Mary opened her eyes and saw Lucius looking at her, worriedly as she gasped for air. She sat up from the ground and coughed out the remaining water inside her.
Then, she noticed she was able to breathe again and was sitting on the ground. She looked at Lucius and saw his whole body was wet.
His hair was dripping with water and his shirt was drenched. Mary looked at him, shocked and asked.
"Did you save me, Lucius?"
He stared at Mary, eyes widened with sharp pupils. Then, his pupils turned round again as he closed his eyes and smiled. Then, he nodded.
"But aren't you scared of water?"Mary asked, stunned. "Did you really push your fear aside just to save me?"
He opened his eyes again, revealing his two different eyes-one emerald green and the other shining gold. Then, he nodded.
Mary still looking at him, flabbergasted. Then, she suddenly remembered the experiment.
"What happened to the experiment then?"
Lucius gazed around for a while and slithered to the ground where he lay while searching for Mary in the pond.
He picked up a thing from the ground and slithered back. It was his notebook.
The next thing he did, was reached out to get his pen from his shirt. He stretched his hand into his shirt and moved around for a second, looking confused. He took out his hand but it was empty. For some reason, he pulled his collar away from his neck which was soaking wet and looked inside his shirt.
Next, he unexpectedly glanced up at the pond and hissed while placing his hand on his forehead, looking ashamed yet, sad.
Mary looked at him, confused but somehow know what he lost.
"Did you lose the pen that I gave you?"She asked, making sure.
He nodded, ears and tail down.
"It's alright. It's just a pen nothing important and I don't need to know what happened to the experiment...The main point is that both of us are still alive."She said while smiling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few minutes earlier...
Lucius saw Mary slip into the pond. He dashed towards the pond and lay on the ground with his stomach. He hissed worriedly and stretched his uninjured hand into the pond.
Cold water went up his arm and he withdrew his arm from the chilly water. He looked into the water again but he couldn't see a single silhouette.
He started getting worried and forced his arm into the ice-cold water again. He swung his hand left and right but he couldn't feel anything.
He could feel his body shiver from the coldness of the pond as he swung his hand. Then, he pulled his whole arm out of the water, unintentionally.
After that, he placed his cold and wet limb on his stomach and covered it with his injured hand, warming it. While he was warming his limb, he kept looking into the water, hoping to see a dark shadow forming inside the water.
Where is she? Lucius thought, worriedly. She should know how to swim, right? She did say that water couldn't harm anyone. I hope she is only playing a trick on me.
He continued to lay there for half a second, then, he started to panic.
Did she drown in the water!? He gazed at the water while thinking. I can't see her or a shadow anywhere! Shit! I should have been by her side at all costs! I don't care anymore, I'm going in. Please be alright!
He took a deep breath and dove into the water. Cold water rushed through his face as he tried to open his eyes. He was panicking, he couldn't see anything, his eyes were shut tight and his wounded hand was burning with pain.
He started swinging his hands randomly as he struggled to swim back to land. But the problem was he didn't know how to swim.
But luckily, half of his tail was still on land, his tail was swinging insanely until it hit a pole. He used his tail to hook on the pole, it was a great opportunity for him to get back on land but he refused to.
He forced his eyes open by using his hands to push his eyelids up. He was able to force his eyes open but it was blurry and dark. He couldn't see anything.
Then, he saw a dark shadow lurking from afar. He squinted his eyes and noticed it was a human figure, it swung left and right and suddenly stopped dead. He swam closer to get a good look, it was Mary.
He desperately dashed towards her. As he was dashing, he saw the mermaid-like experiment open its mouth widely and moved Mary's head closer to its open mouth, readied to devour her.
Lucius stretched his hands out but it was too far and he was running out of air. He used his tail's strength to pull himself out of the water. He gasped for air and looked to the side of the pond. He swam to the side and placed his uninjured hand on the stone surface.
Then, he inhaled deeply and placed his head inside the water. He saw Mary a few inches away from the experiment's mouth. His jaw clenched with rage as he pushed the side with all his strength.
His strength pushed him deeper into the water. He zoomed behind Mary and grabbed the experiment's tongue that was wrapping Mary's body. His grip was tight as it screamed in pain and struggled to loosen his grip.
The experiment then used its tongue to wrap his arm, wanting to crash his arm. But, before it could do it, Lucius pulled it in and reached for its head with his wounded hand.
He grabbed its face with his palm, his hand was the size of its head. The experiment used both hands to pull his hand away but it was ineffective. He stared at it with rage filling his eyes.
His hand that was on its face tightened and crash its head. His wounded hand was throbbing with pain and was bleeding even more than before. Blood soon surrounded them as Lucius quickly hugged Mary's unconscious body to him and rapidly pulled them both back to land with his tail.