Loki POV
Once I finally had a fairly good idea of where she went, and I found her, I was worried I was too late. There were three boats, swarming with Midgardians with guns and swimming clothes. They were firing into the water with no hesitations. I cast an illusion over myself and tried to get closer, but it was difficult considering I was already tired from swimming all over the coast. Out of the blue, one of the boats just flipped over. And then the other one, and everyone was dumped into the water. I waited for the third boat to flip, but it never did.
But now, all of the people were in the water after her. Serendipity was doing fairly well, she was using the water to her advantage, singing as many of them as she could at a time into the depths, but they were getting closer. A lot closer than I would like. So I cast a short term spell allowing me to breathe water and dive down. I begin summoning knives and throwing them at whoever I can. Several of them get up in front of her, but she steals a gun from them and begins shooting them. The oxygen tubes, specifically.
As soon as she runs out of bullets, a man grabs her hair and she shrieks. I glance down, towards the ocean floor. I know my time underwater is running out, but I really need to go down. I’ll die if I don’t go down. So I go down. Soon, the water that was allowing me to breathe begins turning cold and cruel, and I’m no longer able to breathe it. I’m gasping, unable to inhale anything useful. But I still have to go to the bottom.
Everything will be fine once I make it to the bottom.
My vision is spotting, but I need to keep going. I can almost see the bottom when a current whisks me away. No! I need to get to the bottom! But it’s too late, and everything is black. As I fade away, I see her face.
My last thought is one of anger- She won’t let me get to the bottom.
—
I’m gasping for air, coughing and gagging as the water comes out of my lungs. Oxygen floods in and I’m lightheaded, but I’m alive and breathing. I look around, and find Serendipity next to me, wobbling back and forth on the last ship. She is extremely pale, and her eyes aren’t focused on anything in particular. I look her up and down and see many scratches and bruises all over her body… but then I see her… Tail? I guess its a tail. It has three bullet holes going straight through it. Her scales are raggedy along the edges, but she’s bleeding out, and fast.
I look back up at her, but before I have time to even think about what to do, she whispers a mumbled “sorry,” and collapses backwards.
“Serendipity?” I shout before I jump up, rushing over to her. My instincts kick in, and I hold my hands above her limp body, whispering a healing spell. I don’t need to say it to cast it anymore, but I need to focus right now. I can’t think about anything lest I get distracted. I watch as her cuts and scratches begin to mend themselves together, the holes in her tail start to close. Her bruises fade quickly, going from a dark purple to yellow in moments. The irritation on her scalp fades as well. I see her chest moving, so she’s breathing.
I stop my magic and slump onto the floor of the deck. Why did I just do that? Why did I heal her? She’s the reason I just coughed up a bathtub’s worth of water. Her singing told me to go to the bottom, convinced me that my life depended on it. And I believed it. Is she too powerful for her own good or am I weakening?
I can worry about that in a few hours. Right now I need to rest before I go into my own Odinsleep.
—
Serendipity POV
I yawn, stretching my arms, before I wince. All of my muscles hurt. I have never been so aware of my body. I open my eyes. I think I’m on land. I sit up as much as I can with my tail.
Oh my gosh my tail! It all comes rushing back to me. The fish telling me to escape, the three boats, the divers, finding Loki. Loki! I panic, turning around before I exhale a sigh of relief. He’s in a corner, asleep.
I close my eyes, bracing myself for what I might see when I inspect my tail from the bullets. On the count of 3.
1
2
…
3! I open my eyes again and look at my tail. It’s...actually not that bad? I have to be seeing things. I swear I was shot, at least twice. If I was shot, there’s no way it could have healed so quickly, and even if it had it wouldn’t look this good. There’s three patches of dark green scales that I don’t think were there before.
Every time I change, the colors are slightly different, but they’re generally the same thing each time. Blue at my waist, which fades into a darker blue and then into purple, before ending up pink at the very bottom where my tail meets my fin.
The color patterns are very similar now, but there’s splotches of green in three spots. I run my fingers over it, seeing if they feel like the rest of my scales. My fingers barely graze the first one when I wince in pain. It’s very tender. The scales feel like scar scales, but they aren’t raised like they should be.
How on Earth did they get there? I’m certain I was shot now, but now I’m faced with the question of how it healed. Loki sighs in his sleep and I turn to look at him.
Could he have done it? I have heard he can do magic, but I don’t know what kinds. The green scales are a similar color to the green he usually wears. If he had done it, why? I thought he disliked me. Following me around, asking odd questions, sitting and watching me in my pool. And now, I almost killed him, but he might have healed me. After someone almost kills you, usually you wouldn’t go to such great lengths to save their life; especially not unless you cared for them.
Wait.
Does he care for me?
Why would he be that stupid?!
Do I care for him as well?