Chapter Text
Ratchet hit the water. Hard, on his back and shoulder-first, and the last thing he saw was Pharma's pale, sick face staring after him before the waves closed over his head.
He forced his eyes open, blinking hard against the sting; his phone dropped just after him, a brief flare of light that didn't help him one goddamn bit even before it shorted out and died, and for all that he was a decent swimmer normally-
Damn it, Pharma, where's the life vests? Pharma!
-normally he wasn't trying to swim through waves like this in open ocean. Fury tried to warm him enough to get himself turned back around, find the surface out of sheer ornery stubbornness - it shouldn't be so hard - but it was cold. It was so goddamn cold. He'd lost one flip-flop somewhere when he fell, the other bobbling away from him in the dark, and it - it was so goddamn cold.
Ratchet thrashed, tried to watch for bubbles, his lungs aching already. A sarcastic print shirt and shorts weren't gonna do anything against going overboard in the middle of the ocean-
His head broke the surface, and Ratchet hauled in a desperate breath before the next wave could hit him in the face. It hit him on top of the fucking head instead, and down he went again.
Fury went out under cold fear. He hadn't even had time to try and see the boat, never mind reach it. If Pharma turned the engine on and he was anywhere near the propellors-
If Pharma turned the engine on and he was nowhere even close-
He kicked, fought to find the surface, but it was taking so damn long. Which way was up? Had he gotten turned around?
Ratchet pulled harder, spots in front of his eyes, lungs straining. Sheer panic kept him going, forcing himself to move - if he was gonna drown, at least he'd drown faster than through sheer fucking exposure-
Nothing. He couldn't find which way was up. His fingertips never broke the surface. He - no.
His heart was beating so goddamn fast. Part of him charted it, that analytical response to gunfire and sirens and blood and pain. He had to be drowning. The need to take a breath hurt. He was gonna drown.
A tiny light started glowing. Ratchet kicked, grabbed for it - and it drifted up inside his reach. Not a boat light.
The necklace.
Holy shit.
Years, years and nothing, he'd gone out swimming in lakes and rivers and out in the sea when he could, and nothing - only now. Only when he was about to goddamn drown-
...only when he was about to...
Holy shit!
Ratchet - stopped. Reached with shaky, numb care, cupping the little twist of yellow glass in his palms, held it close. Remembered deep, dark amber eyes looking up at him, and hoped.
Yellow light pooled, and spread, and sank into his hands - into his arms, through his skin, until he was glowing too. He gasped, water flooding in, and it - it didn't hurt. Nothing hurt. The cold wasn't biting, his head was starting to clear - he could see, the dark resolving into something less goddamn impenetrable.
Ratchet breathed, slowly, carefully, and let one hand move away from the twist of glass to touch the side of his neck.
Gills fluttered, steady and strong, water pushing out against his fingers. Fingers that had a delicate scratch to the tips of them, when Ratchet never let his nails grow out any longer than what he could scrub down easily for surgery. He looked down, and the hand cradling the fading glow of the necklace was webbed, just a little, only at the base of his fingers and nothing between finger and thumb. Not enough to impede detail work, if he needed to-
That thought kicked a bark of bitter laughter out, and Ratchet was kind of distantly surprised to realise he could hear himself. However he managed it, that - kind of helped. "What am I thinking, in case I need to complete any emergency surgery?" he said to himself, and he sounded like himself, however the hell that worked. "Fine. Magic. Just to cap today off-"
His voice broke. He shook his head, hard, and - hair. All right, he had hair still, his usual short at the sides and longer on the top, no floaty mermaid mop for him. Probably a good thing; Pharma'd already started pointing out his greys-
Ratchet flinched, his whole body curling up, and that was it. That was his limit. He turned tail and bolted into the dark, broad white flukes powering him away from the man who'd tried to kill him.