As Em fell overboard, a gasp of disbelief turned into a scream of anguish. Her yell, overflowing from an unnatural throat, became a shriek of such power; bodies trembled and minds frightened. Soldiers and sailors dropped their weapons to cover ears, to fidget around seeking help, to curl up in terrified balls. Eyes closed to endure pain or allay fear. A gun shot into the air as its hand clenched in surprise. Another weapon fell when its master was unable to hold himself together.

Noone saw the girl slipping out of a hatch to start a run towards murder. None noticed but Riko. Even confined to his knees, he swung a kicking blow to destabilise a soldier in her path. A long leap and she passed over him. Gaining momentum, her muscles tensed with every stride. One push, one more. Vega turned around too late. Ivy squeezed the handle of the paring knife as her body rose into the air with a powerful jump. A beast reaching for its prey. Vega’s revolver fell as one hand joined the other in a raise to stop the incoming attack. Palms covered his face. Ivy stroked without holding her fury and the little blade cut though flesh as if it was water. Blade pierced and the hand struck the face, steel impaling through the eye socket. Vega’s head, still pinned on Ivy’s will, brutally hit the wooden ground. Kneeling over his torso and sure she had him at her mercy, Ivy pulled the weapon and raised it above her head. Vega yelled in agony, his face contorted under a bloodied hand.

Ivy's lungs filled, her teeth clenched. The knife flew down one more time, aiming for the chest for the lethal strike, but blade pierced wood. Ivy rolled on the floor with a large soldier, grabbing her from behind. After a brief struggle, grey sleeves surrounded her neck. His try; in vain. She unleashed one arm back to not only break the knee, but to throw her oppressor into a spin. Ivy stood as he crashed over a cracking deck. Upon recovering her feet, her aim searched for the target. Vega, writhing behind a column of men, was not at her reach anymore. Raised swords and guns surrounded her. The circle closed, and Ivy shook the small dagger in the air as she let out menacing growls. She took a step back, and the circle became smaller.

A distant scream. A shout from Riko, ordering her to flee. She crouched and hissed, like a cornered animal. The circle, made of frightened men, seemed to grow larger and further to her threats. The entire crew muted to the tension between hunter and hunted. Vega’s crying as a child and Riko’s pleading for her escape were the only sounds filling the air. Without thinking twice, her legs released all contained power, and she flew backwards instead of following a more expected attack forward. A student move spurred by a fleeting thought. A realisation not of fear or regret. Em was hurt and underwater. He’d manage to dive for a while, yes: He’d used to. But he’d need her to get out, to swim away from danger and return to the surface.

Shots followed her through the air. A whistle over her ear and a bite over her leg. Once inside her element, she moved fast. Other bullets scared the surroundings with strings of bubbles but none could touch her there. Her leg, just scratched, didn’t slow her down and soon she was deep enough no more rounds reached. She couldn’t delay. Em needed her. The depths were dark, but her eyes adjusted well and promptly. She needed little to find him. He was waiting for her on a seabed of mud and rocks. She reached and with an arm under the shoulder and a hand holding his chin, her legs pushed the bottom for a fleeing boost. Leaving behind a cloud of mud and blood, she swam away from the Luxury and the Adamant hulls. She could have swum much further, but Em would not last much longer without a breath.

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Upon reaching the surface, she slapped his face and shook his body. With a trembling hand, she pricked his nose and blew a breath into his mouth. First bullets splashed the water from afar. Next ones reached closer. Before resuming her plunge to avoid an accurate shot, Ivy gave him another breath. Holding Em firmly but delicately, she took another dive, this time with fingers pinching nostrils and hand locking mouth.

Count to ten, then surface. A moment to give her uncle some much-needed air. Ten strokes more. Distance put an end to the shots. The other ships, although they could notice the commotion, could not see the two heads peeking out slightly from the side of their hulls. A presence that would disappear among the waves as fast as it takes to breathe twice.

Breaking the ocean with every kick, Ivy soon led them away from the mass of ships surrounding Riko’s. Far from danger, she swam instead of diving to enter the sinuous dangers of the Blue Kingdom Maze. Her strenuous strokes burned the legs and squeezed the lungs. Relentlessly determined to avoid the shallows of coral, she swam in zigzags between masses of coral until the Kraken ships were nothing more than dots on the horizon.

The sun set, and before a sky of reds and purples, she reached the nothingness of the Maze. There she stopped. Without the impulse of her swimming, Em’s body soon deepened. She pulled. Without being able to shout, she grabbed, shook, and slapped. She swam more, legs pushing forwards and arms pulling upwards against a heavy load wishing to go down. Flagging, Ivy began to flounder and to bend to Em’s will for a last dive.

Even while on the surface, her eyes became wet. Still pulling, but now from above, her mind realised what she should have already known from the beginning. Ivy looked around, still clinging to an impossible hope. The island of Male, a tiny blur in the distance, was the only place to cure Em. A place where she decided to turn, even knowing it would be of no use.

Exhausted and with only half of her face outside the water, she continued until there was no more of her. No more breaths, no more strokes. With the rush fading, her vision blurred and her head spun. In a small azure lagoon, body and mind broke. Em’s body dragged her down to the shallow bottom to land over a bed of golden sands. It was a splendorous dive site filled with vibrant colours as if a rainbow had fallen from the sky. She would have enjoyed any other moment. Em would have loved it. Surrounded by ravaging beauty, they both remained motionless and defeated.

She tenderly caressed the contours of his face, fingers adjusting his moustache with aching slowness. Her hand combed a hair messing with the subtle moves of the surge. Drawing him close, she enveloped him in her arms, burying her face in his shoulder. A contained cry escaped and her tears mingled into the salty ocean, as did her hopes and dreams into despair.