head,

"He needs to stop!" Lal screams over the crashing of waves. She clings tighter to the piece of splintered wood as a large wave of freezing cold water crashes over her, her forearm gripped by a wide eyed Colonnello.

Reborn bursts from the water, gasping so desperately for air that it sounds painful. He barely takes a full breath before trying to dive under again. Verde lashes out and grabs the man's shirt, forcefully dragging him backwards to the large piece of floating wood.

"Let go!" Reborn snaps, twisting away from the hold. It's a testament to just how exhausted he is that he can't get away from the scientist.

A flash of lightning illuminates the others that were on the ship before it was smashed to pieces, all of them just faint shadows in the distance that cling to floating debris, bobbing in the large waves and going under before bursting back up.

"It's been fifteen minutes, you need to stop!" Verde snarls over a thunder clap, struggling to keep his hold on Reborn.

"He's held his breath for longer, Verde!" Reborn gives a violent jerk and the scientist loses his grip.

But before Reborn can dive under, Colonnello pushes off from the wood he's gripping and snags the man around his waist, slamming him back against the driftwood Verde is attached to and pinning Reborn with his own body.

"Did you see him?" Colonnello barks. "Reborn, did you see him down there?"

They all know the answer is a negative.

Reborn slumps into the blond because he knows he's exhausted, tired from before the ship broke, and fighting the ocean now is doing him no favours. He could barely fight off Skull like this much less Colonnello, but he still hasn't given up. "One more time," he demands. "I know he's alive."

"Then let him find us," Lal urges. "You can't keep this up, you don't even know where he is."

"One more time," Reborn repeats, asking now. "Just once."

Colonnello lets out a sharp breath and presses his forehead against Reborn's. "Jesus, you're going to kill yourself," he mutters. "Last time, you suicidal moron."

Reborn slips under the waves and dives straight down into the cold darkness. The world becomes muffled and faint the further he swims. He's body is so tired and it aches everywhere but when has Reborn let that stop him before?

Besides, Lal is wrong on one point. Reborn knows exactly where Fon is. In fact the man is right where Reborn abandoned him, most likely still sinking into the ocean because Skull had a dislocated shoulder and Verde's leg is still bleeding and Byakuran is concussed and - and … and …

And Reborn made a mistake.

And Reborn picked them over Fon because in the heat of the moment he thought the man would be fine

And Reborn should have gone after Fon because the rest were close enough to the surface and the main priority should have been the man tied to a fucking sinking ship.

He swims harder even though his lungs are burning and he can't see a damn thing. If he has to swim into the Mariana Trench, fine, he's still going to find Fon. If that asshole thinks he can get away from Reborn, he's got a surprise waiting.

Maybe it's a little bit of injured pride talking because everyone on that ship is automatically Reborn's responsibility (and he let Fon sink, he ignored the man) but he honestly does want Fon to be safe. And Fon will be safe because Reborn has everything under control. The sea is unpredictable and hardly like winding up people to watch them go but Reborn is calm and he will fix this.

Reborn jerks to a sudden stop as he catches sight of a blur in the darkness, charging towards him. What, is he going to have to fight off a shark now? Can his day possibly get any worse, seriously?

The faint smudge in the water turns into a pale white and red. Not blood, no. As it gets closer he can make out two separate figures and he hopes to whatever God listening that one is Fon. He would even accept the man riding majestically on a dolphin and he swears he'll only make one mermaid joke.

Reborn backpedals out of the way because whatever it is goes way too fast for him to logically think stopping it is a good idea. Unfortunately, it curves straight for him.

He braces for the hit, and maybe something with sharp teeth. One entity separates, shooting off course at a high speed despite the water that should be slowing it down, and the second red figure hurtles straight at Reborn.

He catches sight of Fon's shocked expression before the man collides with him. Reborn can't stop the explosion of breath that leaves him. He clamps his mouth shut, down to barely anything left in his lungs, and grabs Fon tighter before swimming up to the surface.

For someone who's been under for around fifteen minutes Fon certainly doesn't look out of breath. Nor does he seem to be completely exhausted like Reborn is considering Fon practically drags them both up.

They break the surface and pant for air, clinging to each other's clothes so they don't get separated as they scan the rough waves to try and find something to grab onto. A wave almost pulls them under again before Fon jerks him to the side and they swim for the floating door with a broken off corner.

Reborn adjusts his grip on the wood and looks up to find Fon staring at him.

Their mad laughter almost drowns out the thunder clap.