More Than Human

Chapter 89: My Ocean

Alejandro woke, in pain, but far less than before. His brain was still foggy, and he felt disoriented. It was rare that he woke up still in his chupacabra form, and his brain was still whispering to him that he had failed as a partner, and that Rudy had left.

But someone was holding and stroking his snout, softly humming and he could feel the tension and anxiety slowly easing out of his muscles and mind. He nuzzled into the touch instinctually, forked tongue flicking out to touch the skin of whoever was holding him.

"Ahí está mi hermoso amante." A familiar voice crooned.

Alejandro's eyes fluttered open at the sound and gazed up at the owner of the voice. Rudy. His beautiful Rudy smiling down at him, holding his head in his lap. Alejandro made a deep rumbling whine, so relieved that he had come back.

Farah's voice called down the beach, she was jogging toward them, and Alex was landing from somewhere, dropping a paralyzed deer onto the rocks beside him.

"Will this work?" He asked Rodolfo.

"Sí. This is perfect, hermano."

Alex nodded and dragged the deer closer to Alejandro's head. Rudy scratched at the base of his horns.

"There you are, amor." Rudy told him, "Drain this and you can change back. Then we can get out of here."

Alejandro made a little rumble before mustering the strength to push himself up and sink his maw around the deer's throat. He took a single pull of its life, and his brain switched off, practically inhaling it. His weary body desperate for the stuff.

Once the deer was nothing more than a shriveled raisin he began to shift back. A gentle hand rubbed soothing circles into his back as his bones popped back into place and skin retracted to its human state, leaving him bare on the rocks. He groaned and laid back into Rudy's waiting arms. Rudy pressed a kiss to his temple.

"Very good, Alejandro. You'll feel better soon." He assured.

"You... you came back." Alejandro observed through panted breaths.

"Of course, mi vida. You had any doubt?" Rudy asked, nuzzling against his hair, "I heard the call of some of my brothers and sisters of the water. They heard my song and called to me. I'm sorry I left so suddenly."

"Y-you found more sirens?"

"Mmhm." Rudy hummed, "A whole pod of them."

"And... you're still here?"

Rudy pulled back and turned Alejandro's head to face him with a hand on his chin, "Alejo, I am with you until the end of my days. I am not going anywhere."

"But, Rudy, you could be back with a pod, back in the sea." Alejandro argued, "I do not want to be the thing that keeps you from your home."

"Alejandro." Rudy said firmly, eyes flashing slightly, "You listen to me. Do not make me use my voice to get this through your thick skull. I already have a pod. And you, Alejandro Vargas, are my home."

He pressed their foreheads together, "Alejandro, eres mi océano."

Alejandro nearly let out a sob, opting to instead cup Rudy's cheek in return and pull their mouths together. He could feel Rudy's skin change temperature wildly, signaling that he was shifting colors as they kissed. The siren made a little sound into the kiss and it made Alejandro's chest rumble.

They pulled away after a moment and Rudy spoke to him breathless, "Can you walk?"

Alejandro nodded and began to push himself up. Rudy helped him along and Alex quickly moved forward to help support him with his wings. Farah was speaking to König on the beach, Alejandro could see that he was hoisting a corpse in his tentacles.

"Is that...?"

"Graves." Rudy confirmed, "I saw him drag Shepherd into the water with him. The Captain wanted his body. I'm sure we'll be hearing that story."

The group made their way up the cliffside, slowly but surely. They ended up in the sun beside Horangi, Gaz, Precious, and Roach. Roach's wing were still out to dry, slightly shriveled from the water. Horangi was using a massive, rough, tiger tongue on Precious' sleeping head.

"When did she get here?" Farah asked.

"I don't fuckin' know. She was just here." Gaz told her, running a hand through Roach's curly hair.

"Anyone broken?" A voice called out, and they all turned to see Price, Ghost, and Soap.

Ghost was cradling Soap against him, hobbling along slightly. Price had a hand on his back, but the rest of the team was sure that he had refused to let Price carry him.

"Only a little, Captain." Gaz told him.

Price crouched down to assess their injuries.

"Are they all dead?" Alejandro asked as Price examined his slowly healing wound beneath his ribs.

"Graves and Rudy's siren friends took Shepherd out." He looked to Gaz, "Makarov?"

Gaz nodded, gesturing at the singed grass ahead of them and pointing a thumb back to Horangi, "Aye, Sir. Your pet did a real number on him."

"My..." Price's eyes widened when he spotted Precious, "What the hell is my cat doing here?"

"Dragon." Gaz and König corrected him for the first time ever.

Price looked at König quizzically as he sat on the ground beside Horangi and the little animal.

"Did you know your little friend could grow so large, Captain?"

"Grow?"

König nodded emphatically, "Big dragon. And Gaz breathes fire!"

"What?" Price turned to start examining Gaz, "You breathed fire? Are you alright? Burns?"

Kyle brushed him off, "Only burns I have are from Graves. I didn't burn myself."

"We're talking about this later." Price assured him before analyzing Roach's wings.

"What do you think, Captain?" Gaz asked, voice full of concern.

"Don't worry, Kyle. I should be able to patch the holes. He'll probably be a bit clumsy for a bit on em', but he should be okay."

"What about Soap?" Gaz asked, looking to where Ghost held him.

"MacTavish needs a transfusion and he'll be right as rain." Price gave him a tight lipped smile.

Price had called Laswell for exfil as soon as Ghost had woken back up, so it didn't take long for a plane to arrive to fly them off the island. Loading up was an extreme relief. All of their targets were dead, for better or for worse. And while they had a few injuries that needed to be treated, nothing that couldn't be treated.

So once all of them were on the plane, en route to a hospital in Florida, Price let himself relax the tiniest bit.