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Chapter Text

When Alberto first came over to Lucas house he felt strange. Nobody said anything of course but amidst the “Please stay for lunch.” From his grandmother and all the varieties of “We’re very glad Luca found a good friend like you.” He couldn’t help but notice how out of touch he felt in a sea monster world. Not to say he felt any better around humans. He never hated humans or sea monsters once all those initial tensions eased. He simply noted that Lucas reef dwelling town took so curiously to his bold purple scales and golden eyes that stuck out amidst the seaweed like fluorescent blooms of algae in the night.

Having lived for so long, far away from sea folk, he never really realized his differences. Perhaps he wasn’t well versed enough in the customs. He did accidentally give Luca’s family the feeling that he and Luca were a thing when he unknowingly let his tail betray himself. It seemed too easy to wrap it comfortingly around Lucas and had become a comforting habit they had formed which made that one time they left the table after lunch all the more awkward to explain away. All that aside there was a growing feeling in his chest. Something about him felt off.

There was blood. Too much of it perhaps. Alberto’s tiny eyes watched as an older sea monster swam below the waves, jaws full of sharp teeth gripping at the fins of some other lighter, pale yellow sea monster. He couldn’t stop staring. Paralyzed in his spot between the rocks nearby, he felt this primal feeling inside of him at the scent of the blood. He watched it form wispy tendrils of color in the deep blue water as it stained the area. His father said he needed to go get them some food. When his father hauled over a yellow glimmering mass, long and swishing behind him in the water Alberto could only remember his young self feeling laced with a bloodthirsty hunger inside. “You fight and you win,” said his dad “And you make no waste of winnings.” He ate something yellow scaled that night for dinner. It tasted like fish… but different.

Alberto tried not to remember much of his father. His mind had left holes in the parts where his younger years should have been. But amidst what he tried to forget he still had that feeling inside that he couldn’t shake.

He grew more aggressive. Sure being a sea monster had its perks when you worked with a fisherman. He would bring in nets of fish swimming through the ocean and grab them up like it was nothing. He ate fish. The same ones he would catch. Well fish and pasta and a ton of other Italian foods. Gelato, capuchinos, trenette al pesto. Until he didn’t.

He had dinner one night, Massimo's pasta, but something about it made him feel off. Well he had felt off that whole day. He had been so much more frenzied that morning as he caught the fish while out in the bay. There was that feeling inside but stronger. Many of the fish had been ruined by him as deep marks gouged into their sides as he had ferociously lunged at them. Massimo had been proud of the effort to get the job done so quickly but definitely gave him a talking to about noticeably maring most of the product. That night as he ate he hoped nobody heard him, when after excusing himself to the restroom, he realized he couldn’t keep his dinner down.

“I’m purple Luca, and your green.” He remarked once “You ever wonder why though?” Alberto questioned “I live close to the reef. I guess I blend in with the seaweed.” Luca theorized. “Whenever we're out past the reef in those deeper waters you seem to blend in with the surroundings. Maybe that’s why you're purple.” Luca mentioned.

For some reason fish became a staple in his diet. Yes he ate them for dinner but something about Massimo’s cooking wasn’t agreeable to him anymore. He’d grown gaunt. Nobody said anything but there was a slight difference in the way Massimo looked at him. An underlying bit of worry etched in his face. Perhaps combined with his more recent jumpy nature one would reasonably be worried but Alberto shrugged it off.

He snuck out one night. In the dead of summer, on a night full of stars, he carefully stepped past the creaky floorboards out the window and down Gulia’s treehouse. Heading through the garden and down the path to the dock he knew only that he wanted to swim. An insatiable urge pushed him onward towards the shore. Like a bird building a nest or a turtle laying its eggs it felt as if there was something primitive engrained inside him to be out here. Diving into the dark waters he watched his scales and fins appear along his limbs. Rarely did he swim so late at night and if he ever did he stayed close to the shore.

His dad told him once of the others. The ones further from the reef that lurked in the night ready to pounce if you ever landed in their territory. He’d forgotten that now along with every other thing his dad had once said.

He’d barely eaten that day and was running on fumes. Nothing had agreed with him so he’d kept nothing down, silently leaving for the restroom when he could. But now exhausted and weak he had to stop. Floating in the water, letting the current carry him, he didn’t notice the shadows shifting in the moonlight barely reaching the deeper waters below the surface. Not until something pounced.

Everything was a blur, fins and tails flared and splashed in the water and suddenly Alberto lunged almost as if primal, at the sea monster attacking him. He tasted blood blossoming between his clenched jaws as he bit at the fleshy scale covered neck of whoever had been preying on him. The older looking monster thrashed violently and almost got away until Alberto hungrily bit harder and felt scaled flesh tear between his teeth. Even in his weakened state he felt his hunger inside propell his energy onward. When all was said and done scales littered the sea floor and Alberto felt a little less hungry. Finally the one meal he could keep down tasted a little like fish…but different.

He looked at the murky water around him, eyes darting between the carcass left from his kill and the bloody water tinting his clothes a slight reddish hue. Eyes wide he didn’t know what came over him. What was he doing! All the way out here, in the middle of the night. That was someone. They attacked him sure! But he… ate them. He was a monster he realized. Yes one might see him as a sea monster but… he lived up to the name. A monster now vicious, bloodthirsty, and surviving off of flesh of the living. A murderer. He had worried he’d be like his father. A horrible person who hurt others and pushed them around. A person who would do something so regrettable he would leave and never want to live with the pain of seeing the people it hurt. He almost endangered Luca that one time. Almost got him killed by Ercole. One memory came back to him from oh so long ago. His father in those deep waters. Him hiding behind the rocks watching as blood stained the waves.

He was his fathers son and he hated it. He hated everything he knew he was to grow into. He’d rather starve…if he could. That hunger gnawed at his insides. He couldn’t stop himself.

“Are you alright?” Became the constant words of Massimo and others at his sudden refusal of food and constant tiredness eased by too much expresso. He snuck out more and hunted late into the night. His new meals tasted like fish…sorta. Regret stained his every fleshy mouthful but instinct pushed him unwillingly forward.

Luca grew up as the summers came and went. Taller and older, the roundness of his face had changed slightly and his sea monster form was now less lanky and more grown out. A little broader in the shoulders and more alert, something had changed in Luca. More careful now, Luca had grown into his sea monster senses now ducking and darting away to camouflage amongst the seaweed unlike his naive younger self. Boats no longer posed much threat but still as if instinct, their shadows upon the reef made Luca dart away slightly. But that’s what reef sea monsters did, Luca thought. It was just a part of his nature.

Lately Luca noticed Alberto changing, becoming more protective he’d supposed. He’d grown into his own sea monster form, striking eyes with more thin and slitted pupils and his fins more angular and sharp.

Alberto took a swim as he had begun to do at night, sneaking out to the shore. He tried his best not to disturb Giulia but out of all the times he hadn’t, he didn’t know that one misstep did it. The single creak echoed through the room and he looked across to Giulia's bed watching her shift slightly. Waiting a beat, he saw no sign of her immediately waking so he slipped out the window as usual. She turned again in her bed and opened her eyes slightly as the light noise of Alberto climbing around outside tipped her off. Looking across to Alberto’s bed she sleepily squinted at the empty space almost nodding off again before realizing he wasn’t there. She sat up in her bed and hearing a sound out the window looked out seeing Alberto’s silhouette sneak out the gate. Curious she pulled on some clothes and quietly snuck out to follow him.

The sea monsters of the night had grown weary of Alberto’s presence lately and as he swam along he could sense whatever lurked in the shadows of the deeper waters seemed to scurry away from him. A hunger, as always, burned in his stomach. Bloodthirsty and ravenous, something caught his attention. A scent. Following it he found himself close to the edges of the reef town where Luca lived. They weren’t known for their nighttime activities but tonight one had gotten out. Alberto approached the middle aged looking sea monster man cautiously. He was…asleep? Oh… sleep swimming. Like sleepwalking! Giulia said she used to sleepwalk. It happened all too easily.

He pounced. It was like the first time. Right at the neck, muffling any noises from his prey. Bubbles clouded the water as blood drew fuzzy tendrils in the current. The older sea monster roughly clawed at Alberto maring his scales on his arm and leaving a wound as Alberto felt his scales pulled and torn from flesh. He let out an involuntary primal noise sounding like a dolphin almost in response to the pain, followed by a series of sharp and furious clicks. That noise was his mistake.

A few voices called out into the darkness, likely from others who lived near the town's edge, hearing the commotion of the splashing and seeing bubbles in the distance. Startled slightly by the noise of others, Alberto left, darting away and hiding behind some larger rocks and corals. Looking back as the moonlight beamed through the waves he caught a quick glimpse of green scales in the distance. He stayed a beat too long trying to parce who would come check, and gasped noticing the sight of a familiar figure. From far away he could slightly make out a face looking his way and darted towards deeper water staying out of sight.

That same guilt crept into him. Like the flip of a switch, whatever primal state he had been in faded and as if coming to he realized the pain in his arm and the taste of blood still lingering in his mouth. He’d done it again. He’d killed an innocent creature of his own sort.

When he finally reached the dock and climbed out of the water his eyes widened at the sight of a familiar figure in the darkness. Holding a flashlight she scanned the water, soon locking eyes with Alberto. “Giulia?!” He exclaimed. “Oh, Alberto there you are! What are you doing out here?!” “I…” he stammered, collecting his thoughts. What was he doing out here? What had he done? “I don’t know!” He replied, almost angrily. Angry at himself and quite shaken, he furrowed his brow slightly feeling hot tears well in his eyes. “Oh crap! Alberto you're bleeding!” Giulia exclaimed. Looking over he noticed the wound along his arm ooze, leaving a trail of blood running down to his elbow dripping into the sand. Even in his human form he still lay injured. That wound would need some help. “Let’s go back.” Alberto said quietly, his tone slightly pained and mostly disgruntled, still parcing what he had done. Not fully meeting Giulias gaze he quickly walked ahead.

Massimo was awoken by the noise of the front door opening. With how bad Alberto’s arm was hurt there was no way he would be climbing up the treehouse and sneaking back in. “Sit here.” Giulia said, pulling aside a chair from the dining room table. “I’ll get the first aid kit from-“ she turned, seeing Massimo in the hall. “Oh papa!” Massimo looked over, noticing Alberto in his wounded state. “Alberto! Are you alright! Where were you! You two shouldn’t have been out late!” Carefully Massimo reached out. Alberto pulled back defensively in response. Nobody deserved to help him. Alberto thought. He killed somebody! He’d killed like a bloodthirsty animal, killed like a real monster. But gently, despite the hint of fear in Alberto’s eyes, Massimo reached forward, holding Alberto’s arm in his hand inspecting the wound. He met Alberto’s gaze, the same fear heavily evident in his eyes now wide open in worry and anger. Massimo uttered some swear under his breath in his worry before speaking. “It will need some stitches! Giulietta…chiama Il dottore!" There was no time for questions. In this one moment all that mattered was Alberto.

After one call to the town doctor and a set of stitches, Alberto lay finally asleep again in bed. The pescheria would be closed today. They had been up all night and by the time all was taken care of Massimo wasn’t sure how to feel. What in the world was Alberto doing out that late! Why, he was so mad at them! They knew better than to sneak out! But he was also furious at whoever else did this! Who would hurt Alberto like that! As he sat at the table that morning Giulia next to him, the mood was strange. Of course setting his own feelings aside, Alberto had looked shaken. Wounded in a way that reached below the surface. The next door neighbor had come by earlier that morning and given them his condolences and fresh sweet baked goods but still all Massimo could taste was the bitter feeling of worry. Giulia looked over. She’d never seen him like that before. Lost in thought he had taken to staring into his expresso rather than drinking it. An uncharacteristic look plastered on his face.

Alberto woke up later than usual but slowly rising the events of the night before began to weigh on him. He could smell coffee in the kitchen. Perhaps everyone else was up by now. Walking in to the kitchen he met Massimo's gaze. “I-ah made you some coffee and the neighbor brought biscotti. I left you some.” Massimo pushed over a small plate adorned with the baked goods and a tiny cup of coffee. Alberto took a seat, smiling weakly at the both of them across from him. He wouldn’t be able to eat. He’d starve if he had to. He felt his decision strengthening. He could do that, like he’d done before when he lived in his own solitude as a young boy.

“I’m good.” Alberto insisted. He couldn’t turn to being a feral killer nor could he deal with the pain of being sick later from a human diet. “Are you sure? You’ve barely had much at any meal I give you.” Massimo said “Does something worry you? Did someone hurt you?” Those words came so gently Alberto could feel himself breaking inside. He couldn’t look at them. I hurt someone. For that, I don’t deserve your worries. Alberto thought. “No- I-“ How would he explain this to them? They deserved to know something. Even if not the full truth. “…I’m not human… I’m a monster.” Alberto tried to find the words. “Well of course, you're a sea monster.” Giulia said. “No, I'm not a sea monster. I’m a real monster! I don’t want to be. But I am!” He spit out the words, hurt by the ugly truth he saw within them. Even to Giulia the words shocked her. How could the funny and helpful Alberto she had always known, think such things. How long had he thought all that?!

Weary of his own reaction Alberto looked up meeting their gazes. Massimo reached out as if to comfort him in some way but to no avail. Alberto retreated back, pushing his chair away from the table. “Don’t touch me! I don’t want to hurt you too!” It was just a few words but he could hear their hearts shatter at their utterance.

The streets of Portorosso blurred together in a mix of sound and color as tears streamed down his face in the breeze. Alberto ran, leaving Giulia and Massimo’s voices far off in the distance. He needed to get to shore and leave. Swim far away and be a burden on nobody. He thought back to last night. Luca had to have seen him at the scene of the attack. He couldn’t let him see who he was becoming.

Luca was startled that morning. All the town could talk about was the mysterious attacker in the reef last night. Everyone was scared. The main theory was that it was a shark or something but around these waters he wasn’t sure he had ever seen one of those. Whatever it was, he’d seen something! Something purple shimmered in the distance that night. Darting far away from the scene of the attack Luca could faintly see a long tail trail behind it, the attacker had to still be out there. Wait! Purple, shimmery! It couldn’t be another sea monster could it?! Well it had to be with those shimmering scales and the long tail! He hoped Alberto was safe.

Luca swam faster than he ever could. He had to tell Alberto. He ran faster than he ever could. Water drying in the sun as his body shrank back to a human form, his scales slipping away. Stopping along the Main Street going down the hill into town, he could see the pescaría was closed. Something was wrong. They never closed the pescaría unless something important happened! He had to find Giulia and Massimo. Knocking at the door to their small house Giulia opened the door. “Oh Luca I’m glad you're here!” “I need to talk to Alberto!” Luca spoke, hurriedly. “Uh Luca… Alberto’s gone.” “What do you mean gone! Knowing Alberto, he would never leave.” Luca mentioned, surprised. “I don’t know. Something happened and he just…ran. He ran all the way out to the shore and swam off. Papa is out looking for him. He’s already not doing well.” “Wha- no. I saw him the other day and he was fine!” Luca insisted, pushing aside his growing worries.

“He was hurt, Luca!” The words hit him like a punch. “He snuck out last night to do who knows what and when I found him he was by the shoreline. He had been wounded along his arm as if by a harpoon or- or sea creature or something. It was…so…red.” She bit her lip and looked down remembering the sight, gulping back disgust and fear as the visceral memory came back to her. “We took him home and called the town doctor. He came and stitched up his wound. This morning he still wouldn't eat anything like he had all those other day’s. He seemed…frightened! He called himself a monster Luca! Almost as if he had caused the problem. We tried to talk to him but he ran off.” She looked up, tears barely pricking the corners of her eyes, and met Luca’s gaze. “I don’t know what he means by monster but I hope he’s ok.”

Luca thought for a moment, eyebrows furrowing slightly. This felt familiar. He had a hunch where he might look. “Giulia, your papa knows Alberto well but I doubt he’d find him around here being out on a boat. I think I know where he might be, although… I'd need to go just by myself.” “Are you sure Luca?” Giulia asked “I have to. I just…want to know he’s safe.”

Chapter Text

Luca swam past the boats on the shore. He could see Massimo’s boat in the distance. He paused a moment thinking to alert Massimo he was searching too but then thought better of it. It was his task and only his alone. Whenever Alberto couldn’t fight he’d flee. He was always the brawn to Luca’s brains and if he was battling with himself like it seemed, he would keep everyone out of it even if to his own detriment.

Luca kept swimming. Looking back the boats and bay around Porto Rosso began to fade into tiny dots, like sand on the shore. The vague shapes of houses lay distant and far away. On the horizon the familiar tower began to appear. The memories surrounding it Luca knew were bittersweet. It was a place dearly loved in summers past and held memories of watching fish in the night sky and dancing to records into the late afternoon. But there was a dread to it. It was a reminder of a time in Alberto’s life where the days became drafty nights and the emptiness of its rooms could only be filled by trinkets to stave off the idea it should be more than him there in its walls. Alberto had tried to mark the days and make something of his waiting. After a while though, the visual reminder became as much of a burden as the emptiness in the tower. Once he found Massimo and a life in Porto Rosso he couldn’t shake the bad memories trapped in every part of that island. He never came back.

Swimming onward Luca dove deeper sinking below the surface and swam up to the craggy cliffside off the island. Below the water lay a little gap in the rocks no bigger than himself. Swimming through the gap he found himself in a small opening of sorts formed within the rocks. Following the gap between the rocks up to the water's surface, Luca found himself in a sea cave, partially open on one side as light streamed in from gaps in the rocky ceiling. Other large rocks jutted out into the pool of water forming a trail. He knew this place. Fond memories of past summers playing in the water and enjoying the privacy of the cave lay almost etched into every crevice of this place.

A sniffle, small and muffled, caught Luca’s attention. He turned, seeing the edge of mass of blackish brown curls peeking from a tight nook between the rocks. There was Alberto! His back was turned slightly away from Luca and it seemed he hadn’t noticed him enter or if he had he didn’t want to acknowledge him. “ Alberto…” Luca spoke, breaking the silence. Alberto wiped his eyes, an immediate sense of worry blooming inside of him. He poked his head out from between the rocks noticing Luca standing before him. “Luca! What are you doing here!” He stood up gingerly stepping towards him leaving a little distance. “I’ve been looking for you! Everyone has been so worried! Massimo has been out on his boat all afternoon looking too!” Luca exclaimed

Alberto could feel his empty stomach eating a hole into his insides. Luca was right there. He wasn’t in his sea monster form but probably for the best. He didn’t trust himself. “So you came here to get me back?” “Yes! Why else?! It’s dangerous out here! There was another sea monster out near my reef town that has been attacking others! Besides, like Giulia told me, you aren’t in the best shape to be swimming! I don’t think those stitches are meant to get wet.” So Luca had seen something! he didn’t know it was him!

Alberto could feel his heartbeat rising in his chest, so high almost, he swore it was in his throat. His body tensed in a strange, primal mix of fear and anger. He took a firm breath. “Luca… I wouldn’t leave for just anything.” He thought back to that day on the beach, that day he’d endangered the both of them. He left because he needed to keep from making the situation worse. He needed to go back to what he had always known and had resigned himself to. Being alone. He needed to go back to that now. Return to his own solitude where he wasn’t anyone else’s problem. “I…love you and I want more than anything to keep you from hurting yourself by being around me! Just…just go!” “Go?! I came all this way because I care about you. You run off, leave everyone worried and you just push us all away and hurt yourself even more when we come to help you! Can’t you just tell us what’s going on!” Luca said exasperatedly, his worry blossoming into newfound frustration. Alberto’s voice grew eerily soft as if to conceal the mounting fear and anger at Lucas' insistence. “Luca… remember that day I stood on that beach, showing myself as a sea monster to everyone. I wanted you to show everyone too but it would have only made things worse. So I left. And I’ll leave again this time, for good if I have to, because unlike then, if I screw things up now there’s no undoing the damage.” With each word he spoke he took a step towards Luca. A step towards the pit inside of his stomach.

“Alberto you know I’ve been there for you through everything! There’s no way you could ruin things that could end up irreparable!” Luca insisted. He took a few steps backwards towards the pool of water stepping in at the waters edge, his lower half transforming into scaly legs and a long tail. Luca looked back at Alberto as if to coax him into coming along. “I’m sure whatever it is you need, you’ll be better off having me and Giulia, and Massimo too to be there for you. Just come back already!” It was those words that made Alberto take the plunge into the deep pit inside of him. Luca, now floating further out in the pool inside the cave, had fully let himself transform. “Leave Luca!” His pupils dilated slightly, widening at the sight of Luca so vulnerable right there. “Not unless you’ll take my help and come with me!” He held out a scaly hand as if extending himself to Alberto. Alberto stepped into the water, transforming as wet skin blossomed into iridescent purple scales.

“God! Just leave me alone! I wish we never met!” The primal hunger inside had swallowed him whole and he lunged at Luca dragging him under the water, teeth bared, ready to bite. He hadn’t realized how sharp they had become but now fully wet and transformed, a set of sharp shark-like teeth gleamed back at Luca. Luca recoiled back, his fins flaring in fear as he voiced a hollow and echoey noise in his terror, almost like that of a whale. Alberto lunged again, clawing at Luca and catching at his shirt leaving a tear. Bubbles pierced the water. Then finally teeth met fabric. There was that same sound again, hollow and open like the call of a whale but laced with fear. There was the feel of fabric with rough threads of a cotton shirt ripping and shredding. Hunger pierced through scales and flesh leaving fuzzy trails. But this time something tasted different. A bitter taste lingered in Alberto’s mouth and a plume of grey liquid erupted at the bite as if he had injected something.

Just before it could get any further, writhing out from Alberto’s grasp, Luca darted between the rocks, leaving as he had come in.

Regardless though, the damage had been done. Alberto, even still in his daze of primal anger knew Luca wasn’t worth chasing after. With each kill and attack Alberto could feel himself changing. Growing into a new form. Bit by bit becoming a creature of his own sort. Dispite his daze Alberto knew, in this attack, something new had happened when he went for the bite.

Out of fight or flight Luca’s instincts picked flight. Like a boat near town, Alberto in the same way had made him flee danger, this time because it existed. But somehow he was prepared for that. He knew he should run, he knew he was the nimble sea monster. The one made to dart away and into the seaweed, to be fast and slick and hard to capture. Slowing his pace as he swam further out into the open ocean, he finally realized the thrum of his heart had quickened. Finally feeling its rhythm settling to a comfortable pace his fins untensed lowering slightly.

Luca felt pumped with adrenaline. Like a broken record, that one moment, Where Alberto’s teeth lay barred, his eyes were uncannily wide, and he had lunged, kept repeating. It was haunting almost to see such aggression. Sure Alberto had gotten mad sometimes and overprotective, but to become so mad he tried to hurt him was something new. Alberto had said he loved him! But was that any love right there? Finaly as the adrenaline rush began to subside he caught a whiff of something metallic. He looked down finaly pieceing together the aftermath of everything and saw a gash through the shoulder of his shirt. There was a scratch in his scales. It was bleeding but luckily not very deep. The it stung and a grey substance lingered around the edge of the wound. Venom.

He knew it well. None used it too frequently as reef dwellers, it was but a vestigial bit of anatomy some carried like humans and their appendices. But he’d seen it before. Once or twice, given that some had the ability to bite and immobilize other fish. The bite marks were left slightly grey in color. It wasn’t particularly harmful for sea monsters as he’d been told but fish definitely worked with the venom.

He remembered what Giulia had said earlier, “He seemed…frightened! He called himself a monster Luca! Almost as if he had caused the problem.” Those words of hers felt too real. Like an uncanny prediction. but he wasn’t a monster really, a sea monster sure, but the metaphorical, horrible, destruction causing monster one would think of? No, of course not. He was aggressive, animalistic, and…had tried to keep Luca away. Was he aggressive because he was hiding something? Or was this who he was? Was this just the new Alberto?

He thought back to whoever had escaped the scene of the attack the night before…and then a sinking feeling settled into his gut. Alberto was out of place here. Among the seaweed and reef fish he stood out because he belonged elsewhere. Out in deeper waters, out living in the freedom of the open ocean. Luca had seen nobody else quite the same. He was the only one of his kind around here. The only one with purple scales and a much darker complexion. Even on land he stood out. So when one considered it, there was but only one solution to the killer of the night before. Purple scales, a long tail, the ability to hide so well when in open waters. Alberto had all of that.

Luca was always the brains, and Alberto had been the brawn. He had to step up to it now. As the brains and as Alberto’s friend he had to know who was out there. Alberto had been gone last night. He had been found by Giulia, injured along the shoreline. Just the thought of that made Luca’s head spin with thoughts connecting Alberto ever closer to the attack. A part of him felt unsettlingly sure and another felt wholly uncertain as if running on blind assumption. He needed to tell Massimo and Giulia something though before he could do anything else.

Chapter Text

They didn’t believe him. Giulia and Massimo believed nothing and neither did Lucas' parents, until he showed them. The mark had scabbed over by then but it lay visible in all its glory. He’d changed his torn shirt but even so the gash underneath it would take a few days to heal.

Everything was a blur. The look on Massimo’s face, the fear in his own mother and fathers eyes, Giulia surprised look. There was no objection when he told them it was best to leave Alberto alone. He hadn’t said anything till now of a murder in his town but soon enough the talk had spilled over. A body had been found floating in the water. Frozen as a sea monster in its state of death, a fisherman had found a corpse floating near the edge of a rock face jutting out into the bay. Yes, a sea monster, left for dead, the body ravaged, and the corpse desecrated. The news spread faster than a dissipating shoal of fish. The most striking thing was the grey bite marks that covered its body.

The moment passed as if in a montage. The body was dragged away. Onlookers gawked at the docks. Flies were buzzing in the wake of the catch. The smell of rot stung the air. Someone retched in the distance.

When Luca noticed the striking grey bites, there was no grand moment of truth, it only confirmed it when the body was dragged into the town square for all to see. A voice rang out from behind the corpse. “All of you, what fools,” Ercole. “I’ve been telling you they are dangerous for years. This should be the minute you see there really are vicious monsters in our world. Not all of them so bad though. This one was unlucky enough to not be the monster. Just the one gotten by whatever monster is out there.” Ercole’s soap box had been set to pitch the thoughts that spewed from his mind. He looked around at the gathered crowd of onlookers that had begun murmuring amongst themselves at his words. They were listening to him and he could see the cogs turning in their heads as he spoke. There was a purple scaled killer, one who had been let into the lives of the innocent.

Ercole stepped closer in towards the crowd singling out Luca who stood ogling the sight in shock. “It’s probably why your little…Friend…has left.” he sneered at Luca lacing the remark a vile contempt for what he knew Luca and Alberto to really be. Why it was no secret. The town was merely wondering when Luca would understand for himself. “Wha- Alberto?! He’s, not in the best place or state of mind, sure but…” Luca could feel some resistance in his statement. Yes Ercole had a point that it was probably good he was gone for now but that underlying contempt dug at him. He felt compelled to say something counter but nothing came.

“I'm right… aren’t I.” Ercole gloated. The wound along Lucas shoulder had grown grey as it healed and its grey staining had traveled down his arm from where the wound was. The resemblance to the corpses flesh wounds was too close. “You know it and you don’t want to admit it even after you were injured by him yourself!” Ercole was up in his face now pinning him in the spotlight with his words until he had Luca trapped enough to grab his arm holding it up for the crowd to see what Alberto did. “Alberto runs away after getting injured! Then you, as I heard, go find him and he acts aggressive and… bites you!” The crowd gasped, rippling with murmurs soon to blossom into rumors. “You all see! Luca’s wound! It looks exactly like the bites on the one that washed up!” Ercole continued. The attention of the crowd ate at Luca, anxiety growing in his gut at their stares of contempt. “Hey! Basta Ercole! Leave Luca alone! He did nothing.” Giulia had pushed her way to the front of the crowd noticing Luca trapped at the center of it all. Ercole glared at her, dropping Luca’s arm. “Tch! Idioti! Too soft to stand up to the real monsters out there.” He huffed and wearily squinted his gaze at Giulia then looked back at Luca “Your testing it ragazzi! I swear if you try to make it seem any better than it is, you're just as bad as the rest of them. The rest of those monsters that lurk out there and hunt to kill!” Ercole warned. “Let’s go Luca.” Giulia said ushering him out of the crowd as the on lookers stared watching them leave. Luca didn’t know where they took the body after that. Probably unceremoniously buried under a heap of dirt, far from the water where the poor soul should have belonged.

The truth distorted itself into strange shapes. Rumors really. People as Luca learned were ones to take a statement and make something more, build on the fear it brought out, manipulate the words. Yet somehow it hadn’t made anyone think too badly of him. Why, he was friendly. They were weary sure but Giulia could vouch for him. She was the one to quell everyone's worries about Luca. He wasn’t the terrible type of sea monster as everyone expected. No, that was Alberto’s sort. Alberto, He was one of the “bad ones”. Surprisingly despite everything, Ercole hadn’t raced out at the newfound knowledge, harpoon in hand ready to spear Luca. Massimo wouldn’t stand for it as Ercole knew, but even then like Luca had learned, he was one of the “good ones” for now. And speak of the devil, Ercole was the one to start sorting. He’d turned the town against the “open ocean” sea monsters as he’d called them. The ones that as he believed came from further away. Of course where had Alberto come from? Somewhere much further away than Luca had. Somewhere, as some thought, that was far out in the ocean. The deep deep parts of the ocean, where trouble resides.

He took over Alberto’s job at the pescheria for the summer. Massimo needed to fill the position and it was nice to have a summer job to fill the space in his mind where his thoughts ran wild. Although what was Luca to think? A pain gripped his heart. The Alberto he once knew had been replaced. The Alberto he had loved. He felt a bittersweet hole of terror ripped through his heart. Alberto was different, sure and he had done terrible things to these other sea monsters. But he was also hurting. Talking in ways as if none of this was something he ever wanted. As if this wasn’t who he wanted to grow up as. As if this was some curse he had to bear. He remembered those words “I…love you and I want more than anything to keep you from hurting yourself by being around me!” Did Alberto even trust himself?

He couldn’t stop thinking about Alberto. He was up late one night with Giulia in her little tree house like old times talking astronomy. Over the summers he had been gifted a small telescope from Massimo. He was using it tonight to look at the stars. “See and that constellation is the Big Dipper.” Although Giulia could tell the joy in his voice had faded. “Got something on your mind?” Giulia asked. Luca’s expression tensed slightly. Was he that easy to read? He sighed, There was no lying to Giulia. “Yeah…. I just can’t stop thinking about Alberto. He…he changed. So suddenly too.” Luca felt the weight of his mixed emotions, heavy in his heart. “I know, it’s not easy. I guess you never really know someone.” Luca gulped holding back tears that had begun to well in his eyes. “ Yeah but… I miss him! I miss the Alberto I once knew! The Alberto that cared, the Alberto that wasn’t this.”

“Is it wrong Giulia to think that-“ wait no he couldn’t say it. “Think what?” Giulia probed. “That maybe… Alberto doesn’t want to be this way. That he’s like this without any wish to be stuck killing. That maybe… we abandoned him without trying again.” “I don’t know. Sometimes though, I think that too. The last I remember of him, he seemed regretful about what happened.” Giulia mentioned. However in her mind the thoughts only stayed as what ifs. “Look I’m not saying I don’t hate what he’s done. How he’d killed. But just like I hate to see him as a killer I think he hates to see himself that way too.” “What are you saying Luca?” Giulia asked apprehensively. “Maybe he’s not so far gone. Maybe he just needs some help.” “You want to risk your good reputation by hanging around him!?” “No, but no matter how hard I try there will just be some people who don’t understand me because I’m not like them. Who don’t understand sea monsters because we aren’t human. Who cares what they think. He needs help and I don’t think he’s going to get it off on his own. Last I tried to help him I only wanted to get him back to living the life he had. But he’s a sea monster and he needs to live like one. Something tells me though that he never learned how to.”

There was only so much of the human world that worked for sea monsters and as much as Luca and Alberto straddled that line between humans and creatures, they couldn’t forgo who they were inside. They had to learn at some point how to live as creatures and make it work. But that meant learning to control one’s instincts. To fall in rhythm with the wild. To find harmony in nature. Not to tear it apart.

Chapter Text

The day had grown into night and the night into day and like the ebb and flow of the tide time passed and Alberto stayed in his cave. He lost track of the time bathed in anxiety. Luca hated him, everyone hated him, at least they had to. How could Luca just walk away from what he did without hating him for his aggression. Regret burned in his gut. Luca was gone, Giulia was gone. He had nobody now. But as much as he hated losing them, he also hated the confines of land and the life of hunger for the sea. Hunger in every sense of the word.

However his hunger hadn’t been tamed. He left the cave once and to his own dismay fell into another haze of despair and aggression. This time he snapped out of it before it consumed him, leaving but a desecrated corpse to rot floating in the ocean. He wondered where the tide may have carried it. Luckily he never ate the poor soul, although he could feel the hunger in him calling to do it. His hunger just grew while he diminished. Why give in to hunger? In hunger was aggression, animalistic monstrosities. In starvation was his suffering, his self inflicted retribution.

Flesh of his own kind however was familiar. He could still eat fish he supposed. But he still feared it would only open his appetite for bigger prey. Sure food of the right sort might cure him of his hunger but not his heritage. He was his fathers son, and his father was all the same. In each moment stewing in his hunger and sorrow, all alone, familiar memories came haunting him. Bottled and shoved deep in a crevice of his soul it was as if they broke free the minute his hunger started.

He never remembered much of his mother, she left him at too young of an age to be fully remembered. His dad always laid it bare. “She was hit by a harpoon.” His dad would then hesitate in his next well repeated words, as if holding back emotion of some sort “You really do look a lot like your mother.” Something changed in his father’s demeanor whenever he spoke of that moment. A burning rage locked in his gaze. Alberto at such a young age never really thought too hard about his father’s overprotective nature, about his mounting aggression at any perceived threat to Alberto. They were ocean hardened creatures, swimming through stormy seas and predators to anything smaller. It was only their natural nature. Besides It was just the two of them left and some sea creatures were more fierce than others. After his mother died, his dad would do anything to keep them together.

Without his mother his father moved into a nomadic life. Coming and going from reef town to reef town and wandering throughout the ocean. If he ever needed he would head ashore and grab a few human goods. It was in truth stealing, seeing as human goods like money came not very easily to a man of the sea, but living a life that shifted places meant finding any means to survive and evading everyone who had it out for a filthy thief on the run. However his dad knew that for a growing child stability was key, so when he found the tower Alberto stayed there for the most part as he came and went.

Living in open waters, fish were much more sparse than near reefs and coastal zones. So when the aftermath of protective parenting became dinner, Alberto never thought twice. He was never told what dinner was anyway. If his dad ate it then he’d eat it too. He’d see his father for days at a time with long stretches of time alone in between. Did his dad want to do any of this? Not really but, even amongst other sea monsters he was the unwelcome outsider, built just a little differently than their delicate reef sort. So there was no hope of settling down amidst the company of a reef town. This hardened life ate at him. Alberto had memories long lost where he’d see his dad come back in a haze, the pungent smell of something strong on his breath, his words a jumble, no food in tow. In these memories his dad wouldn’t even look at him. Of course he couldn’t. All he saw in Alberto was her. And all he was was tired of trying to make ends meet on his own without her. His dad grew resentful of the pain Alberto only reminded him of. “You look just like your mother.” Alberto’s dad would remark solemnly. “Just like her.”

Alberto never told Luca why his dad left. Just that he did and he had been counting the days for his return. That was troublesome enough to know. The worst of his leaving was shoved down into the depths of his mind. But this newfound pain dredged it up again. Alberto’s dad had come back one night, that smell on his breath, pungent and sharp. Albert raced down to meet his father watching him step ashore slowly shedding his scales and fins as the moisture dripped off of him. As always on nights like these he brought no food but instead brought a stupor that he had fallen into. Alberto had asked if there was anything but to no avail. His dad was already agitated, Alberto unknowingly lit the fuse. “You're hungry?! Yeah well so am i! I’m also tired, and sick of constantly needing to roam around, and not having anyone to help with taking care of you! Every day I miss your mother! But all you do is remind me of her and the burden she left me to father on my own! I’m hungry too! I’m so-I’m so hu-“ Alberto could see the rage boiling in his father’s gaze. The aggression was hot on his words. All it took was one meal. One meal to solve his hunger. One last fight to protect his sanity. To protect the sanity of a broken man. Protecting Alberto was what protected his sanity and he fought to a bloody end just to keep Alberto safe and fed. But now his sanity lie elsewhere, and all that stood before his crazed mind was a meal to fill the hunger within him.

Alberto fell back into the waves, struggling against his dad’s grip, face to face with pointy barred teeth and his sea monster form. His dad let out a hollow chittering sound, ready to pounce. Alberto barely got away, wriggling free from his grip. “F-fine! There’s no food!” Alberto conceded nervously, shrinking back. He wouldn’t press it. His Dad floated there in the waves, that crazed anger in his eyes. He blinked a few times as if realizing what he meant to do as a hint of confusion flashed through his face. His eyes darted back to Alberto and he dropped his rage a little letting out a huff “Merda!” A single harsh utterance from his lips. If that swear was to himself or to Alberto he couldn’t really tell. Obviously he had some angry regret in his heart at his own outburst but even more so he regretted Alberto and everything it took to take care of him.

The next morning Alberto didn’t see his dad. He’d had nights tinted with anger that subsided and blew over when that smell left his dad’s breath. Perhaps this would blow over too. He knew the familiar regret that would tinge his words and things would be back to normal with his dad coming and going. He waited, expecting everything to change as it did and for life to normalize. The days fell into an ebb and flow. Days turned to weeks. He licked his hand, transforming it at the slight moisture and scratched a mark down the wall with his sharp claw like sea monster hand. He did that the next day, and the next, and the next. Until the counting and waiting became meaningless. His dad wouldn’t return. He stuck a poster he found from a human town over the marks on the wall. There was no point in leaving up an eyesore.

So for that part of life Alberto grew up without much idea of what it meant to be a sea monster, beyond aggression. Was any of that aggression normal? Likely not. So when the time came that he would change and grow into a new form as he grew older and would begin long to connect with the sea and his sea monster side, all he would know would be a hunger for flesh and blood. He was not taught the customs or knowledge that came with the changes he would undergo. And when his instincts began to kick in there was no taming them. He was part boy, part feral monster.

Chapter Text

Lucas' last attempt at anything was fast approaching. The chill of fall had slowly crept onto the horizon and the threat of being pulled away to school lay ever present. Luca wanted Alberto to know he was there for him. Hell he had to let him know before the bleakness of their time apart grew into Alberto’s agony with the approaching school year.

That day, after deliberating all day long while helping Massimo, he eventually decided to take a step forward. Diving into the water he could feel the warmth of the summer currents had dulled some. The boats in the bay slowly faded into specks on the horizon and he made his way back into the open ocean. Swimming he saw the familiar tower come into view again and he passed by it towards where Alberto lay.

Entering the cave through the crack in the rocks he swam up toward the surface of the pool in the middle but stopped. Hesitating a moment he held back not wanting to break the surface. The fear lingered in his every move—but so did the longing. He had to press on. Gingerly, he floated up, bobbing in the pool. “A-Alberto.” He called out Alberto’s name, timidly bracing himself for the worst. He was ready to bolt if he needed to.

“Hello!?” Alberto called out into the cave questioningly. His hunger had drawn out a delirium inside and he couldn’t tell where the bounds of reality lie. To him Luca’s voice mingled with the edge of memory and reality he lay on. Where reminders of his past and the world before him separated was impossible to tell. “Who’s there!?” he snapped anxiously.

Eventually, they locked eyes. Alberto catching a glimpse at the sea monster form before him. Luca’s breath stalled—more so out of shock than fear—his eyes meeting Alberto’s human form. Alberto looked gaunt, starved, his form almost sickeningly thin. His eyes were hollow, lacking their characteristic mischievous glow.

“Alberto, it’s me.” At those three words Alberto felt himself reeling. That fight resurfacing before his eyes. “No—no!” The remembered smell of blood tinged his nostrils. The firm but yielding feel of flesh between his teeth—almost as vivid as when he bit down. It was all coming back. But this time, too weak to react, confronted with the face before him, only the shame left from an act of fury so heinous consumed him.

It felt like Luca’s eyes were boring into him. He stepped back from the water’s edge, bumping into the rocky side of the cave. He braced his hands against the cave wall, desperate to escape.

Luca inched closer, his fear dissipating. Alberto wasn’t scary, he was scared. Gingerly Luca stepped onto the patchy sand and stone edge of the pool, approaching Alberto. His scales transformed, shifting back into flesh and skin. More than anything in that moment, Luca missed him. He missed the Alberto that he knew. Hell, even with a cautious restraint… he still loved him. He reached out a hand and Alberto shrank back.

Alberto felt small, trapped, uncertain. He slumped down against the cave wall. Truly, he felt like his father’s son. A son small and worthless at the hands of someone cruel enough to leave him to rot and come back at a moment’s notice only to berate him.

He expected retaliation, revenge for the violence he enacted upon Luca but…

“Silencio Bruno.”

Those two whispered words dragged themselves out in a breathy tone from Luca’s mouth hanging within the silence between them. Alberto then opened his eyes—he hadn’t even realized he had them squeezed shut—at the gentle weight he felt resting against him. A hand lay against Alberto’s shoulder. He looked up from where he had slumped against the wall to see Luca kneeling down to meet him.

The first time, Luca’s help felt overwhelming, too much to confront as a boy of strong will who found himself easy to worry about the world and how he would act within it. This time though, Alberto had been given no words. No convincing. He was left instead with this one affirming gesture. I’m here for you, it told him. However long it would take for him to come to terms with himself was of no question in the touch that accepted him. He met Luca’s gaze and then looked away quickly, furrowing his brow in guilt and remorse.

“I don’t think you meant any of this.”

“This” didn’t need explaining. “This” was everything he was, everything he did, everything killed in the pain of his suffering. “This” was what Luca understood.

In Luca’s tone was a firmness, a subtle boundary, as if still bracing to denounce his violence if it ever crept in. But even so the words spoke with compassion. Alberto looked over, noticing the remnants of the grey staining that lingered on Luca’s arm. By now it was fading.

“School is coming,” Luca spoke. “As much as I want to be here… I can’t. Take care of yourself… for me. I want to come back to you.”

The weight of Luca’s hand lifted from his shoulder. The one person he regretted in such a small moment had quickly shifted into the one person he unknowingly needed. He wanted to voice the words, don’t go, but the stubbornness crept in—the words locked in his throat. But even worse, in the words Luca spoke was a thinly veiled request… to eat… something, anything. Lest he waste away before ever seeing him again. Yet, if he wasn’t to kill, he was only to dine on fish. An unwanted reminder of the monster he truly was.

But for Luca, he’d try.

Luca’s grandmother always knew a lot. More than she probably should have at times, but she was always good at keeping a secret. So when she saw Luca so shocked after all that had transpired with Alberto, she knew he had to be dealing with a lot. To have one’s childhood best friend and crush just turn on you like that? Luca’s feelings were no secret, even more so in the aftermath of an attack.

“If you ever need to talk to me, Luca, I’m here.”

Those words. She left those words hanging as an open invitation. She’d keep her secrets sealed as well as a waterproofed ship’s hull. She never told anyone about her sneaking suspicions when he first met Alberto. It was indeed only Luca’s obliviousness that let anyone know who he was.

So when Luca came to her, she was already expecting it. He pulled her aside after dinner the last night he was staying in town. The next day he’d be boarding the train.

“Something on your mind, bubble?” she’d said. He felt a warm comfort in her words at the use of the endearing nickname. Befitting of a younger sea monster but still used out of sentimentality.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked cautiously.

“Yeah, I’m all ears.”

“I uh—I’ve been thinking… about Alberto.” Her expression firmed at the name, understanding the weight of the conversation to be had. She lay silent, letting the words slowly find their way out from Luca. “I already tried to approach him before and you know how that went.” He laughed awkwardly to hide the fear, his eyes widening as he looked aside at the faint remnants of the bite mark. “However… I think I tried too soon. To approach, you know, and well, I gave it some time ‘cause he likes his space and… well, he knows how to figure himself out on his own.”

God, all those years alone as a young boy. His grandmother could only imagine. She could only say he was so lucky to have found Luca when he did.

“But I tried again yesterday.” Her eyes widened slightly at the statement, bracing for something bad. “It went well.” A glimmer of hope danced in her expression.

“He’s not doing too well though. He looks terrible! Like he hasn’t eaten in days. Practically skin and bones.” Luca’s last sentence came out strangled, slightly tense with some present level of emotional concern his grandmother could sense.

“You know, Luca, there’s a reason all sea monsters are taught how to hunt at a young age. I remember when we taught you. So feisty. Remember how you brought home your first fish? That was adorable!” She smiled a little at the memory, trying to lighten the mood. “We taught you though so you knew how to channel your needs into something that feeds you. Your mother, however, wasn’t as good as you. I remember she hurt a few young sea monsters her age roughhousing when her hunting instincts kicked in. What a mess that was. But she never took it too far. Her father and I taught her how to channel that energy into something she needed.”

“What’s this got to do with Alberto?” Luca probed.

“You say he was on his own, and at such a young age too. Do you think he ever had anyone to teach him how to channel his energy into the things he needed? He never learned by the sound of it. And I can’t imagine that did well mixed with whatever other things came out of being left like that. So no wonder he’s starved himself half to death. Those sea monsters he hurt are the result of not knowing what a true meal looks like. It’s all fun and games when you’re little, but the older you get the more easily unchecked roughhousing turns into something violent. Seems he’s past it though. If he is as starved as you say, he has but no choice to figure it out the right way now. They all break at some point when they learn it the hard way.”

“You think he’ll figure it out?” Luca asked timidly.

“Of course. And especially for you.” His grandmother reassured him. “You found him all those years ago, Luca, at a time where—I don’t think you realize—but he really needed you. That boy doesn’t let just anyone in. You two really have something special if he’s gonna let you back in after all this. And you're very brave to reach out to him. I wouldn’t fault you if you never did anything, but here you are. I’m here for you, Luca. Here for you through whatever it takes to be there for him.”

She held her arms open, embracing Luca in a hug. He looked up at her with a solemn half smile. If he was on land he’d be crying about now, the tears damp on his cheeks. Probably all the better the water obscured his private tears of gratitude.

Chapter Text

Leaving at the train station was bittersweet without the familiar hug goodbye Luca remembered. Tan arms embracing his form, a hand lingering on his, even as Luca boarded. The familiar run past the station platform onto the gravel alongside the track, Alberto’s grip loosening as the train began to pull away. The frenzied wave goodbye fading into the distance. There wasn’t even the comfort of their shared letters to ease the ache in Luca's heart.

Luca didn’t look at their faces. The adults all held the same look of despair knowing how hard this goodbye would be. His grandmother stepped forward, her arms outstretched knowingly. Luca took her embrace, understanding her intent. “I’m sure he’ll be there when you get back. You're everything to him, Luca.” She whispered to him affirmingly. Luca bit the inside of his lip, holding back tears and nodded as if accepting the weight of his grandmother’s words. “Luca, the train is leaving!” Giulia called out. He boarded, watching from the window. Nobody ran out alongside the train.

Massimo trudged back to the pescheria wondering what to do next. Before Alberto he had always gotten help during the colder months when Giulia was away at school. Someone who wanted seasonal work, passing travelers perhaps. He’d figure it out. He always did.

With the thought of the boy now lingering in his mind he wondered where Alberto was. Luca had seemed to know. He was able to make contact. But it didn’t seem to go too well. He remembered how Alberto had run away before. Nothing unexpected for a troubled boy like him. Unlike with most kids, he knew Alberto was wild at heart and did not need to be chased back into the comfort of a life in a little town when running away. He was a monster of the sea, and if the ocean wanted to claim him, well, Massimo knew better than to fight against the storm. There was no use chasing a boy who could swim deeper and farther than his boat could reach. He never stayed in his solitude for too long though. The first time he ran he came back for Luca.

He had faith he would weather this storm no matter how much Alberto rocked the boat. If he stayed away for a while, for good, that was fine. He could make peace with that. It made sense considering the tragedy was unspeakable. His heart, he could feel sinking lower than it ever had at any wrongdoing Alberto committed. Even burning up his boat was nothing but a tiny snag in the carefully woven connection they had. But this was big. This was the only true father he ever had, torn away in the wildness of his monstrosity.

Massimo thought back to when he’d helped him settle into their home. They took a boat trip to grab some of the things he’d wanted to keep from his tower. He hadn’t expected much considering the way Luca and Alberto discussed the place once lived in. Stepping inside he looked around at the disarray within the crumbling stone walls. His brow had furrowed.

Clearly this had at one point been a home. There was makeshift seating in the corner. Two broken chairs, the backs of them snapped at the top, now covered in trinkets. Drawings decorated one wall of what looked like a larger and smaller sea monster. Although it was hard to tell under the posters and magazine clippings that had been pasted up to obscure it. In a corner two hammocks crafted of worn fishing nets and scraps of old woven sacks and torn fabric hung from the ceiling. One had fallen down under the weight of junk piled atop it. Clearly it was the bigger hammock of the two. Two shelves lay next to each other for storage of personal belongings although one now had a sack haphazardly draped over it.

He stepped back, catching himself, almost tripping on a stray item left lying on the floor. Picking it up he inspected it, noticing it to be a notebook with a hard cover. A compass was drawn on the front and “Nabigatzonay,” the misspelled title haphazardly scrawled across the top in a slightly unsure manner as if written by someone unfamiliar with the humanness of pen and paper. Although crudely written, between the word and the drawing of the compass he could make out the attempted Italian. Navigazione it meant perhaps. A navigation book. He opened it, finding himself immersed in detailed diagrams of the tides and the sea and the stars above (referred to as fish for some odd reason.) He thumbed through it a bit, opening to the back cover. Bruno scorfano. The name lay scrawled in a messy hand, the n backwards and the writing shaky.

Bruno. The name he’d heard shouted in jest. The name made to be a word of encouragement between Alberto and Luca. The name a cry of determination. The name of a man once a father, never again. He set the book back on the table. His eyes widening. He turned, feeling a tap on his shoulder. Alberto stood before him, a look deepening in his gaze, speaking of the discomfort slowly creeping out of the tower. A small crate lie in his hands full of a few clothes and small trinkets. “This is all I need.”

The days crept along in a steady in and out of new routines like waves on the shore. Massimo wasn’t one to be curious but the wondering had gotten to him. Alberto couldn’t survive without eating. He supposed he still had to be visiting old stomping ground where the catch was plentiful. There was a spot he showed him where the rock pools never fully emptied after the high tide. A good spot for Ricci Di Mare, urchin or more literally translated as hedgehog of the sea. A delicacy, rarely eaten and only available in the cold of the winter tides which now slowly began to creep in. Massimo only wanted to know that in his time apart Alberto was safe.

He'd gotten used to solo boat trips during the winter months and without Alberto to row the boat he’d taken his long oar out. Custom made with a loop at the top of the handle it was long enough to reach under his arm and be tied against his shoulder with a length of rope. If he put his whole torso into it it did well for his lack of a hand. It was surprising to need again after having gone years with Alberto managing the rowing. But even in Alberto’s absence… he’d manage. He took his boat, before docking, and rowed out towards the familiar rock pools off the edge of the bay. About now he supposed Alberto might show up. A perfect time for the boats to come back in so the spot would be open for his use. He scanned the horizon and watched, waiting patiently for a moment. The sun slowly slipped lower dipping into the orange of sunset and not seeing much after a good while he decided to leave. Well Alberto lie elsewhere then.

Alberto finally tried. For Luca, he thought desperately. Gingerly he stepped into the water and swam out of his cave. Schools of fish darted in the distance. The gnawing in his stomach burned with a ferocious vengeance. The delirium apparent in his desperation. He lunged. Haphazard and uncontrollable, wanting to get it over with. His teeth snagged a fish. His bite immobilizing it in a bitter plume of grey venom. It flopped a bit in his grip, trying to swim with the last of its fading efforts. He bit harder, hungrier, tearing scales and chewing off a mouthful of raw flesh from the fish he held in his hands.

Oh. Oh god.

He was still the same monster stuck with the visceral animality of himself. Something about the fish tasted wrong. His stomach churned at the taste of what he was eating, bile rising in his throat at the sensation. He couldn’t keep even a bite of fish down. He needed to start with something easier to digest. Fish he realized reminded him too closely of the terror he had enacted. The corpses, dangerously fishy in flavor and texture.

He tried again the next evening. Testing the waters he swam out towards Porto Rosso. He really didn’t want to be here. He wasn’t here for fish perhaps but something close enough, shellfish. They resided most readily along coasts. What other beach was close enough though? Porto Rosso was his only hope. He needed to start somewhere. Nearing the bay he swam towards the beachside seeing the boats come into view. He ducked beneath the surface heading towards the shallow rock pools near the shore a ways away from the main docks. It was a hidden spot. Beyond showing Massimo once how good it was as a fishing area nobody really came here. He hoped under the cover of the fading sunlight he could eat and leave.

Peeking into the pools a few urchins and clams sat at the bottom. Carefully he scooped them up smashing the urchin upon the rocks remembering what his dad had shown him once. His dad. Oh god. Why would he give him any credit for his own survival? He wasn’t even a dad. He thought back to Massimo, the one person given access to this prime spot for fishing—hopefully nobody would show up—but Massimo… he was more of a dad than the one who bore him ever was. Massimo. He wondered how he was. Did he miss him? Was he terrified? The orange insides of meat and urchin eggs lay bare amidst the mess of shell and spine fragments on the rocky poolsides. Digging inside the larger shell fragment he gingerly held, he scooped out a piece, a glistening yellow in hue, inspecting it. Cautiously he took a bite, swallowing it slowly. His hunger calmed slightly.

He didn’t realize how good it felt to eat again and ended up scraping the shell clean. Then finding a sharp rock he wedged open the clams scooping out their innards and gobbling it up quickly. It wasn’t much but it was a start. Anxious and crazed with hunger he hurried through his sparse meal not even bothering to chew and quickly dove back into the water hoping not to be seen.

Massimo tried again the next day. Or so it seemed. Urchin season was upon them. A delicacy could never be passed up and the water felt right for the first ones of the winter. He’d justified his stop at the little area off the bay with a reason to make a plate of Spaghetti ai ricci di mare for dinner if he was lucky. More Puglian than any recipe he’d usually make but it was his mother’s dish and she hailed from there. His family was from everywhere, supposed. A little from Porto Rosso, Puglia, some in Genoa and others straight from the depths of the sea.

Scanning the rock pools he noticed a peculiar sight. Something had already taken his chance at dinner. A pile of urchin shells and the yellow residue of their delicate gonads lay crushed upon the rocks. Perhaps one of the gulls had pilfered the rock pools already. Although the mess seemed too perfect. The gulls would drop the urchin shells till they shattered leaving their dinner splattered everywhere. He scooted closer to the edge of the boat and paddling up alongside the rocks he leaned over to check. The shell lay in one large fragment with a side chipped at as if someone had carefully chipped one side open to dig out the innards. Hmm. He’d find other plans for dinner.

When living off the land he’d learned it best. One for the sea and one for himself. It seemed this time the wild had eaten first.

Reluctantly Alberto found himself here again. Earlier, he had tried a small fish he had nabbed out of a shoal but the taste still reminded him of his failure. He was trying his best but shellfish happened to be the best option so far. The only issue being that clams and urchins were hard to come by unlike the ever present fish. It had almost become ritual. Nabbing whatever clams and shellfish were available and then bashing them against the sharp rocks to pry open their insides. He felt crazed, maniacal.

He remembered the grace he once had of a proper sea monster meal with Luca's family. They sat together, ate from plates, cut their food in pieces. And here he was, scrounging for something—anything—left bashing his clams on the side of a rock. If anyone could see him he probably looked crazy. No, he already was crazy.

Massimo saw him. Well, he saw some of him. He gasped as he watched Alberto slip back under the waves. He was here. He paddled up to the rocks where he had been and surveyed the carnage. Oysters. Crushed shells and all lay upon the rocks. A good handful lay dented but untouched as if bashing them open was too tiring for it to be worth it. It was good to know he still was feeding himself. It looked like he needed some help though. He thought a minute then smiled knowingly. He knew exactly what to leave him.

Alberto stopped himself this time before breaking the water’s surface. A familiar boat lay bobbing in the area near the rock pools. He looked up and caught a glimpse of the person before him. Massimo. They were so close to meeting. He watched the boat row closer to the rock pools. Perhaps he was fishing. It was peak urchin season after all. The minutes felt like hours waiting under the waves, but his fear kept him beneath the surface. He wasn’t ready to be seen by him. Not yet. Not ever… maybe. Soon enough, despite the protesting from his stomach, Alberto broke the water’s surface seeing the boat row away.

His eyes widened. On the rocks before him lay a surprise. A small basket full of more clams than he had ever imagined sat before him. Massimo had been fishing! But… why would he leave them here? He didn’t know, did he? He didn’t know he was here, right!? The fear left every scale on his body prickling with anxiety. His fins raised slightly in his worry. Digging through the basket, his hand grazed the edge of something metallic. Carefully he pulled it out. A small knife—the blade round on one end, flexible, and stubby, and the wooden handle thick—lay burrowed under the clams. That familiar knife.

He remembered. This was the knife that taught him long ago how to help in the kitchen. It was an easier task for someone with two hands to do, so Massimo made good use of Alberto’s help. The tiny clam knife would be wedged in his hands. A basket of clams next to his spot sitting at the kitchen table.

He remembered how to do it. He’d find the seam between the two shells, pressing the flat knife into it at an angle near one side. The muscles of the clam would give way from the shell, pried back by the blade. Then he’d slide the blade back out till only the tip lay wedged under the shell. He’d angle the blade up at the inside of the top shell and work it around to the other edge of the shell, severing the other muscles of the clam. Carefully he’d then pinch the loose shell between his thumb and the knife and pry the top shell off, twisting it towards himself at an angle. He didn’t need to think of the steps. He’d just do it. The motions became a habit when shellfish were plenty. Back then it was worth it for a plate of linguine al vongole.

He couldn’t eat the pasta anymore though. By now the thought of human food with its seasonings made his stomach churn. His body would reject it anyway now, seeing it unfit for a sea monster of his sort. But the knife was here. In his hands, as an offering. A sign perhaps Massimo still cared. He turned the small clam knife over in his hands, deciding to keep it. It’d make his meals a hell of a lot easier to eat.

There was compassion in that one act. A subtle recognition of the depravity in bashing his food upon the rocks just for the slightest of anything to call a meal. He felt a hint of normalcy ease back into him.

Later, he left the basket further up on the beach. Safe and away from the high tide atop a rock but in clear view of anyone approaching the spot. Within it only a mess of shells was left behind.

Chapter Text

Alberto would still gather food for himself but even so it was nothing more than a light snack compared to the depth of his hunger. Truly He needed a meal and that one basket had opened his appetite for food. It seemed Massimo had taken the message and turned it into a routine.

Every few days there’d be something there. Alberto had learned the ways of the coming and going. Slowly, he felt himself recovering. He’d looked at his human reflection and compared to when he’d last seen it. He looked less like a shell of himself. Color had returned to his face, his gaunt figure had filled out slightly. It would be a while though before he got his regular demeanor back. He’d been changed in the poetic irony of a monster of the sea so far removed from the fish around him. But he’d made it work with Massimo’s help.

How long had it been in the passing of days eating off of the rock pools? How long had Massimo been leaving the food? Nothing seemed out of place in the routine that had formed. It was a quiet act, easy to do without question by townsfolk and an unspoken gesture of kindness and rehabilitation. Somehow the sentiment lingered between those closest to Alberto. He never meant to do any of this. The understanding reflected itself in small ways from those he had hoped never to lose. It wasn’t the forgiveness of letting him back in to invoke their old normalcy with open arms and doting I missed you’s. It was slow measured healing of a boy dragged to the edge of breaking by his own instincts working against him.

Winter had crept into full force and even though not the same as Rome, the fog off the beach reminded Massimo the seasons had changed. So too did the lights along the storefront awnings. Wreaths and lights began to adorn the small town buildings. In the middle of the town square the local church had begun to plan out the yearly nativity scene. Christmas was upon them. Massimo wasn’t much for the religiosity of the whole affair considering he didn’t focus too much on what to believe in, but it didn’t mean he would reject seasonal Italian tradition.

He still used the occasion as a reason to make seasonal dishes, give gifts and enjoy the pretty decorations. The feeling of the holiday season was fast upon him. Giulia and Luca would be here soon after Christmas to spend their new years with him.

That reminded him… the first part of their winter break he’d be spending alone. Usually he’d mail his gifts in a week early for Luca and Giulia out in Genova. Then he’d have Alberto alongside him and enjoy Christmas playing tombola or bingo into the early morning hours of Christmas day, the last slice of the local bakers panettone the grand prize. But this year, only Machiavelli would be by his side. He’d call Luca and Giulia in Genova on Christmas—as always—at some point during the day to wish them the requisite “Buon Natale!” Or Merry Christmas in other terms. But it wouldn’t be the same this year.

In the early morning coastal fog a lot of things could hide. Birds, people, boats. All obscured by a thick mist gently rising off of the ocean and rolling over the town. It was a double edged sword. While easy to hide within, the moisture of the fog kept Alberto damp enough to stay in his sea monster form even on land. It wasn’t ideal but being in the early hours of the morning he had no worry of being found, especially if he was this far out from the docks.

He was here by the rock pools again in these faint early morning hours for a reason though. He’d managed to scrape together a gift in return for Massimo’s generosity. If the gift overlapped with the mounting holiday season then Alberto was unaware of that, seeing as the days passed in a blur, leaving only the changing seasons to alert him of the time passing. He’d raced up onto the beach to lay a few urchins at the bottom of the basket left from the evening prior. Hopefully Massimo would enjoy that when he found it upon returning.

He slipped back towards the water quickly noticing the fog beginning to thin ever so slightly as the sun reached higher into the sky. He could just begin to make out the docks in the distance and spotted something. A boat lay bobbing in the distance. The faint silhouette of it growing bigger. Nobody would ever hang around these parts of the bay, and especially at this time of morning!? Perhaps a gust of wind blew a poorly moored boat out to sea? It did seem like a storm was on the horizon after all based on the grey clouds lingering in the distance. His curiosity growing the better of him he swam slightly closer and gingerly poked his head above the surface.

Squinting through the haze of fog he could see something in the nearing boat. The boat stopped approaching and then Alberto’s eyes widened, that wasn’t just any boat. It was a fishing boat, with someone on it! Oh…oh crap! They were paddling towards him, and fast! Whoever it was saw him!

He dove back under the water swimming as deeply and quickly as he could to try and leave the scene. The panic rising in his chest. He wondered to himself, what had they seen!? Hopefully not much but he couldn’t be sure.

The thoughts raced in his brain and one, brief but harrowing, pushed its way to the forefront. Would it be worth it to starve again? Worth it to avoid being seen by those who would hate him and obviously condemn him? At the consideration of the idea he slowed his frantic pace racing through the waves.

To do so was a step into an undoing of everything he’d done to accomplish what little progress he had.

However the starvation tempted him. His bad habits and self destruction, alluring in nature if it meant his safety lie protected.

Besides, why would a monster deserve all of this?!

He gasped, bubbles rising from his mouth in the water at the ugly internal conclusion he had cooked up to the thought of starvation. No—he—he didn’t mean that did he?! He felt himself second guessing everything that led up to where he was.

A second thought however rushed in, counter to the desire to step off the edge and land again at rock bottom.

Luca asked him to take care of himself.

An ache in his heart, one he hadn’t known he’d been holding onto all this time rang out. He couldn’t hurt Luca like that. He loved him too dearly.

He loved him. Yes, he… loved him.

The word love had been said to Luca many times before and had been thought of many times before in relation to Luca. But this time the reality of what the word, so easy to say and think meant, twisted his heartstrings into knots.

He wasn’t like everyone else. On many layers, as a sea monster, an outsider to town, an abandoned child, he had already acknowledged his differences. Well on many layers, except for the core of his being they lay wrapped around. Him and Luca had a connection deeper than friendly and more dangerous under these circumstances than ever before. Why yes the town had their mild performative dislike at the thought of two boys together. And why yes, even a dislike at two boys, only seeming close enough to have something more than friendship. However, acknowledging this would start more than callous micro aggressions fueled by the religious undercurrent of an Italian small town. This was playing with fire!

In their eyes all they’d see would be a murder whose love tempted a boy still within the town's good graces. Tempted a boy into the darkness of giving into moral wrongs. Wrongs on levels even the most progressive would shun.

He thought back to the internal agreement he had decided upon in fulfilling Luca’s request. “Take care of yourself… for me.” Luca had told him. And he did that. Had been doing that. He’d been doing it out of a connection he felt that only one word could explain.

Love.

He couldn’t backtrack on that! He felt himself stepping away from the ledge dropping off into rock bottom. He’d come this far! His resolve strengthened. He’d do whatever it took to get back to some semblance of normality. He'd return for Massimo’s food baskets. Although he’d need to be extra extra careful now if he was to stay fed.

Without realizing it the week had passed and so too did the Christmas holiday, although without the same raucous fanfare. At least Massimo had the pleasure of wishing Machiavelli a quiet morning “Buone Natale.” and gifting him a giant fish all to himself. Massimo forwent the panatone and the decorations although remembering still to send Luca and Giulia their gifts. Two records for the both of them were shipped in a brown paper wrapping with a simple card. Giulia said her mom had a new record player after the old one broke and the both of them had been looking forward to getting a few specific records. He didn’t know what any of it was by the sound of it. Something popular the kids liked listening to nowadays he guessed. He’d stick with his familiar Italian opera records.

Either way they seemed happy about the gifts when he called them and soon enough they would be back in town by the weekend after finishing out Boxing Day. They looked forward to spending new years back with him.

In town, the energy had changed. Much to the delight of Ercole, people looked up to him a little more. It didn’t reverse how but a few years ago he’d been thrown in the fountain at his insistence a little kid could be such a terrible monster. People did however latch on to his sentiment. Although Luca, as scrawny as he was, posed no threat so far, Alberto however over time had grown into a murder and turned…on his own kind of all things. He was a true monster, a vicious, ruthless creature, uncivilized and unfit to belong amongst the people of Porto Rosso. He was a menace. Anyone who would stick their neck out for him was in the end just as bad as Alberto. Luca tread a thin line now though, judging by how he spoke about him when Alberto’s last kill washed ashore.

An older gentleman, one of the local fishermen, had seen something in the bay. Purple scales, a body adorned with fins, a long tail. It didn’t take a genius to piece together who that would be. This fisherman knew Ercole had been getting his name around town with his growing group of followers. He was lucky Mrs. Marsigliese, known for spearheading local events like the Porto Rosso cup held monthly town meetings to discuss town events and issues that arose. Through this he had been given his megaphone with which to rally his cause. After he spoke that one time in the town square he knew they’d listen now.

Therefore, it was only fitting that the sailor who’d seen Alberto would tell him about it. They’d listen to anything “Signor Salvatore” here had to say considering he knew the situation best after all. Ercole made careful judgments of what reaction was warranted and took to participating in the town meetings to spread what many considered his “helpful input”. Besides, he’d been the one to first hold that worry everyone now felt. Before all this, the rest of the town had sidelined their once held fears under the guise of the youth and innocence emanating from the two sea monster boys. Ercole however never did, only letting the truth blossom.

Luca was as Ercole had noticed, smart, civil, shy, understated, and definitely non-threatening—una brava persona. Alberto however had the muscle from long days hauling nets, the height of his figure, and the bravado of being the brawn to Luca’s brains. He was the type to start a fight if he felt triggered enough. In his youth he almost had at Luca’s defense. But now older with more restraint, Alberto as Ercole could see, likely held off from a fight because he’d wait till it was truly grim. What “grim” was Ercole had no intention of seeing. In essence, the selectivity of Ercole’s prejudice was something he could justify. That was unless Luca or any of the other “good ones” had something to hide.

The news came to Ercole, whispered cautiously after the town meeting had ended. Pulled aside, a few words were urgently hissed under the fisherman’s breath. “Yes! It was a purple, sea monster seen a ways away from the docks!” They etched themselves in Ercole's mind and like embers, ignited the fire of his curiosity. There was no doubt he would investigate this!

Chapter Text

Having the time with a free day in the middle of the holiday season, Ercole decided to check the beach himself. Which direction though was “a ways away”? Clearly he didn’t know. Over the course of a day he’d marched himself up one side and then down the other. On one side the beach trailed off into a rocky outcropping that closed in on the other side of the bay. He didn’t think much of it but it was the furthest spot outlining this edge of the bay. By the time he approached it the boats had begun to move into the docks and the sun had begun its slow descent into the sea.

A single boat lay floating in the distance as he approached. Raising an eyebrow inquisitively, he approached.

Massimo in his boat lay floating by the rock pools at the edge of the shore. Ercole wondered, what would his boat be doing out here? It was past the time when many of the boats turned back to the docks. Standing a ways away, he kept walking, trying to look normal. Perhaps he was out for a brisk walk along the beach. Nobody had to know what he was up to. As he began to reach the rocks, he began to turn back and walk back the other way.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Massimo carefully step out of the boat onto the beach and, looking back quickly, saw something further up in the sand. A basket. Massimo held a similar basket and, taking the other one, set his basket down. He turned back, hoping not to be seen watching, and quickening his pace, he kept walking along.

Soon enough, he saw Massimo's boat row away and down toward the docks. Heading back up the beach towards the basket, he walked further back towards the sand and up onto the rocks, crouching behind a rocky ledge. Nobody would leave a basket like that. Not unless someone else intended to receive something. He’d switched them out. Considering that fact, the cogs turned in his brain. Something had been taken away or received in one basket and another came to replace it. It was a system. Perhaps a system or routine that had persisted for a while? Either way, if someone intended to receive the basket, he’d wait to see who.

A hand, webbed and scaly, rose up onto the distant rocks—someone was getting out of the water. Somebody monstrous.

Alberto pulled himself out of the water and, looking about, scanned the horizon for a sign of someone. Not seeing anyone nearby, he stepped ashore, drying slightly and transforming back to a human form. He scanned the basket and then sat down, grabbing something from within it. He pulled a tool from his back pocket and started in on whatever he had pulled from the basket. He then raised the item to his mouth to eat something from whatever he had pulled out and tossed the remnants aside. Ercole sat there for almost twenty minutes, his eyes wide. He was back! Soon enough, Alberto piled the things he’d tossed aside into the basket and placed it again further back on the beach before slipping away into the water.

Ercole got up from where he had crouched and walked over to the basket lying atop a rock poking from the sand. Inside, a medley of shells, oysters, clams, mussels all sat at the bottom of the basket, opened and the insides clearly eaten. He dug through it, picking up a shell to inspect it. So Massimo was feeding him! He was luring him here! Luring Alberto here. Luring a murderer here. What was his motive to do this? Did he have something against the town? Why would Massimo harbor someone so dangerous?!

He thought to himself, mulling over the implications of everything carefully and turning over the shell in his hand. Alberto had been killing. He had known it the minute a sea monster corpse washed ashore. But now this, this spoke of someone who had left that behind for something different, or if not left it behind, had opened up an appetite for more than just their own kind. Alberto in some capacity had to still be ready to kill. Anyone knew any feral creature that tasted blood once would soon enough return to the act of violence.

Perhaps—no! He shut the thought down not wanting to consider it, but thinking a minute, it crept back in as unfortunately a natural conclusion. Perhaps Alberto, either needing more for his hunger or wanting something different, had an even darker reason to return. He wanted something human! He wanted them! If he was to return to the act of violence, then who was to say he didn’t want vengeance against a town that had rejected him.

There was the old adage Ercole remembered, “It takes a village to raise a child.” And there was the darker flip side: “A child rejected by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” Who was to say he didn’t want to leave Porto Rosso as nothing but a pile of ash and rubble.

He would need to warn the town! Although for now he’d leave Massimo out of it. They didn’t need to know he was a part of that till it mattered. Till he could leverage the stakes and find the time for the power boost to hold up. If he could take down a man as well known in town as Massimo, he’d have everyone under his thumb. Everyone finally listened to the thing he had said so long ago. Sea monsters were dangerous. He raced off, planning to tell them at the town meeting tonight!

The news was as he had expected. It was explosive! When he voiced it aloud at the meeting in the town hall, everyone gasped. They had sat around a large fold-out table, Signora Margliese at the head. “Dio mío! You're sure he’d come after us?!” an older fisherman had remarked.

“It’s only natural considering he’s already had a taste of blood. He wouldn’t be here without a reason considering what he’s done,” Ercole explained.

“And what do you propose we do?” someone else remarked.

“Whatever it takes to get rid of him!” said another fisherman.

“Put out a bounty!” interjected a woman.

“True! Whether dead or alive, a little soldi is bound to get him right back in our hands where we can make sure he’s not a threat ever again,” Ercole said in agreement.

“I’ll make the flyers!” shouted the print shop owner.

“If we all chip in a little, we could pool together 10,000 lire easy,” Signora Margliese assured.

Ercole’s eyes widened. He’d go with that! If there was any money involved, he’d be keen to get it himself. He thought back to the baskets on the beach. This was perfect! He’d get Massimo to reel in his winnings for him. Otherwise, his secret would lay bare before the town. The feeding, an explosive takedown of a sympathizer of murder!

Massimo and Luca’s parents stood on the platform watching the train pull in. The winter holidays had arrived and this time it felt like it knowing Giulia and Luca were back. The train pulled in and Giulia and Luca raced off. They said their hellos, excited for the New Year's holiday to come. The greetings and hugs faded quickly as Massimo took their bags in his hand, the three trudging back home.

Exiting the station, a poster posted near the platform caught his eye. Watching Giulia and Luca run ahead, Massimo set down the bags and tore the poster off of the post where it had been stapled.

“Purple sea monster spotted in the bay. 10,000 lire prize. Bring in dead or alive.”

No! They didn’t mean—he stopped mid-thought as the truth hit him. Alberto had been spotted! Carefully, with his one hand, he pressed the paper in half, bracing it against the post and folded it up. He shoved it in his pocket. He’d figure out what to do about that later.

Luca and Giulia looked back towards where he stood.

“Come on Papa!” Giulia shouted.

“On my way!” he croaked out, barely holding back the fear in his voice. He grabbed the bags again and started down towards them.

Ercole had approached Massimo. He’d approached him with all the pomp and bravery of the brazen threats he held. Ordinarily he’d never take the fight, but the knowledge he held was damning enough to give him a leg up.

He’d pulled him aside at the closing time of the pescheria. The introduction was brief.

“We’re closing Ercole. If you needed something you should have gotten here earlier,” Massimo spoke firmly, not wanting to deal with him. He was never big on his attitude in any conversation.

“Oh, I’m not here for that,” Ercole said, the hint of a sneer hot on his words. “I…just wanted to ask something.”

“Yes?” Massimo asked expectantly.

“You’ve seen the posters around town right?”

Massimo took a silent sharp inhale under his breath, holding his firm and quiet demeanor strong despite the slow rise of his heartbeat.

He still remembered digging the poster out of his pocket and unfolding it at home. He’d left it in plain view of Giulia yesterday when they came home. He should have thrown it out instead of leaving it on the kitchen table there. When she came to him with it, he could only tell her what he’d done. How he’d left the baskets. She knew Alberto, knew how fickle his trust could be. Even just her befriending Luca was enough initially to keep him wary of her. He’d gotten over that quickly though. Therefore she knew although it risked his reputation, like Luca, her father wanted to set things right. Especially when all of this had started as a mistake on Alberto’s part as those closest to him had begun to understand.

Massimo refocused on Ercole before him after pausing a moment.

“I know you’ve seen them! We all have!” Ercole pressed on. “I have an offer. The 10,000 lire are all yours…if you bring me Alberto!”

Oh this was nothing to worry about. Massimo’s internal anxiety calmed. What petty ploy did he aim to try now?

“I’m not available. Go find someone else to ask Ercole,” the words were postured dismissively, neither confirming nor denying what he’d done nor agreeing to Ercole's plans. There was also a hint of warning in his tone. What? Did he think, he, Massimo, of all people, would bow down and become his latest henchman? Of course he wouldn’t. How could Ercole even prove he had the ability to reel Alberto in? For all Massimo knew, the town still believed that like them, he still had the foggiest idea where Alberto lay.

To see Ercole think he was easily asked to do his bidding, now that was bold! He turned away from him, reaching in his pocket for the keys to lock the pescheria doors.

Ercole stepped forward confrontingly then laughed haughtily. “Did you forget what you’ve done? I know those are your baskets left along the shoreline. You're the only fisherman with a connection to him already! You're the only one who was willing to father him before he went feral! So no surprise you're the one doing so much for him now, feeding him and all. I’m giving you an out and I’m including a prize too, which truthfully I don’t even think a sympathizer to a murderer would deserve! But I’m feeling generous so…” he shrugged openly.

Massimo turned toward him at the sound of the damning information Ercole now held. Oh god, he knew! But rather than fear rising within him again, he grew internally angry. With this information, he’d blackmail him like this? If anything, Massimo would rather have had his secrets divulged immediately and reap the consequences than to be used as a pawn via blackmail.

But considering it, it only made sense a pompous man like Ercole would blackmail him.

“I don’t know what you want out of this Ercole, but I’m not going to be a part of it. You don’t know what you're messing with.” Massimo’s words were firm but soft, his exterior demeanor collected still.

“I don’t know!?” Ercole spat back. “I know I’m messing with a town that would hate you if they ever got wind of your acts! You're messing with a murderer! You’d better stop while you're ahead. Like I said, I’m giving you a way out. I’d highly consider it.”

Ercole walked off leaving the words hanging. Massimo didn’t need to consider anything. Ercole was clearly barking up the wrong tree in this fight.