "You wished to speak to me mother?"

She smiled and rested a hand on his arm. "I heard you had to head out to give your report soon and I wanted to wish you a good journey."

There was an return sigh to the well-wishes. "Why can't my sister go instead of me?" He complained, looking unhappy. "The pressure is always so hard to handle whenever I come back to it! Going up there takes away all my senses away and it's so scary."

She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Believe me when I say that I understand your worries and words my son. I went on the same journey you know. It's a long, scary journey, but it's good to toughen you up."

"If I'm not eaten first."

She laughed at the sour attempt at a joke. She hugged the youth for a moment before releasing him and watching as he swam away with final partings. "Be safe my son." She murmured, watching him disappear through the hole.

"He'll be fine Marinette. He's made the swim many times before and has returned to us. Believe in him."

She looked to Nathaniel at her side and nodded. "I believe he has the ability to avoid danger. I know he'll return."

A hand clasped the handle of the weapon which hadn't left her side in a long time. A fond smile appeared as she momentarily went with her son through the blackness, wondering if it would be daytime or still night up above.

"Mother? Father? Where should I head out to?"

"There you are daughter..."

She jolted to when Nathaniel swam forward to greet the next of their kin. She watched the pair embrace, idly taking note of the shocking red hair, before father looked to his daughter. "Please check on the rest of my clan up north. Please let them know how Marinette's clan has been since your last report."

"Please be careful on your way daughter." She added, swimming a little to the youth. A hand reached out and wrapped around such a tiny shoulder, giving a squeeze. "Remember to be careful of enemies and flee when necessary. Avoid all lights that move and if you touch anything in open water, swim as fast as you can."

"That's not a problem mother." The youth smiled. "I took after you in cleverness. I believe it has helped me immensely and I'll be fine."

She nodded and let go. "Safe journey."

She watched the second of their brood swim away as the pair stayed in the large second of the tunnels. The cave of her home had now become hers full-time what felt like forever ago, but it had long since become normal.

Her hand strayed to the weapon again and she wondered if she should have loaned it to her daughter for the travel up north or not. The youth was correct in that she was very smart in many things going on in the depths and had yet to encounter anything truly scary.

Nathaniel stared across the way as Marinette fingered the handle. It had become such a habit that he didn't think much to it. It was a gesture of fondness and she often smiled when doing so.

His head tilted a little, giving an encouraging smile. "Do you want to head up with our son this time? It has been quiet for a long time and I'm sure those above wouldn't mind..."

She jolted, hand jerking away, as she met kind eyes. "No!" She quickly denied. She looked away, shaking her head. "No...my home is here. My place is here. It's always been here. I can't just leave it for some selfish desire." Her lips tilted. "I'm sure there will be a greeting awaiting me when our son returns. I should have sent one with him. Perhaps next time..."

She stared at the exit both children had taken mere heartbeats ago. "It's just sad that we must force our children to endure what we had to do for the sake of everyone. I know that our son would prefer to spend more of his time down here with the rest of our clan than swim to the upper waters for his report."

He smiled. "I think that may come from me I'm afraid. It's just sad that the clans from the upper or middle waters can't come down here for a change."

Such comments hadn't changed in a long time. Perhaps they never would. "At least they swim the distances around the human rock for us so that our children don't have to. I believe that Adrien has taken it upon himself to send his children to Chloe's clan so that ours don't have to spend even more time above and endure a harsher adaptation after returning home."

"If such a thing is true, that's very thoughtful of him."

She nodded, mind already leaving the tunnels and heading through the black waters. She thought back to bright waters filled with nothing but sunlight and golden hair. A gentle smile and extended hand. Of course he would have thought of such a thing for her sake; he knew very well how hard the return home was and he was making sure her son didn't have to go through that as much as possible.

A gentle smile slowly appeared as she thought to him. She wondered what he was doing; if he was out hunting, if he was sleeping, if he was speaking with his own children as she just was. She jolted a little when she realized she was touching the weapon. She looked to it, but didn't pull her hand away.

"I think I'll head out for a little hunting." She murmured, waiting for Nathaniel's well-wishes before moving.

The silence outside the cave was forever there, but it wasn't scary any longer. It had stopped becoming scary a long time ago. This was her home, the place she was born and would die in. The place her children had been born in and were growing up in. She would never hate nor fear such a place any longer. Even when she visited the crack in the earth, now just another hole in the ground, she wasn't scared.

She slowly cut through the water, fingers lightly against the handle as she pulled it from the wrappings keeping it at her side. The scar in her tail pulled and shifted where scales no longer existed. She winced a little when too powerful of a push moved it too much for comfort.

"What are you doing?!"

"Just hold still. I don't know what this thing can do."

"That's the human's thing! You put that down right now!"

"Nothing is going to happen. I just want to see how it works."

So he said and then shot a bullet right by her tail. It only brushed against the side, taking off some scales and making that spot unable to release toxins ever again. The amount of guilt he showed after she healed was apparent even when he took her home.

It was hard to grip the weapon with one less finger on one of her hands. She made sure to counter for it with her good hand.

"It's not good to hunt for food so close to the rocks like this you know. Things hide in the rocks and like to surprise attack you."

"Do you know how many times I've been this close to the reef in search of food? Nothing has come at me yet and I have a much better sense of smell than you do. Even in such a lack of pressure. I'll be fine."

Those were the most foolish words she had ever spoken. A moray eel shot out from the hole, jaws wide open. It managed to grab hold of the end of a hand she raised in defense and bit a finger off when Adrien tried to get it away from her. The eel managed to put a thin scar in Adrien's cheek with its tail as it thrashed around. Of course, he killed it without mercy, but the amount of blood she lost because of it had him scared for a long time to come.

So many scary memories she held dear before she remained here forever. Whether it was her fins, her tail, her hand, or the scarred skin on her upper arm. Each scar was a memento of her time with him and whenever the weapon wasn't enough to sustain her thoughts of him, she would think to her injuries and the time afterward.

She accepted her adult life with grace and seriousness, not feeling too sad after a while when she forgot what his voice sounded like. After so many dark nights, all she could remember were youthful tail strips, yellow hair, and green eyes.

Her clan needed her and, now more than ever, she couldn't find herself to leave them for any need to swim above. She had to think of more than just herself. She wouldn't let Nathaniel be alone should something happen to them all. She would never forgive herself for being away if the ground ever rolled again.

Though she couldn't bring herself to leave, she always had the option to go. Nathaniel was very understanding of her thoughts to the world above and she knew he wouldn't mind if she was gone for a sun or two. He knew she would come back to where she belonged and she knew she would too. Her home and her clan were here. Her children would return here after they were done with their reports. She would miss them greatly if she didn't get to spend time with them after they got back.

She looked in the direction of up as she remained still in the water. She wondered if her son had cleared the lower waters or not. Perhaps some day soon she would go with him during his report and greet everyone again. She had the option...but it would not be today. For now, it was time to let the children build up relations for the future as she had for herself. Their job was to bring information to as many clans as possible and keep everyone connected.

The ocean, being as vast and different as it was, was governed by so many beings to keep control to the ever-shifting tides. Order had been established for a long time and certain families would be in charge of communicating various things in their area to other clans. Such was the job of the children. Her job was here and would be long into the future.

Soft ambiance music: youtube com/watch?v=FOIjvHjK0Rw

m(_ _)m

Thanks for reading! This is the first one that I wrote where these two dorks didn't end up together like we all know they will. I was never very interested in this for most of the chapters, but I'm glad that I wrote it. It's been an interesting write and has done much (aside from add a mermaid notch to the list of Aus). Thanks for staying till the end. Thanks to Maysoulrose on Tumblr for the inspiration and I hope this story gives you inspiration in return to make more art for the story.