Chapter Text
“It’s just you and your thoughts.”
Luca couldn’t be bothered to listen to his Uncle Ugo monologue about whale carcass. He was too busy trying to wrap his head around what was going on. Unfortunately, the words that his mother spoke next made him wish he hadn’t asked what was happening.
“You’re going to stay with Uncle Ugo for the rest of the season.”
“No, I can’t!”
“Two seasons, then. Wanna go for three?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“The world is a very dangerous place, Luca, and if I have to send you to the bottom of the ocean to keep you safe, so be it.”
“NO! I WON’T GO!” Luca shouted angrily, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes.
He could also feel his mother growing desperate, so he shouldn’t have been surprised when she yelled back, “Fine, four seasons! Maybe four seasons will make you see reason!”
“An entire year?!” he heard his grandma ask incredulously, though he couldn’t see her face because he had squeezed his eyes shut trying to prevent tears.
“Honey, are you sure about that?” he also heard his father say with concern.
“YES!” his mom yelled, then her voice quieted, “The longer that he's there, the longer he will be out of danger.”
“An entire year of company? How could I say no to that?” his uncle cackled with delight.
Luca’s eyes snapped open. He gave a frustrated growl and tried to swim away towards his room, the only thing on his mind was to get to Alberto. Unfortunately, fate had other plans because his mother grabbed his bicep and said, “Oh no you don’t. You’re going tonight. I don’t need you trying to run away on top of everything else.”
He looked his mother in the eye, though it wasn’t to say that he loved her. Instead he met the determined look on her face and realized: This is really happening.
There was a good chance that he would never see Alberto again! He was going to the deep and there was nothing he could do to stop it. But he knew there was one thing he could do to ensure that Alberto didn’t suffer with him.
As he hugged Grandma goodbye, he whispered in her ear, “Tell Alberto what happened.” He felt her give a stift nod and she hugged him a bit tighter.
He gave his dad a hug, but glared at his mother when she tried to approach him.
Still she did and reached out to tilt his chin up gently, “Hey. Look me in the eye. You know I love you, right?”
Luca turned his head to look at his Uncle Ugo, then looked back at her. “I’m painfully aware.”
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Luca jolted awake from his dream. Or had he not been asleep and had simply been lost in his memories? It was hard to tell here. “Weird,” Luca thought to himself, “It’s been a while since I’ve thought about that argument.”
The memory of his mother telling him that he would be sent away was one that used to haunt him when he first arrived at the deep, but now it had faded in his mind. It was almost funny, a year ago that memory was constantly replaying in his head, now it had been a while since he’d given it a thought. Things changed, he supposed.
Remembering the past made him look down at his body and he thought about some of the other changes he had gone through.
Sea monster bodies are adaptable. They will change to whatever they need to best survive. If a sea monster finds themselves on land, their bodies will change into something that can survive above the water long term. If they find themselves at the bottom of the sea, their form will also change accordingly.
This change didn’t happen nearly as quickly as the one that took place when Luca had first stepped (flopped) onto land. It happened gradually, over a couple days...or was it weeks? It was hard to keep track down there.
In Luca’s case, his bright colors made him stick out like a sore thumb and would attract trouble, so his scales dulled from a bright green-blue to a dark navy.
Then he developed bioluminescence. Ugo had been delighted by this, saying that they matched now.
Luca disagreed, although he didn’t say so. Unlike Ugo’s singular light that dangled above his head, Luca’s took the form of small, glowing dots on his skin. At first they had replaced the freckles on his face. Then they were dotted around in the scales on top of his head, some along the frills of his tail, and a few miscellaneous ones along his arms and legs.
Luca liked them, they reminded him of the anchovies way up in the sky…way, way up.
Instinctually, Luca looked upwards even though he knew it was pointless. There was no sunlight here. Was it day or night? He didn’t know. His bioluminescence dimmed at the thought.
“Hello, little one! How are you?” his Uncle Ugo suddenly appeared behind him, speaking cheerfully. Luca couldn’t help but jump slightly. Even after all this time, Ugo still had a way of sneaking up on him.
Luca was able to get his bearings quickly enough and he just shrugged in response.
That was another change that had occurred, although it had less to do with his natural body. Luca barely talks anymore. Typically, he would just nod or shake his head in response to his uncle. Perhaps a one word reply if he was feeling chatty.
This had mainly started because Luca had quickly learned after he arrived that trying to talk would inevitably lead to Ugo launching into a monologue about something only partially related to what the boy had said. He swore that if he had to hear, “That reminds me of the time when-” one more time, he’d punch his uncle and it wouldn’t be to restart his heart.
Luca’s silence didn’t seem to bother Uncle Ugo who really liked the quiet.
Luca had gained an appreciation for it too. His days of watching over Giuseppe, Enrico, Monalisa, and the rest of the school would often be spent with Luca sitting on his rock, perhaps talking to the fish or describing an adventure, anything to fill the silence.
In the deep, too much talking would only attract trouble, so Luca had learned to be quiet. Now he had no idea how he ever managed to talk so much.
“Come here and eat, I have something to discuss with you,” Ugo told him, breaking the young sea monster out of his thoughts once more.
Luca swam over and took some of the whale carcass from his uncle. In the deep, there was not a lot of variety in terms of food. He found some plants to feed on, but they didn’t provide his body with much nutrients, so he learned to suck it up and eat some whale carcass when he had to.
“I wanted you to know that your time with me is almost up.”
Luca looked up at him.
“Yes, yes, it’s very sad, I know. But it’s been nearly four seasons, and since this will be your first time returning from the deep, we’ll need to leave a few days in advance so you can slowly rise up. Or else all that sunlight at once could have...negative effects.”
Luca couldn’t comprehend what his uncle was saying to him. Had it really been an entire year since he arrived? It felt like he had been there for a few weeks...or a few years. Time was funny in the deep, but he trusted Ugo to have a better sense of it.
He knew he should feel excited. He should be swimming around for joy and begging his uncle for them to leave right that instant.
Yet he didn’t. He felt...nothing.
Well that wasn’t entirely accurate. He wanted to go back, it was preferable to staying in the deep, but he felt no rush to go. None of the desire to go home and reunite with his family that he had felt so strongly when he’d cried himself to sleep during his first nights in the deep.
Now he felt indifferent, so he just nodded his head and ate some whale carcass.
As he looked down at the meat in his hands he wondered what the food that he used to eat tasted like. He couldn’t remember.