After the event where you almost drowned and Embraced Hoolan, Life in the cave was...calmer. At least in some ways. You were not as scared of Hoolan anymore and felt somewhat relaxed around him. Not to get you wrong though. You were Hellbent on getting out of there. Back to civilization where you weren't getting kept against your will by a sea monster. The problem was just, how?

You knew swimming up from the entrance pool was out of the question. Suicide as well. If you were still as deep as the base was, there was no way you would be able to reach the surface without running out of air, or Hoolan finding you out in open water. The pressure at that point too would be a problem. Not deadly, but a problem. You had a feeling though you were even deeper than the base was. You had determined that from the fish that Hoolan brought back to eat. You knew your Marine biology enough to know what certain kinds of fish lived at what depths.

The base was a little under a half mile, 600 meters deep in the Mesopelagic zone or the twilight zone. Now, you thought that you were just under the twilight zone in the Bathypelagic zone, (Midnight zone) at 1,000 meters deep and under. Sunlight at that point is nonexistent, the only light comes from the creatures down here. The types Hoolan brought back were Flashlight fish or Lantern fish which were both bio-luminescent fish. The pressure at that point was immense, the only reason you were ok was that you were just under the opening to the cave, and you think that Hoolans venom helped you with that as well. Even though it had been about two weeks ago since he injected you with it. Maybe you could ask him about that. So again, the entrance pool was definitely not an option.

The only other option that left you was the back of the cave. You could only hope that there was an exit that way, after all, you couldn't see past the wall of darkness. Other than that, even if there was an exit that way you would need some sort of light source. You considered trying to crack off parts of the phosphorus rock, but holding it in your hand wouldn't really do much. You would need a jar of some sort. Perhaps if you played nicely you could convince Hoolan to bring you back some. Of course, you couldn't let him know just what for, so you would need to come up with a convincing excuse.

You were snapped out of thought as Hoolan emerged from the entrance pool with a bunch of little flashlight fish dangling from his mouth. His unblinking eyes immediately set on your form. His eyes didn't frighten you as much as they used to, but they still scared you. It was like looking into the dark for so long that you weren't scared of it anymore, but you were still very much afraid of what was in it.

You heard the wet pitter patter as Hoolan made his way from the pool over to where to were on all fours. you gazed down to the rocky floor as he approached. Trying in your mind to figure out what to say to him in a non-suspicious way. You jumped a little when you felt him nuzzle the back of your neck. His cold acrid breath fanning over the back of your head. A slight rocky purr accompanying it.

He crawled around you so that he was now facing you and dropped the little fish in a pile in front of your crossed legs. The fish wasn't very big, only about the size of your palm, so Hoolan would bring you a collection so you would have enough to eat. At your request, he also started to bring your edible plants, but he had to go up a little ways to get them, so he was now gone for about forty-five minutes instead of thirty.

" I apologize for being gone for so long Polyp." He said, You looked back up at him, your E/C orbs staring into his black pools. Now that you thought about it, he WAS gone for a little longer than usual.

" I didn't even notice," you replied looking back down at the fish.

" I wanted to get you these." He said holding out his arm to you. You looked back up at him. In his hands were red, undersea flowers. They were little and were bent down with gravity as they no longer had water to support their stalks. It reminded you of when Hubert got you undersea flowers as a present as well. That was probably where he learned it from. You cracked a tiny hint of a smile and took the flowers from him. Touching their wet petals and admiring them.

" Thank you." You said looking back up at him. In return, With his eyes still as wide as ever, his mouth twitched into an awkward smile, Showing his sharp teeth that had red and black tints to it. You had to suppress a giggle. yes, it was scary, but seeing Hoolan trying to be charming while not really knowing what he was doing was a little comedic.

He saw you trying to hide your smile and his smile only got wider showing you even more of his teeth. Now you couldn't help but giggle. his smile was so dorky in a... sea monster sort of way you guessed. His smile was a lot like Hubert's smile when he was being a goofball.

Hubert

The feeling Humorous moment gave you then left your body faster than someone could snap. How could you be laughing like that when Hubert's corpse was a foot in front of you. Not to mention it was his killer making you laugh. Your smile turned into a deep sorrow expression and you looked back down at the fish.

You didn't have to look up to see that Hoolan's smile was gone from his face too. You heard him blow out a deep frustrated breath from his nostrils. He nudged a fish closer toward you with his hand. That looked different too. It used to look like Hubert's hand. Now it looked like it was becoming like Hoolans flesh when he was a sea spider. The nails were longer too and ended in sharp-clawed tips rather than rounded human ones.

" You need to eat." He said, nudging it again after you didn't make a movement to grab it. Reluctantly you grabbed the fish and took a bite out of it. You almost gagged but you kept it down. No matter how much you disliked it this was what you had to eat, and you didn't want to starve to death. Plus you did not want to upset Hoolan again.

There was a long moment of silence between the two of you. Only the sound of breathing and chewing was heard in the cave. He joined you in eating, grabbing a fish for himself. You wanted to ask him, but you didn't know how he would react. 'Now or never' you thought to yourself.

" Hoolan." You whisper said after another minute of quiet.

" yes, polyp." He replied almost instantly.

" Can I ask you a question?"

" You can ask me anything Polyp." You didn't quite believe him on that but you decided not to put that into words. You ran through your head how you wanted to word your question.

" Can... you bring some things back with you when you go out next." He said nothing after you finished speaking. Tilting his head sideway's in confusion. You continued " Like... ornaments, or jars to...." Your mind went blank, 'Quick! come up with something!' you internally screamed at yourself. " To Decorate the cave, you know, to make it a little homier." To your complete surprise, a smile once again spread across his face.

" Of course Polyp." Before you could react he was on you, wrapping you in an embrace that smelled of rotting kelp. the leftover water in his clothing soaking into yours. " You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that you are accepting your place here." You didn't make a single move in the embrace. You had to be careful to keep up the act and make him keep believing that. He let go of you and started to pace across the floor on all fours. looking excited like a child the day before their birthday.

" I could also dig you a Smoother dip so it's more comfortable to sleep on, I could remove the stalagmites if they are bothering you, Anything you want polyp I will do it for you." he finished sitting down in front of you once again, fidgeting like it almost hurt him to sit down. your eyes were wide at what was going on. you had never seen Hoolan so excited. You almost felt bad for tricking him. Almost. You put a small smile on your face.

" Thank you Hoolan."

- -

Three days had gone by since your unexpected successful conversation with Hoolan. He not only brought you jars but seashells, more flowers, fishing nets, weird looking pieces of metal that you feared were from the remnants of the base, and even fish bones. You used the nets to make dangling ornaments with the seashells. Hoolan would hang them from the stalactites for you. Growing wicked hooked claws on his hands and his feet morphing into what looked like talons so he could climb the rock. You didn't use the fish bones. You had had enough of death in the past few weeks.

you put a mix of rocks and seashells in some of the jars and put those in various places around the cave. You saved a jar of course for the phosphorescent rocks. Waiting until Hoolan was out to try and chip them into the jar. They weren't the brightest things but they did cast off enough light to illuminate a little bit. It was better than nothing.

Once you had been so focused on chipping off rocks pieces that you had completely failed to notice that Hoolan had returned until you felt his ice cold breath fan across the back of your neck. You were for sure that you had been busted when he asked what you were doing. you told him the first thing that came to your mind. That you were trying to get the rock pieces to mix in with the other jars to make them prettier. He actually bought it. Not only that but he helped you break off a large number of pieces. enough to go along with your ruse And fill your escape jar most of the way up.

you knew when the time came that you would need to ask him for something that would take a while to find. You had to be careful though, you didn't want to seem too needy. You Hoped that there was a way out from the back. If there wasn't then you were purchasing yourself a first in line ticket to screwing yourself over and never getting Hoolan to trust you again. You just had to pray that there was an escape when the time came. But that time was not now.

- -

You were sitting in the little dip Hoolan had made for you to sleep in. He was behind you grooming your hair. It was weird since he was Grooming your H/L H/C hair with his teeth, But he insisted and you did not want to get him upset this close to an escape. When he was finished he didn't move away, instead, he rested his chin on your shoulder and you both sat in silence.

" Hoolan." You said after a while. He responded with moving his head so that his nose was now nuzzled against your neck. After a minute of awkward silence, you continued. " Will you tell me about what you are?" There was nothing but silence after your question. Until he turned you over so that you were now facing each other.

" Why do you wish to know ployp?" he asked.

" Call me curious I guess." You replied. He took a big breath of air through his nose before opening his mouth.

" What I am doesn't have a name. We hatch in clutches of about four and are raised by our parents until we are about two years old. By then we're the size of whales."

" Wait." You interrupted. " You weren't anywhere near that size when we found you, I mean I know you can change size but, I didn't think you could make such big a change." You were lost in your mind for a second before realizing you interrupted him. " oops, sorry." you said. He chuckled a little before talking again.

" It's quite alright Polyp, but I can change sizes like that." You shivered.

" It's kind of scary imagining sea spiders that big in the ocean." You said. And was pretty confused when he burst out laughing. when he caught his breath he spoke again.

" I wasn't born looking like a sea spider Polyp. that was only the form I chose to be in. I found it the easiest to be in that form while I was in the area you found me in, it's useful for pretty much everything." Your mouth was in an O shape by now.

" What do you actually look like?" You asked. He was silent for a moment as he pondered an answer.

" I don't quite know how to describe it but the closest I can get to is a monster from human literature. From searching this mans memories I know this monster that closely resembles my birth form is called Cthulhu."

' Oh my God' You thought to yourself, completely dumbstruck, he continued.

" When we reach the age of two years old our parents leave us to fend for ourselves, but the siblings stay together for another few years. By the time we would separate there is usually only one survivor. When we are adults we are about 400 feet tall." He finished.

" Were you the only survivor of your clutch?" You hesitantly asked. He was quiet for another moment and you hoped you didn't upset him. You mentally facepalmed, why would you ask him something like that?

" I had two brothers and a sister in my clutch. When the time came for us to separate only my sister and I was alive. That was so long ago." He said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

" How long ago was it?" you asked as curious as ever.

" That was about six hundred years ago." He said. Your eyes almost fell out of your head. He's six Hundred freaking years old?! He continued. " That was right after I lost my second brother." You couldn't help the wave of sympathy that washed over you. You also couldn't help the question that passed through your lips.

" What can kill a creature like that?" He smiled at your question.

" There are other equally dangerous creatures out there. Some just as big and even bigger. most only hunt my kind when we're babies or juveniles though." He replied. Other creatures just as dangerous and big? whoa. You wondered if the any of the unknown sounds that came from the ocean where from any of those monsters. He didn't quite get your meaning so you relayed the information you knew of them to him.

You told him about the bloop, the upsweep, Julia, the train, and the slowdown. He didn't know what you were talking about with the Bloop and the train. But he did know about The Upsweep, Julia and the Slowdown.

"What you call the upsweep is an area filled with sirens." was his first reply, to which you responded with.

" I thought sirens were supposed to sound beautiful."

" There are two kinds of sirens polyp. The kinds that Hunt for land creatures sing in voices that sound good to the land animals ear. The sirens that hunt underwater sing to the pleasure of ocean creatures. Almost like speaking in an aquatic language. The reason they sing louder in the Summer months is that that is when my kind migrate past their territory. They sing to lure in unknowing babies into their trap and eat them. That was how I lost my first brother." You never thought there was this much to Hoolan, the surprises were never-ending.

" I'm sorry for your brothers Hoolan." You said to Him. He gave you a smile and reached out. stroking his hand across your chin, giving you a heartbreaking smile.

" Thank You polyp." After that, he continued " The one called Julia is a monster much like my kind in size but that's about where the similarities stop." He said with a sour tone in his voice. He noticed your puzzled expression at his irritation with " Julia" And brought some light forth on that.

" You remember how you felt about Maria?" He asked. You made a sad face, remembering the poor woman, but still nodding your head. " I feel the same way about " Julia" All she is is a pain in the gills." You chuckled a little at his remark. " She's also the one that killed my other brother." Again another wave of sympathy for him washed over your heart. You pushed that aside though, you couldn't feel too much sympathy for him, Not when escape was so close you could smell it.

Finally, you asked him about what he knew of the slowdown. Telling him all the information of the sound. You were shocked when a low blush actually crept along his cheeks.

" That was me," he said after a moment.

" Really?"

" Yes, I remember that I was there during the time you speak of." 'wow,' You thought to yourself. Learning all of this certainly made your little Marine biologist heart happy.

" Thank you Hoolan, for sharing all this with me." You said to him, giving him a genuine smile.

" No need to thank me Polyp. I loved telling you about that, I love seeing the look in your eyes as you learn more knowledge about the ocean." He said scooting a little closer to you so that you both were now in the dip. This time the blush spread across your cheeks. and you subconsciously brushed your hand over your ear.

He reached out and grabbed your hand. Pulling it over to him and gently kissing your fingers. You didn't know what to do. You didn't move. Looking into his pitch black abyss that were his eyes. Finally being able to tell what emotion, swam in those depths.

A/N: Yaay! another chapter! I had to do so much stinking research for this chapter. The creature in the picture is sort of What Hoolan was getting at. Note though, I do not own that creature or the picture, or Cthulhu, or of course any of the sounds in the chapter, I do not know the reasoning behind those sounds, I only made up reasons for the story, but if you guys are curious about the sounds talked about in this chapter you can find them on youtube. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always thank you for reading.