...And a Treasure Chest, Too
by Kittie

"Chris!"

Chris was jerked out of a light doze by Justin's excited yell.

"Hey, Chris, look what I can do!"

Resigned, he turned slowly in place and regarded Justin with a bored expression. "What."

"Look!" Justin flapped his fins once and did a perfect back flip.

Chris rolled his eyes as Joey cheered encouragingly and JC squealed in surprised wonder. "Great, Justin," he said flatly. "That's incredible."

"I wonder if I can do it Up There." Justin floated up a little higher and poked his blunt snout just out of the surface of the water.

JC's pretty blue eyes bugged out and his entire body started to vibrate slightly, making his scales seem to shimmer with rainbow colors. "You can't do that! It's... it's bad Up There!"

Chris tuned out the familiar argument and swam to the edge of their tank, letting the leaves of the Giant Plant tickle his undersides. If he stayed very still, his dark brown coloring would camouflage him so Justin, Joey, and JC wouldn't be able to see him until they literally bumped into him. Which they undoubtedly would, eventually.

Lance swam up next to him and floated quietly at his side, offering silent support. Lance was always doing things like that. He didn't talk much at all—just watched everything with his large, protruding green eyes. Chris had large, protruding eyes, too—they all did, being fish and all—but Lance's were even larger and more protruding than normal. Chris guessed they helped him see better, not that there was anything to see. Nothing new, anyway.

"You know, Lance," he said quietly, placing one dark fin on Lance's smooth, pale back. "It's a tough life we lead."

Lance rumbled in sympathy.

"We lucked out with this tank. Remember how, Before, there were sixteen of us in a tank half this size?" He paused, then chuckled humorlessly at himself. "Of course you don't. Nobody remembers anything around here, much less as far back as Before. Justin's been doing back flips since he was twelve days old, and every time, he and those morons out there think it's new and exciting. As we speak, they're all up there debating the wisdom of him attempting a jump Up There.

"It's because of Before. They don't remember specifically, I bet, but they know that there's something not so great about Up There. They don't remember how we all got scooped up one by one and lifted out of our old tank. They don't remember how cold it was Up There, and what it felt like as our gills strained to breathe where there was no water." He shuddered. "But that's over with. The point is, they know it's bad Up There. Joey's scared, but really kind of curious, and JC's terrified that the moment Justin hits the surface, he'll shrivel up and die. Which he won't. He'll do the flip, come down talking about how cold and dry it is Up There, JC and Joey will treat him like a hero, and the Finless Giants will give us all Big Floating Morsels of Special Food. Not that I mind the BFMs, of course. That part's great."

Chris paused to see if Lance was listening. It seemed like he was, but one could never really tell, with Lance.

"I know what you're thinking," he continued, just in case. "You're thinking, 'Wow, Chris can tell the future!' Well, yes, I can, but only because I remember the past. I have a feeling that's more of a curse than a blessing, though."

Just then, a very excited Joey plowed into him from behind, shoving Chris forward and banging his snout against the side of the tank.

"Whoa, sorry!" Joey doubled back and rubbed at Chris' sore snout apologetically, his large black fin dwarfing Chris' whole face. "I didn't see you there. Are you okay?"

Lance let out a rumble that might have been a chuckle.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Chris swatted him away irritably.

"Oh, hey, I'm really glad I found you, though. Guess what?"

Chris watched as JC and Justin swam up and waited anxiously behind Joey. "You're going exploring."

JC bugged out his eyes and bobbed up and down delightedly. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess."

Lance rumbled again.

"Come with us, Chris, please?" Justin begged. "It'll be fun!"

Chris cut his eyes over to Lance. "Should we? Just for kicks."

"Yay!" Justin said, he and JC immediately flanking the two of them on either side, Joey pushing them from the rear. "We're going exploring!"

~*~

"Oooh, look at that!" Joey shot forward, wagging his tail like a big, excited Fluffy-Companion-of-the-Finless-Giants.

JC and Justin followed him quickly, as Chris and Lance hung back, watching. "Gee, I wonder what he's found," Chris murmured cynically. "You think it might be an abandoned castle? And a little treasure chest?"

"Hey, Chris, look!" Justin called gleefully. "Joey found an abandoned castle! And there's a treasure chest, too!"

Lance rumbled.

"Golly, gee, wow!" Chris yelled back with fake enthusiasm. "You're amazing, Joey! I'm sure glad we came exploring with you!"

Joey preened.

Chris floated closer, his eyes lighting on a pile of bright blue rocks right by the door for the castle. A sudden idea blossomed. "Hey, Joey, you should claim this castle as your own, so everybody knows you discovered it." He swam down and picked up the largest of the rocks in his mouth, then headed up to the tower at the highest point of the castle, where he dropped it so it was visible from every angle. "There. We'll call this 'Joey's Castle,' and everybody who sees that rock will know that this place belongs to you."

Joey's eyes got big. "Wow. My very own castle."

JC swam up to the door of the castle and peered inside. "Can we look around, Joey?"

"Sure!" Joey nudged him inside with one fin. "Mi castle es su castle."

Justin did a celebratory back flip. Chris just rolled his eyes again.

~*~

"Hmmm..." Chris remarked to Lance. "He jumped a little higher today."

Lance, as expected, rumbled.

JC came rushing up to them, his blue eyes bright with excitement. "Did you see that? Justin did a back flip right out of the water! He went Up There!"

"Yeah, that was cool." Chris said, almost meaning it. "We should celebrate."

"Yes!" JC clapped his fins. "Let's have a party!"

Chris blinked. "Oh. I was thinking maybe we'd go exploring."

"Exploring?" Joey swam up to them, followed by a triumphant Justin. "Hey, that's a great idea! I bet there's all kinds of cool stuff we've never seen before!"

"Um... yeah." Chris nodded. "Why don't you lead the way?"

~*~

"Hey, Chris, look!" Justin called gleefully. "Joey found an abandoned castle!" Chris finished in unison with him. "And there's a treasure chest, too!"

Lance rumbled.

The two of them swam up to the castle and examined it from all sides. "Wow, great castle," Chris said. "I wonder if it belongs to anybody?"

Lance nudged him and pointed up to the tower at the highest point of the castle, where there was a bright speck of blue.

"What's this?" Chris swam up quickly and feigned surprise when he saw the blue rock. "Hey, guys, look, a blue rock!" He turned to Joey and spoke very slowly and clearly. "Does... That... Mean... Anything... To... You?"

Joey looked at it carefully. "Hey, yeah."

Chris held his breath.

"That's a pretty rock," Joey finished.

Chris blinked.

And blinked again.

"Chris?" Justin said, sounding concerned. "You're starting to turn upside-down, man."

Chris turned without a word and swam back toward home. Lance stayed quietly behind him the whole way.

~*~

"You know, Lance," Chris said resignedly, the two of them hidden in the leaves of The Plant and staring out through the glass walls of the tank. "I really thought it'd work. I thought I could help them remember, but they never will, will they? They can't. Maybe it's better that they don't. It's like Before. I'd be happier if I didn't remember what it was like, being trapped Up There, seeing the water beneath me and not being able to reach it. Every day is fun for them, because there's always something new to discover. Me? I'm stuck doing the same old thing, day after day. I'm doomed to be bored and bitter for the rest of my life."

Lance rumbled, then shifted a bit closer to Chris, brushing his side with one fin. "Or maybe," he said, his voice deep and smooth, "We can be bored and bitter together."

Chris widened his eyes and jerked around to stare at Lance. "You.... What...? You...?!"

"Yup," Lance rumbled.

Chris stared at him some more. And slowly he started to realize that Lance's large, protruding green eyes were actually kind of pretty. He smiled a bit and turned back around, letting his side come to rest against Lance's. "Yeah, maybe."

They were still there together a few minutes later, when JC plowed into them from behind. "Oh, sorry!" he said, wringing his fins in concern. "I didn't see you there...." He squinted at them. "Are you two.... You're together!" He clapped his fins and danced in place gleefully. "We need to celebrate. Let's have a party!"

So they did.

Every day.

The End

Email: kittie.verdena@gmail.com