Blood Runs Thicker than Water (The Shape of Water Fanfic)

Brother

There are certain things in life that become your goal, your obsession. Sometimes this game called life that every human being is thrown into, just doesn't hold enough meaning. Because it is very difficult to find meaning in going to a cubicle every day, typing letters and numbers, or perhaps working away on a farm, the hot sun beating down on you. It is natural for every human to have the need to be part of something truly great. Not a limb for a grand company or harvesting vegetables to sell in the market. No, we all desire to be truly needed, to be important to something or someone. Perhaps that is why we throw ourselves away to the wrong people so heedlessly. We desire to change someone's world so desperately that it doesn't matter who's world that is. All people have a sense of purpose, a grand drive to be part of something great, or for some people, to be that great thing.

I was driven from an early age, with the thought of a sentient being watching over me. It became my life's purpose to find whatever this creature was.

But what does one do, when the pinnacle of their life's achievements stands before you? Do you stand to watch your greatest goal be completed, or are you already considering what you're going to do with your life now?

I was unable to answer that question for myself as this being rose out of the water in front of me. Moonlight sparkled off the descending water, the cascading droplets formed around what appears to be a distinctly humanoid body.

Once the water finally stopped rushing off the body of this marvelous being, I stepped back, trying to absorb it all in. What I saw brought tears to my eyes.

A beautiful creature, one undiscovered and untouched by any greedy human hands. His body (I knew from the moment it rose it was a "he", so much for my dreams of a feminine mermaid) was thick with bands of muscle all around, with arms and legs that looked strong enough to snap me at a whim. Plated in a glorious mosaic of artistry around his body were thousands of tightly overlapping scales, swirled with the most dazzling palettes of blue. Turquoise, aqua, indigo, sky blue, they were all there, patterned as if some divine artist had dipped his brush into the mix of these colors, and swirled them in a piece of abstract art. His chest and abdomen were not as scaled, but were toughened with firm flesh, not quite human or reptilian. Accenting his elbows, back, neck, and other pointed places were fins, looking like they were composed of flexible rays. At the end of his arms were large hands, not paws or talons, they resembled human hands too much. Webs were spread between the fingers, and sharp hooked claws spread out where fingernails would be on a human.

I looked upwards, pretty far upwards, as he was a tall being indeed. His face was relatively flat, with a flat plated nose and curvaceous lips surrounded by a mixture of scales and hard flesh. Branching out from his forehead were plates of hard cartilaginous features, eventually turning from a tan color to a deep aquatic turquoise accented by sparkling sky blue. These colorful scales were layered and rose upwards, resembling a kind of crown. On his neck were pulsating, feathery gills, but as I saw his chest exhaling and inhaling, I realized he had more than one method of breathing. I noted this subconsciously. But I noticed his eyes the most. They were not the dull glass orbs of a reptile or cat. No, they were sparkling with soul behind them, regarding me now with the utmost gentleness and care. In those golden orbs I saw flickers of yellow, red, and blue, all coalescing into sparking flames of eyes.

I breathed heavily, unable to really comprehend what was right before me. The greatest achievement of my life, personified right here. And so not knowing what else to do, I decided to speak.

"Hello," I said weakly. Basically the most generic and dumb thing I could've said.

He just regarded me silently. I had no idea if he was capable of human speech or not. This watchful secondary caretaker of mine, who made me gifts and watched over me ever since I was able to remember.