“Do you wish to be saved?” The voice was rich, like the deep resonance of the ocean itself, but unmistakably otherworldly. It wasn’t the sound of someone human; it was ancient, vast, and eternal.

Emilio froze for a moment, his thoughts hazy, struggling to keep his eyes open against the blinding darkness of the water. The voice pressed on. “Why do you wish to be saved, young one? Tell me.”

Emilio’s lips parted in desperation, though no words came out. He couldn’t think of anything coherent. He couldn’t think at all. He only wanted to understand. Why?

“Please,” he whispered, the desperation almost too much to bear. He gasped as the water filled his lungs, his heart pounding. “I… I just want to know why he… why Nico loves the water so much. Why it’s everything to him. I want to see it through his eyes. I just want to know…”

The voice lingered for a long moment, silent, as though considering. Then, it came again, softer this time, like the calm before a storm. “Then trust the water, young one. Let it in… embrace it. Let it transform you.”

Emilio’s body trembled as the words echoed in his mind, something deep inside him yearning for the change, for understanding. His legs—so heavy, so numb—began to tingle, the sensation spreading up from his feet like liquid fire. He could feel the water pushing through him, not just around him, but in him. It was as if the ocean was calling him, urging him to accept its embrace.

Pain swirled inside him as his legs began to shift. He could feel them elongating, reshaping, muscles rearranging in a way he couldn’t understand, but something deep inside told him to trust it. His body was transforming, and it was terrifying—and beautiful—at once.

His legs fused together, the sensation of it so intense he could hardly breathe through it. He gasped, eyes widening, as the transformation took form—a sleek, iridescent tail, shimmering with colors he couldn’t describe, the scales reflecting the light that seemed to be seeping in from nowhere. The tail, now fully formed, flicked behind him, effortlessly moving with the flow of the water as if it had always belonged to him.

“Trust the water,” the voice echoed one last time, as Emilio felt the strength return to his body, a new kind of power surging through him, connecting him to something far deeper than himself.

He kicked against the ocean’s current with the newfound strength of his tail, feeling a sense of freedom, of belonging, like he had just been born into this world for the first time. And for the first time, Emilio didn’t feel afraid of the ocean.

The ocean had pulled Emilio deeper than he could fight against. The cold and the pressure were too much, and despite his newfound strength, his body was on the verge of giving up. His vision blurred, the world around him sinking into an endless stretch of water, and his breath was nothing but desperate gasps. He was fading, the feeling of panic suffocating him. Then, a flicker of light—someone was there.

Before he could even process it, Nico’s hands grabbed hold of him, pulling him out of the depths of the water. The sting of the cold, the frantic rush of air filling his lungs, and the weightlessness of the ocean suddenly disappeared. Emilio’s body was limp in Nico’s arms, and he felt his brother’s grip on him tighten, pulling him upward to the surface.

Nico’s breath was ragged, his face twisted with a mix of shock and confusion. “Emilio!” he shouted, his voice strained, but there was an edge to it, like a thread of something else that Emilio couldn’t place.

Nico dragged him onto the boat with surprising strength, his face unreadable as he adjusted Emilio’s weight to keep him steady. He was panting, his own body trembling from the adrenaline and the shock of what had just happened.

Emilio’s head swam, his vision clouded, but through the fog of exhaustion and fear, he managed to lift his eyes to meet Nico’s. His brother’s gaze was intense, but something else flickered there—something he couldn’t hide.

Nico’s lips parted as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. His brow furrowed as his eyes flicked over Emilio, lingering on his shimmering tail. A wave of something—jealousy, confusion, and longing—swept through Nico, a feeling that made him ache deep in his chest. He had always longed for the ocean, felt it calling him, felt a connection to it that he couldn’t explain. But seeing Emilio with a tail now, his tail, the one that was meant for someone who belonged to the water—it twisted something in him.

“What the hell…?”