Swept Away (ch12)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY $20+ PATRONS!

The final chapter's events flow toward tragedy...

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

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												Chapter 12. One Last Time

The wind and the rain batter Claudine just as intensely as the ocean batters the boat. At the very least, the waves aren't big enough to break, but the force behind them is more than enough to send her jostling every other second.

With all her might, she pumps the oars, beating them down against the surface that is constantly surging up at her. The sea knocks her in every direction as she struggles to put force into her arms and churn the oars.

She's soaked to the bone, every inch of her trembling and shaking, from not only the frigid spray of water and downpour of rain, but also too from the all-encompassing fear that grips her like sharp talons and doesn't let go.

It's entirely dark, save for when flashes of lightning blaze through the sky and illuminate the raging sea in a terrifying yellow glow for just a few split seconds. The thunder continues blaring, seeming to get louder and louder with each stroke she makes.

But even so, the turmoil of the sky and the tumult of the sea combined still can't match the storm raging inside her heart.

Every inch of her aches with that heavy, sickening dread of knowing you'll never see someone again if you don't act right now, no matter how foolish it may be. Her body is all but numbed from the freezing temperatures of the raging ocean in the dead of night.

And yet, there is still a fire that courses through her veins to melt the ice of that terror, just long enough to allow her one more push of the oars.

The ocean heaves again, and she shrieks, but somehow manages to work the boat to remain upright.

She doesn't even realize until she's too far out that she's lost her sense of where she's trying to go. The tugging that had been pulling at her heart has now been entirely replaced by a deep, petrified fear.

But she still knows Mahiru is close.

How close, she isn't sure, but in all the numbness the fear has created within her, this conviction is the last thing left she can actually feel.

"Mahiru-"

She pours her strength into her arms and rows another few feet farther out, then draws in a deep breath to shout.

"Mahiru!"

Even at the highest volume she can muster, her voice is barely anything against the hiss of rain, the surge of water, and the cracking of thunder. Her heart is pounding through her whole body, making both her head and her chest feel as if they might burst.

Another roar of thunder deafens her, and a strike of lightning blinds her. The wind pushes her, the rain pelts her, and the cold takes hold of her.

But even so, she doesn't stop.

"Mahiru!"

She calls out again and again, desperately trying to scour the deep waters below for a familiar flash of blue. Everything is too dark for her to see properly, but still, she searches.

"Mahiru!"

She chokes, coughing as her body seems to remember all at once how sick she is, how far beyond her limits she is.

The storm howls, and a flash of lightning splits open the sky so brightly it seems as though it's right on top of her. The thunder blasts so loudly it causes a reverberation in her ears, and for a second she can't hear anything at all. She just feels the throb of her pulse beating against her skull and her ribs, the internal shuddering that causes her grip on the oars to slip from the rainwater.

The ocean surges again.

And this time, it takes her.

She feels the very instant when the boat heaves too far to one side, and no matter how hard she pushes her weight against it, it isn't enough. Her heart all but stops as the terror of what's happening sinks in and engulfs her with that helpless weightlessness of falling.

And then the impact.

Her back slams into the water, forcing the last desperate breath of air from her lungs. And before she can do so much as even try to move her arms or kick her legs, the weight of the boat crashes down on top of her.

She's forced down - farther down than she has any hopes of overcoming now. Her body is no longer obeying her. Her senses are numb and blank.

The only things she can feel now are the gentle rocking of the combers beneath the surface, slowly coaxing her down, down, down, into their frigid, drowning depths.

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Mahiru swims as hard as she can.

Even in spite of the fact that she'd gone on such a long and arduous journey all on her own for weeks on end.

In spite of the fact that she'd barely stopped to eat or rest.

In spite of the fact that she hadn't stopped at all on her way back, and has been swimming nonstop for days and nights at a time.

In spite of the fact that her body is so exhausted and in pain that she knows it might give out at any second.

In spite of the fact that her hands have been burnt so badly that she's almost certain she'll see bone if she looks down at them.

But none of that will stop her from getting to Claudine.

She shoots past the rocks of the cove and into the open waters. But she can't see much like this, so she has to bring herself above-water to frantically search for a boat. It's a horrible push and pull, because she can't see from afar underwater, but when she breaches the surface she has to stop moving.

She scours the cove for something. Anything.

"Kuro-chan!"

The stone continues blistering her hands, but she hardly even feels it anymore. Nothing compares to the fear for Claudine's life.

After a few seconds of finding no signs of her, Mahiru dives back down and swims out a hundred more yards. The ocean swirls around her, and the sky breaks and pours down from above.

It's the worst possible scenario for Claudine to be out here on her own. Mahiru knows it's only a matter of time before something terrible happens.

She propels herself to the surface again and cries out at the top of her lungs.

"Kuro-chan!"

The wind and the thunder smother her voice, and the rain beats down on her. She scans the water, hoping, praying…

A flash of lightning illuminates the world for just a second.

But it's still long enough for her to glimpse a small shape swaying on the waves farther out.

Mahiru dives immediately and makes a beeline for the direction of the boat, all the while somehow still managing to clutch the burning stone in her palms.

Please… please let me be in time-!

She can feel the blinding sting of tears behind her eyes even with the ocean all around her. She can barely catch her breath at all anymore with how hard she's been swimming, and now her throat begins to close up and choke.

Please… please…

She has to break the surface again, panting hard and desperately shaking her head to dislodge the tears from her vision.

"Kuro-chan-"

She turns to find the little boat just a few dozen yards away-

-just in time to watch it capsize.

"No-!"

She screams, plunging back down into the water and beating her tail ferociously. Even above the sounds of the storm and the sea, she hears the huge, heavy splash of the boat flipping and slamming down against the water.

Mahiru sobs as she finally makes out the shadows in front of her. The small, battered silhouette of a girl sinks slowly toward the bottom.

"Kuro-chan!"

Mahiru shrieks and races toward her.

Claudine isn't moving at all, and she's sinking by the second.

It's just like that first night she'd met her. Only, at that time, Mahiru hadn't been so irrevocably and devastatingly in love with her.

With a few final strokes of her tail, she reaches her at long, long last.

Mahiru hooks an arm around her waist and tries to pull her upward. But suddenly, the stone begins to burn even harder, even beyond the numbness it had settled on. It's so searingly painful Mahiru actually recoils and lets Claudine go.

"N-No!"

Instantly, she grabs hold of her again, but the stone sends an even stronger blaze through her veins.

"Fine!" she screams. "It isn't even a choice for me-!"

She drops the stone without a second thought, the prize she'd sought out so ardently, letting it drift slowly down back toward a place where she very well may never find it again.

But even if her entire journey ends up being for naught, she doesn't care. So long as she can save Claudine one last time, she doesn't care about anything else.

Mahiru tries to grab her once more, but to her dismay, her hands are burned beyond use. She can't even curl her fingers or find purchase on her at all. She tries again and again to grab hold of her, but every time Claudine slips right through her fingers.

"No, no-!"

Mahiru tries again and again, terribly aware of the fact that Claudine is sinking lower and lower. She dives down to swim beneath her now, supporting Claudine's weight on her back and pushing up toward the surface.

But her body is so tired, even the surge of adrenaline can't do anything for her now. Mahiru barely manages to lift Claudine a foot higher before her energy is sapped away all at once.

The thunder blares, making the water around her shudder as she sags beneath Claudine's limp weight. Mahiru desperately turns herself over and tries to catch her, scrambling to make her hands work as she fumbles for a grip on her.

"Kuro-chan-"

Her beautiful, sand-colored hair that had always been so dry and curly is now a soft flow of straight locks drifting all around her.

Her eyes are closed, and her face is stark and pale, save for the redness of her cheeks where she'd surely been crying so, so much.

Her lips are parted slightly, and with a whimper, Mahiru watches the last little bubbles of air leave her.

Her chest is vacant of breath, and her body is void of any movement at all.

"No…"

Mahiru tries again to move her tail, but nothing happens.

"No… K-Kuro-chan…"

She brushes her charred hand gently over Claudine's cheek, but even just that much makes her flinch and sends a pang of agony through her.

"No… please no…"

It can't end like this. It can't.

Not when Claudine isn't even able to open her eyes and see her one last time.

Not when she won't even be able to hear Mahiru's voice.

"Kuro-chan…" She bows her forehead against hers and weeps. "I love you… I love you…"

She can feel it. How Claudine hasn't got much more than a sliver of life left in her. Her pulse wavers, and eventually fades.

Mahiru's voice breaks out in a wail, even louder than the thunder.

"Kuro-chan-!"

A soft, eerie glow catches the corner of her eye.

The stone is still sinking slowly beside them, radiating its heated, colorful light. Mahiru's heart breaks at the sight of it, and what she'd believed she could achieve with it. She remembers all the things she'd told herself she would wish on it once she finally found it.

I wish Kuro-chan and I could be together forever. I wish we could see each other every day for the rest of our lives. I wish we could be happily in love forever…

But now, although none of those wishes have changed, there is one that she would rather see granted, if the magic truly did exist.

"Please…" she whispers. "Please… save her…"

Even if it means we can't be together. Even if it means we won't be in love. Even if it means we never even met…

"Please-!" she cries. "Save Kuro-chan!"

An explosion of thunder erupts from the sky and seems to shake the entire ocean. Mahiru pours the last of her strength into trying to hold onto Claudine in whatever way she can. There's another bright flash, much brighter than any lightning would appear from beneath the surface.

And that's when she realizes it wasn't lightning at all.

Rather, the light comes from below them.

When Mahiru turns her head, the glow suddenly bursts forward from that little stone, enough light to fill the entire cove. She yelps, instinctively reaching her hands up to shield herself, but realizing she's lost her grip on Claudine in the process. When she tries to touch her again, Mahiru feels only water.

Perhaps it worked after all.

Perhaps it took her.

Perhaps it's brought her to a place or a time far away where she'd never even met Mahiru at all.

She can only hope that - wherever she'd gone - she'd been given another chance to live.

At the very least, Mahiru still retains her memories for the moment, but she isn't even sure if she'll be able to keep those.

So she thinks through them all as swiftly as she can, as if it may be for the last time:

The first moment she'd seen her there sitting on those rocks.

The first time she'd heard her sing.

All the times she'd watched her play with the fish.

The time she'd saved her from the sea and brought her to shore.

The first time she'd said her name.

The first time she'd brought her gifts.

The first time she'd come onto land with her.

The first time she'd sat with her, and talked with her, and opened her heart to her.

The first time she'd kissed her - and all the times after that.

Whatever magic this is, Mahiru hopes it will at least let her keep the memories.

That's fine… As long as she can live… So please…

It's a few seconds later when she realizes her body is no longer throbbing with the dull agony of her endeavors. Even her hands have stopped burning, and when she dares to bring them into view, she's astounded to find the skin and muscle have all been healed.

Suddenly, it feels as though she'd never embarked on such a harrowing journey in the first place.

Maybe she hadn't.

Maybe time was rewinding.

Maybe she'd soon find herself back with her family, and the cove where she would have met Claudine would never exist at all.

The light is still surrounding her, and she can't make sense of anything other than the fact that she's still in the water, though she isn't sure if it's in the same place anymore. She strokes her tail and tries to look around, squinting in the brightness.

And it's then she sees that she hasn't been left alone after all.

There's a girl - with flowing sand-colored hair and pink cheeks that match the color she knows to be hidden within those delicate, closed eyelashes.

Mahiru gasps.

"Kuro-chan!"

She swims straight toward her as quickly as she can. The light is blurring her vision beyond much more than Claudine's face. But little by little, more and more of her comes into view.

And she doesn't look quite like she used to.

Mahiru's hands fly to her mouth.

"Kuro-chan…"

The layers of clothes she'd been wearing have vanished and replaced.

Her neck, shoulders, and arms are bare, though her chest is now covered by loose, ruffly pink fabrics.

Her stomach is bare as well, slim and pale and white.

Mahiru's heart stops for a second, and then begins to pound all over again.

"Kuro…chan…"

And then, those beautiful coral-pink eyes flutter open to meet silver.

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Claudine can't make sense of anything for a long, long time.

One moment, she's surrounded by cold, dark, unforgiving waters, being dragged down into the sea by her own weight as the pain stings through her body so sharply it numbs her altogether.

And the next, nothing is cold or painful anymore.

Her first thought is that she'd perished, drowned as she probably should have so many weeks earlier.

Everything is suddenly warm and bright and gentle now. Even with her eyes still shut, she can sense the brightness of light.

Nothing hurts. Nothing is dragging or pushing her down. She can breathe. She finds the strength to open her eyes…

The light is all around her, swirling and dancing in all different waves of colors. It's so warm.

But her eyes don't even bother to admire such a dazzling, magical sight.

For they soon come upon something even more beautiful.

Her heart jolts.

"Ma…Mahiru…?"

She's there, floating in the rainbow light, her tail the same brilliant blue Claudine remembers, her clothes the same adorable green ruffles, her hair the same lovely swirl of black, dappled by the three familiar flowers.

And her eyes - still a lovelier silver than the ocean blanketed by crystalline snowfall.

Her lips part, and her familiar voice cries out.

"Kuro-chan-!"

Claudine can't really move, in spite of how badly she wants to.

But it seems Mahiru has the energy and mirth enough to move for them both.

She swims to her in only seconds and throws both arms around Claudine in such a tight and powerful hug it bowls them both backward in the water.

"Kuro-chan! Kuro-chan-!"

Claudine catches her as best she can, squeezing her hard. Her heart beats like never before, and tears come welling up.

But they don't fall. Instead, they become a part of the ocean surrounding her.

That's when she realizes her arms are bare, that she isn't wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing before. She can still feel fabrics falling around her chest past Mahiru's weight on top of her, but it isn't what she's used to feeling.

As the light finally fades, Claudine finds herself halfway to the bottom of the ocean in the middle of the night. She gasps, watching bubbles fly up from her lips and travel to the surface. Mahiru senses her distress and eases back from the embrace.

"Kuro-chan-"

"M-Mahiru-" Claudine chokes. "I-I can't-"

"Yes, you can." Mahiru rests both hands on her shoulders with a gentle, tender touch. Her eyes are soothing, and her smile is calm. "You're all right, Kuro-chan. You can breathe. See?"

Claudine is captivated by her eyes for a long moment, still in disbelief that she'd found her again, that she'd come back, that she's safe-

"But… how…?"

Now, Mahiru glances downward a little sheepishly.

"Well…" She tapers off, clearly not sure of what to say.

Only now does Claudine tear her eyes away from Mahiru's face and follow her gaze.

She finds her own chest covered by flowing pink fabrics that sway in the water - a fit and design bearing a striking resemblance to the Mahiru's tulle.

But that isn't all that's changed.

Claudine's hands fly to her mouth.

A tail.

A beautiful pink tail now resides where her legs used to be.

The scales are the colors of a sunset sky, each one dappled with a tiny hint of orange all the way from the tip of her tail up to her hips. The scales at her navel where they meet skin are rimmed with gold.

She blinks. But it doesn't disappear. None of it does. Even after several long seconds of stunned silence, she doesn't wake up from whatever dream this may be.

Eventually, Mahiru swims up close to her again, her eyes and voice nervous.

"Kuro-chan…?"

Claudine finally lets her hands fall away from her mouth. She looks back up at her, utterly bewildered and in awe.

"Mahiru… I'm-"

"I-I'm sorry!" Mahiru throws herself at her again all at once, holding her tightly and burrowing her face into Claudine's neck. "I'm so sorry, Kuro-chan! I-I didn't mean for this to happen! I-I just wanted to save you-"

"Mahiru-"

"I didn't know it would change you!" she wails. "I-I didn't know it would take your legs away! I just wanted you to live!"

"Mahiru-"

"And now," she blubbers. "N-Now you can't have your life back… Now you can never walk on land again! Now you can never-"

"Mahiru!"

Claudine grabs her shoulders and pulls her away so she can give her a good, stern look. Mahiru whimpers and trembles and sobs as she wipes her eyes over and over.

"K-Kuro-chan- I-"

"Thank you."

"…Eh…?"

Claudine doesn't say anything else right away.

Instead, she just leans in and kisses her.

Mahiru squeaks, but after a few seconds she gradually uncurls her arms from her chest, and instead wraps them around Claudine's waist.

By now, the storm and the night have passed. The first few rays of morning sunlight begin filtering in from the surface, dyeing the water gold.

By the time they part from their kiss, Mahiru has stopped crying, but Claudine has only just begun.

"Thank you… Mahiru…"

Mahiru shakes her head.

"B-But-! You can never-"

"Dummy." Claudine bumps her forehead lightly against hers. She chuckles a little, and though it's interrupted by a sob, it's a happy sound. "I told you before, didn't I? I have no one waiting for me in that world. No one who will miss me. No one who needs me. No one who loves me. The only place where I have those things is here. With you."

Mahiru feels like her heart is about to burst. All of the guilt and fear she'd been filled with upon seeing Claudine like this is now melting away beneath the warmth of her loving, heartfelt words. She can see it clearly in Claudine's eyes that she's telling the genuine truth.

"You saved me again, Mahiru," she whispers. "You saved me… and we both got our wish. Now we can be together. Forever."

And hearing Claudine finally say the words Mahiru has been waiting for all this time finally lets her realize it's all so wonderfully real.

With a sobbing laugh, Mahiru throws herself at Claudine all over again, and Claudine catches her with waiting arms, twirling her around in the water. Their scales brush together, catching in the light and making a purple sort of shimmer.

When Mahiru casts her gaze down to where the stone had fallen, there's no sight of it any longer. She smiles, and just squeezes Claudine tighter.

Their hearts beat merrily as one, and their tails curl together.

They hold each other until the sun rises fully, bathing them in the warmest light imaginable.

When the tears have finally all been shed and added to the sea, the two girls ease apart enough to find each other's eyes once more.

"Kuro-chan?" Mahiru fidgets a little bit. "Are… Are you sure you won't have any regrets…?"

Claudine doesn't hesitate for a second in kissing her forehead.

"Not one."

"Even if you can't walk again?"

"I won't need to," she replies. "After all, I've got an entire ocean to explore together with you. I thought I might be a little flimsy in getting used to this, but it already feels so natural. And the water isn't cold, either."

The more she talks, the brighter Mahiru's smile becomes.

"I'm so glad…" She wraps her arms around Claudine again and presses up close to her. "I'm so glad, Kuro-chan… I'm so glad you're all right."

"I'm so much better than that," Claudine murmurs, nuzzling into her shoulder. "I'm with you, Mahiru."

Mahiru giggles and gives her another squeeze before slowly easing back again. She stares fondly into Claudine's eyes, that somehow seem even more beautiful now. Claudine allows herself to get lost in Mahiru's eyes, too.

And then a kiss, one more tender and sweet than all the ones before, and with even more of a passion.

When at last they part, their hearts are singing.

"I love you, Mahiru."

"I love you, Kuro-chan."

They take hold of one another's hands, and begin to hum a familiar little song.

Together, they turn to face the endless ocean before them, and swim toward a brand new adventure - to where their future waits.

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A/N: Initially as I was writing the first few chapters, I put up a poll on twitter about whether they should stay a human and a mermaid, if Mahiru should become a human, or if Claudine should become a mermaid. But I'd already started writing with the latter ending in mind, as I made sure to show that Claudine has no loving family or friends on-land in this AU, so it would make sense for her to change so they could be together. Also, I wanted to write and envision mermaid!Claudine, so I hope you're okay with this result.

Epilogue inbound!