“Samara!” His voice echoed around the empty beachfront, “Samara, where are you?!”

He was growing concerned. Ever since the day he met her, he was able to return to this very spot at the same time every day and she was always here. He knew she liked to surface for an hour a day to feel the sun that didn’t make it all the way into her bioluminescent kingdom below. Not one day in the past two years had she not been near enough to answer his call.

“Samara!” He cupped his hands around his mouth, hoping she’d hear him. A crash of thunder sounded, drawing his attention to the horizon line. Along the crest, a storm was moving in. He could see the water growing violent where the winds were most active. His gut told him that something was wrong. Very wrong.

“Samara!” He gave one final call, looking up and down the empty expanse of beach. He finally heard a strained response. “M-at-t,” she croaked, “I’m-H-er-e.”

He whipped his head around, finally spotting the reflective purple scales of his friend, shining against the sun. He stepped closer, finding that she was amidst several rocks, in what appeared to be a tide pool, and a ways down the beach compared to where he normally found her. He was concerned.

Rightfully so, he soon realized, as when he stepped closer, he realized she had gashes torn all over her body. Her tail stained red, and unable to move, her breath shaky. Blood dripped from her mouth, and stained her platinum hair. “Samara,” he called out, rushing over to her. He dropped to his knees at her side, “What happened?”

“The kingdom,” she gasped, pressing a hand to a wound along her stomach, “It’s fallen.”

“What?” Matt asked. “The royal family was killed, they tried to take our children from us,” she croaked, straining for breath.

She sobbed, “My son, my dear husband, they were slaughtered like animals.”

“Samara, I have to get you somewhere safe,” Matt urged. “No!” She exclaimed, “No, it will do no good, I am already too far gone, i will become one with the sea soon.”

“Samara,” Matt pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks. He’d been best friends with this woman since he was seventeen, she’d found him at the lowest point in his life. He never dreamed that he could lose her like this.

“I have lost everything, Matt, you must understand,” she gasped again, her hand shaking, “I have no reason to live any longer.”

Matt sobbed, placing a hand over his mouth. She raised her own, shakily placing it upon his arm in a comforting gesture. She gave a small smile, “I am at peace and I will soon rejoin my family, but first, I must ask something of you.”

“Anything,” Matt cried. “My last hope, the reason I fled,” she pulled it from her side, “My child.”

The object she held was a bright orange sphere, about the size of a small watermelon. It looked like what Matt knew of certain species of fish eggs.

“You must take this, Matt, and you must keep it safe,” she pleaded, “Within a week’s time, it will hatch and my daughter will be born, I’m begging you to keep her safe.”

“Yes,” he nodded, taking the egg from her hand, “I promise, Samara, I will do everything I can.”

“Take water from the sea and make her a home, she will soon outgrow it but you humans have always been the creative type,” she laughed, spitting blood onto the sand, “When she hatches, I ask that you raise her as your own.”

He grabbed her hand, “I will.”

“Thank you, dear friend,” she squeezed his hand back, closing her eyes. Matt closed his own, shaking with the sobs that cascaded through his body. He felt her hand disappear from his clutch, and when he opened his eyes, he found only sea foam where his closest friend had once laid. He watched the tide rise into the tide pool she had washed into, taking her out to sea.

He shed one final tear, knowing she had joined the family she had always told him about, the people she loved most in the world.

He looked down at the egg in his hand as rain began to fall and said, “I guess you’re my responsibility now.”