Left you guys with a cliffhanger, but the chapter was getting too long so I had to break it up!

[Onyx's POV]

My lungs fill with water. At first, it's a little strange. Then, it's refreshing. The burn is almost soothing, and before long, it disappears completely. I almost feel myself get lightheaded before the water washes away the fog.

I feel more alive than I've ever felt in my life.

I take a glance behind me when I hear the splash Collin must've made. Of course he's looking for me. There's no way he'll be able to catch up, even though he's strong. My body is designed for the water, and I've been training for years for this moment.

As I look around, I catch a glimpse of my tail for the first time. It's beautiful. I know my parents named me Onyx hoping I'll take after both of their families and have a sleek black tail. But I must've gotten the recessive gene, my tail is a pearly white that rivals the color of the sea foam hundreds of feet above me. It cuts through the water and thrills me as I gain speed and test out my movement.

I send my thanks to Reia, my strictest, but most helpful mentor. As far as we know, her tribe in Africa is the last group of people like me.

My eyes adjust to the darkness as I swim farther down where the light barely reaches. I grab onto some rocks and twist to get a better view of my tail. Touching my fins hesitantly, tracing the scarlet patterns running over the scales. My hand goes to my throat, feeling my new gills. A grin brightens my face. I love it. Feeling renewed and invigorated, I continue with my swim, finding myself far up the coast from where I first jumped in. I swam up to the surface to see if I recognized where I was.

Noting how much darker everything is from when I left, I realized I should probably go back to La Push. I'm starting to feel the fatigue set in, and no doubt there are people wondering where I went. As I hovered near the surface of the water, I stuck my head out, testing whether or not I'd be able to breathe in air while I'm a mermaid. I quickly found that while I could take in air, it felt strange and I got lightheaded pretty quickly. I guess I'm a weak amphibious creature in this form.

Now would be a good time to test if I could change back. I went back underwater, taking a deep breath to slow my heartbeat and concentrate. I could feel the scales melting back into my flesh and my legs separate. I exhaled the water that was in my lungs and went back to the surface to suck in another deep breath, kicking my legs.

I did it. My first transformation and I did it on my own. I laughed. I can do it. My laugh died on my lips when I immediately thought of what Collin would think and how proud he would be of me. Collin. He's probably miserable, freaking out about what happened to me. Concentrating once more, I dive down again, turning towards home and swimming hard to make it before it gets completely dark. I should've realized sooner. How could I have left him without even a word? He'll be so worried. I swam harder, my muscles burning as I push myself to swim faster than before.

xXx

[Collin's POV]

Rain poured down around me, but I can't find the energy to get up and move. Her keys shine in the moonlight where they sit in my hands. I look out towards the ocean which swallowed the girl I wanted to be mine. I curse again. It's dark out and I should go home. But I can't. I look out at the reflection of the moon on the waves.

I catch sight of a white fin breaking the surface, only to vanish again. I didn't know there were fish so close to shore. I guess they must come out at night when it's deserted. The tail reappears, closer this time. I can make out faint traces of red here and there. I wonder what kind it is, it seems too big to be this close to the beach. Again, I see it, it moves slower and slower each time. It was still about 20 feet away from where I sit, so I guess it's plenty deep. I shake my head, there might not even be anything out there. I blink again when I think I see an arm.

An arm?

I look again, standing up and pocketing the precious key. Yes, there it is again, an arm followed by the tail. Thoroughly confused, I took a few steps closer. It was parallel to the shore, just rolling closer. The shoulder of the arm appeared, covered in pale seaweed. No, not seaweed, hair! I dashed forward, splashing closer as the body washed up, still mostly underwater.

I don't know what's going on but the closer I get, the more the body looks like Onyx. When she finally gets close enough, I choke out a sob and wrap her up in my arms. My worst fears are confirmed when my skin feels how cold and unmoving she is. I thought I'd run out of tears but finding her like this opens the floodgates again. I hold her cold body close to me.

"Onyx-" I choke out. All the crying and yelling and saltwater left my voice hoarse and weak.

I pull back to examine her body when I feel a heartbeat still in her chest. "Onyx?" I scream, patting her cheek.

Her eyes open and her chest heaves. I carry her the rest of the way out of the water, placing her carefully onto the beach.

I don't know where the tail came from, but my jaw drops when it changes into her legs. Right before my eyes. Hers open again, arms reaching weakly towards me with a smile on her lips. I start sobbing again as I wrap her body close to me and hold her tight.

"I'm never letting go." I rasp out. She laughs weakly, holding me tighter. I stand, holding her bridal style and carrying her to her house. I can feel her panting and shivering but I don't say anything else. I'm not sure I could.

"Collin?" She asks cautiously. I look down at her as I step onto her porch. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything."

"You're okay?" I ask her. My voice sounds foreign to my own ears. She nods, smiling again.

We go inside and I bring her into her bathroom, putting her down on the side of the tub and starting the water. She sits there, watching me as I grab her a towel and her things from the shower, putting them beside her. I kiss her forehead and turn to the sink to splash some water on my face.

"Collin..." she starts. I turn to look at her. "I'm so sorry. You were really worried." I nod, coming to sit next to her, realizing my shorts are still wet and then realizing that they never actually dried since I dove in this morning. "I'm sorry scared you. I'm fine, really." I raise my eyebrow. "Collin-"

"I thought you died." I interrupted her. She looked shocked. "You were just... gone, nobody could find you. I was so scared. I thought- you were so cold and gone for so long…" I whisper, holding her hand tightly. I'm on the verge of crying again. Her gaze falls from mine but I press her hand to my face, proving to myself that she really is here. "I was so fucking scared." I repeat.

She looks back up at me and I realize what I said. I let out a breathy laugh. "So fucking scared that I was cursing. Ask Brady."

"I should've said something. I'm sorry." She whispers. I nod, frowning.

"A heads up would've been nice. Why didn't you say anything? I had the entire pack and all the imprints looking for you, what if leeches had come then? Nobody was on patrol." My grief from the day was starting to turn into frustration, and I ran my hands through my hair, standing up. "I mean, none of us would've been that shocked or anything, why wouldn't you just say something?" I don't want to be mad, my relief is overwhelming, but this all could've been avoided.

"I'm so sorry, Collin, I... I don't know why I never said anything, it happened so fast. Freaked me out a little bit."

"Tail?" I question, hoping she'll either explain it or confirm that I've gone crazy. She sighed.

"Most of us would've had our first experience around 14 or so, my parents both did, and so did most of the people they know. Nobody knew why I hadn't transformed yet, every year it just seemed like it wasn't going to happen. I'm 18 now, and it didn't even cross my mind that's what was going on."

"Back up, you lost me." I sit back down. "This is a common thing?"

"So, you know the whole spirit warrior thing, and turning into a giant wolf?" I nod. "Well the Quileutes aren't the only tribe that can change into a mythical creature to defend their tribe."

"What tribe are you? I didn't know-"

"My mom's African. You know that."

I nod slowly.

"Her tribe is from a coastal area, and they would fight off invaders in the water before they even had a chance to land. They didn't have a great land-based force, but the way their landscape was set up, they didn't have many invaders from the land, especially since they had all these, mostly true, rumors going around about them transforming into monsters for battle."

"So they're shape shifters."

"Basically; my dad, from Japan, was one of the last of his people to be a shifter, and after quite a bit of research, he found out that my mom's tribe also has shifters. So he went there, met and married her. After they left Africa to come to the states, they became business people, pretty successfully. They made a lot of money, and me, but they weren't around very much. So they asked Reia to come out and they set us up in Washington to go to school and for Reia to prepare me to be a mermaid someday, continue the tradition. I've been in Washington since I was like 12 or 13, but we were in a couple different cities before we found La Push. Here, the beaches are much less crowded than some of the other, more touristy areas my parents originally picked out."

"And Reia is the-"

"African lady mermaid that taught me how to swim and battle underwater. She went home again when I turned 18, she missed her family."

"Understandable. And you've been holding out on me this whole time?" I smile for the first time in hours. She smiles back.

"Are you mad that I didn't tell you?"

"I kept the werewolf thing from you for quite a while, didn't I?"

"Not this long."

"But long enough. I'm not mad. I wish you would've said something before jumping off a cliff and disappearing for several hours," I poke her to show her I'm not upset anymore. "But I think I can forgive that."

"You're a great imprint, have I told you that recently?" She says. I smile.

"No, I don't know that you've ever said that."

"Well, you are. And you're a great guy too."

She moves closer to me so I can hug her, and I'm so many flavors of relieved to have her back in my arms. I encourage her to take her time in the bath, which has warmed up and is now filling the room with steam. In the meantime, I find a towel for myself and go to the kitchen to see if there's any food available.

Finally some resolution! I'd been dreading editing the previous chapter, this one and the next one since it had been just one giant monster chapter. The next one should be up soon, and I'm working on getting some Dae and Paul storyline back in here. Dae is just a normal human, so their drama is less complicated (or is it), but I miss writing about them. As always, make sure you leave me a comment and let me know what you're feeling about this turn in the plot!