Chapter Text
‘Where…?’
Blaster thought, sluggish and confused. Everything around him was a blur of dark grays, blues, yellows and reds that made him want to puke even more than the nausea and fever. Where was he? Where were Jazz and Prowl? Last thing he remembered… He was with them, right? So, where were they? Where was he?
He was on something… hard. The ground? He shivered, it was cold, why was he so cold? Tired… Everything hurt, his head throbbed like the worst headache, he felt like he was suffocating. Blaster was tired and just wanted to close his eyes, sleep, maybe that would stop the pain at least for a bit?
But he couldn’t- he was scared. What if this was the last thing he would do as himself? What if after he lost consciousness all that was left of Blaster was a shambling husk like those mutants? He did not want to end up like that! But eventually, he felt tire and his eyelids falling.
‘I don’t want to…’ – Blaster thought before he fell in a fitful sleep.
……………………………
Jazz was not panicking, nope! He was totally chill! What if his first friend is stuck in the middle of the apocalypse and currently violently mutating? He was totally not freaking out and spiraling- Oh, who was he kidding!?! He WAS!
“Blaster…” – Jarr’s head poked out of the water, looking at the redhead.
Prowl had led them to an abandoned stadium where they had hunkered down for the time being. At some point during their swim Blaster had become unresponsive and his skin, at least the patches still not covered by the scales, was hot and clammy. Blaster was in pain and Jazz could do nothing but fret and watch as his friend mutated.
“If only we had a medic available…” Prowl mused “Then maybe we could have done something. Not for the changes, I don’t think anyone might know what can be done about that but a proper medic might have been able to provide some treatment for the symptoms.”
“I’m just… Worried about him, Prowler. He’s my first friend, you know?” – Jazz keened sadly, peering up at the sick Blaster.
They had made a sort of a nest with some old cloth among the bleachers of the stadium. Not the most comfortable place but it was secure and far enough from the water so when the tide came in, Blaster won’t get wet or swept away by a wave.
“Ghhh- gah!” – Blaster shuddered and groaned; a concerning pop came from his spine.
The smell of blood and sickness permeated the air around the (former?) human, where the last remains of his human skin sloughed off with the emergence of the scales. Blaster’s fingers had swollen soon after arriving at the stadium as thick, sharp, black claws started growing out of his cuticles, pushing out his human nails. It was not a pretty sight with all the dead skin and blood, but those were the least noticeable changes.
From Blaster’s back a limp started growing and it soon started resembling a mer’s tail. The more the tail grew, the more Blaster’s legs seemed to wither away. It was like they were melting back into his body. Skin and bone stretched, growing and joints popping. Jazz at one point tried to wipe some of the mess off but his hands ended covered in the muck and grime.
“AAAAAAAAGH!” – Blaster screamed in pain, delirious when Jazz accidentally brushed against the new limb he was growing.
That startled Jazz so bad he almost fell down the bleachers. Prowl immediately swam as close as he could to check if they were alright.
“Maybe you should take a little break. I will watch over him.” – Prowl told Jazz.
“Alright. Maybe… I do need a bit of time.” Jazz agreed “But if something happens, call me, please.”
“Alright. I will call you.” – Prowl nodded.
Jazz splashed down into the water and went for a swim outside the stadium. He did not want to leave Blaster, especially in his condition, but Prowl was also kind of right. He needed some time to stretch and clear his head.
‘I can still feel it.’ – Jazz rubbed his hands together, even though he washed them, it still felt like there was blood stuck to his hands.
He was still worried sick about Blaster but he HAD to believe he would be fine. One good sign at least was that unlike the sickly green-gray scales and pustules, Blaster’s scales were bright red and looked almost normal fish scales, if they weren’t on a human that is.
…………………………………
Blaster was dreaming. He was pretty sure he was, after all how would Jazz and Prowl be with him in the city center? They were talking about something, but- why did it sound so far off?
Blaster tried following the two mers, they had moved quite far, but the moment he took a step, his foot hit something wet. He only had a moment to look down into the dark pool that made up the floor now before he plummeted down into it. He thrashed and let out an involuntary scream, only to choke on the dark liquid now covering him.
He kicked his legs and thrashed in panic as he was being pulled down. This was so stupid! He should not be panicking! He worked in an aquarium for YEARS; he very much knew the correct way to behave when falling into the water- first rule always was to not panic! He really tried but when something was pulling him deeper down, he couldn’t help but thrash. His chest burned with the lack of air and his vision darkened. Where even was the surface anymore?
The dark water felt almost alive, like it had wrapped around him and holding him down. PainpainpainPAIN! It hurt- his skin burned, his back felt like it was being sliced open and he could not breathe- He was going to die like this, wasn’t he? He would be gone and then all that will be left is a monster that would hurt his friends.
“Blaster…?” – a faint voice called through the darkness.
Jazz’s worried face appeared and looked down at him. Blaster stilled and also looked down at his hands, the flesh looked sickly and infected, his skin was peeling off as scales broke through it. A scream rippled out from his throat, despite being underwater.
“Why did you hurt me?” – dream Jazz spoke, blaster could see deep, bleeding scratches all over the mer’s front.
“No- NOnononono! T-this I- I don’t want to hurt anyone! I don’t want to become like those monsters! I don’t want Jazz or Prowl to have to kill, even if that won’t be me anymore.” Blaster curled into a tight ball, his head pounding “P-please… I don’t want it to end like this…” – he sobbed.
“Blaster… No! …don-!” – a voice broke through the haze.
Immediately, Blaster’s head shot up. That voice- it was familiar. Dream Jazz’s bloodied form dissipated like smoke and a faint light flickered in the distance. Blaster knew that light- it felt familiar. He sluggishly swam towards it, despite how he felt like he was being pulled back.
“He’s- too much! He’ll hurt himself if we-!” – Jazz, that was Jazz.
Some other voice was grumbling unintelligibly – Prowl most likely.
He had to go to them, to make sure they are fine. His friends, his family, the colleagues he hung out often with, even that redhead repairman he shortly got to work with when one of the pumps malfunctioned so bad they had to close an entire section. They were still out there, somewhere. He couldn’t just give up here! He had more important things to do! He was going to see this family and make sure they are fine once he got out of this whole mess, damn it!
Blaster stretched his arm forward, his normal, no longer decaying arm towards the light as it also grew the closer he got to it. The tips of his fingers touched it as the grip of the darkness finally let him go. The light was bright, blinding and it burned away the nightmare.
…………………………………
“AAAAUUUUUGHhhhh!” – Blaster howled in pain and thrashed.
The human… was no longer recognizable as a human, Prowl wouldn’t have guessed he was anything but a mer if he had not watched the man’s form twist and change rather painfully. Prowl struggled to pull himself up the bumpy ramp Jazz called ‘stairs’ that bruised his underbelly and fins. The orca mer hated the sharp edges and general uncomfortableness of human structures but he had to make due for Jazz.
“I-I am coming…” – he growled to himself as he hauled his tail towards where blaster was nestled.
Jazz was still not back from the short swim and Prowl was NOT going to go back on his word to the other orca- he would watch over Blaster. He just hoped nothing bad would happen in the meantime.
In the time since they escaped the mutants, Blaster had changed a lot. Prowl clicked just to access Blaster’s body in more detail. His shape was like that of a fish-like mer. The human’s… the former human’s legs were completely gone, re-absorbed by his body to grow the long fish tail now making up his lower half. His whole body was now covered by scales- a mix of fiery red, yellow, white and black splotches. Prowl frowned and squinted at the twitching form just a few meters away from him. Just a bit more…
“G-hgha- coff!” – Blaster lurched and started coughing violently.
“Damn it!” – Prowl moved with even more urgency.
Blaster was twisting and turning in the space between the hard plastic seats there they put him to not roll into the water. He was gasping, eyes fluttering but unfocused and he was clawing at his chest. His nails raked over the fabric covering his chest frantically.
“Hey, stop that! You will hurt yourself!” – Prowl said but it was too late.
The last remaining human hails, already pushed out by the claws could not take the force and came off Blaster’s fingers in a rather gruesome manner, leaving his hand bleeding and leaving streaks of blood over the shirt. Prowl tried to hold him down, least he hurt himself more but he couldn’t- his position was not very good and Blaster felt worryingly warm and fragile under his arm. Prowl could swear he could feel the ribs. Another blood-curdling and almost painfully loud scream came out of Blaster, making Prowl flinch back, fearing he pressed too hard.
From the stadium’s submerged entrance came a black and white shape with a curved dorsal fin. In a matter of seconds, Jazz’s head was peeking out.
“Prowl! I heard a scream and came as fast as I can. What happened?” – Jazz said as he was pulling himself out of the water.
“Not sure, but I could use your help. My position is not good and I think something is bothering him.” – Prowl whistled at Jazz.
Much quicker than him, Jazz made his way up the other set of stairs, pulling himself easily up with powerful arms. In under a minute Jazz was across Blaster, balancing between a few seats.
“He’s trying to take off the shirt. Looks kind of tight on him.” – Jazz muttered, leaning closer to have a closer look.
He had not noticed it but was Blaster… a bit bigger? No, lengthier? Jazz was not sure, Blaster had lost the pants the moment his legs were naught but little nubs, slowly being cannibalized by his body to make the tail, so he never paid attention to his upper half but the shirt Blaster wore was now skin-tight on him, almost constricting.
“UnGH! Coff!” – Blaster lurched and hacked again but this time, to the horror of the two mers, blood began seeping out of Blaster’s side.
“Blaster! No! Please, don’t die!” – Jazz panicked at the growing patches of blood.
The orca mer tried lifting Blaster and bringing him closer but the redhead thrashed in the hold, struggling to get out of Jazz’s arms. Blaster clawed even more frantically at the shirt that was practically strangling him. He threw his body around, enough that he almost completely slipped out of Jazz’s grip and hit his head on the plastic seat below.
“He’s thrashing too much! He’ll hurt himself even more if we don’t do something!” – Jazz was on the verge of tears himself.
Prowl rushed to help and held Blaster’s upper body securely as Jazz struggled with the scaly tail. Prowl growled quietly to himself as one of the still tiny claws on Blaster’s fingers managed to scrape his forearm but he held firm and with one sharp tug with his large arm he tore off the bloodied garment. In just a couple of seconds, Blaster stopped thrashing and stilled, taking deeper if still raspy breaths. Prowl and Jazz vented out in relief. Something moved and- oh.
“Those are- are they really-?” – Jazz stared.
“Gills. Most likely this shirt he had on was pressing down on them and not letting him breathe properly.” – Prowl also looked at the newly-emerged gills.
“Well, I guess he is becoming a fish mer but I thought he’d be more like… us, you know. Humans are also mammals.” – Jazz pointed out.
“It is strange…” Prowl scrutinized Blaster “He still has head fur and also the ear flaps which are only found in mammalian mers- other than that, his face looks mostly human. He also has some partial webbing. It is not noticeable, but a bit concerning.”
“I don’t think I have seen a fish mer before now, so I will trust you, Prowler. Still… I hope he’s alright.” – Jazz keened sadly.
“But this brings another issue. Fish mer dry out much easier than us and it can even endanger their life if their gills get too dry. We have to figure out a way to keep him from drying out and bringing him in the water is still unadvisable.” – Prowl pointed out.
“I will bring a bucket or some cloth! There has to be something that could help!” – Jazz perked up and dove towards the water.
…………………………………
Waking up was jarring, in fact Blaster did not expect to wake up after all this, so just opening his eyes and staring at the back of a plastic seat made him do a doubletake. His whole body throbbed in dull pain, especially his sides and back – he couldn’t help but groan. His mouth and throat also felt very dry, like he had swallowed some sand and it coated his mouth and throat. He was laying on something that was lumpy and hard.
‘Where… am I?’ – he blinked blearily.
For a while, he just took in his surroundings- it felt surreal and he wondered- hoped maybe the whole mutation thing was just a horrible fever-induced nightmare. The illusion shattered when he tried to roll himself over and saw a glimpse of his arm. It was covered in red and black scales, sharp-looking claws topped each finger and he could see some webbing between his fingers, not unlike some of the fish mers he worked with in the past. A strangled keen escaped his throat involuntarily, Blaster’s hand shook as he stared at his fingers.
Blaster tried to move, to stand up, but instead his body felt heavy and uncoordinated- he couldn’t feel his legs! He quickly looked down at his body, but instead of seeing his legs, there was a long fish tail attached to his lower body. He was hyperventilating and felt something shift again at his side and back.
‘Oh, my god! G-gills! These are gills!’ – his mind screamed.
Said new additions to his side moved and fluttered with his rapid breathing in an attempt to get more oxygen but instead they just ended up sucking in dry air and further drying themselves out. Blaster grimaced at the feeling and the sight of the long fin running down his back. That was also flexing and moving as his agitation rose, it did flare up too. He- he was not a human anymore. Would anyone even be able to recognize him? The ear flaps on his head fell down as the realization hit him.
“Argh!” Blaster jolted at the sudden feeling “What was that?!” – he said rather loudly, trying to make sense of the things twitching on his head.
*Sploosh~*
Jazz swam closer to the bleachers as he heard the noise coming from up there.
“Blaster!” Jazz shouted “Are you alright?!”
‘Please be fine, please be fine… Oh, stars, please let Blaster be fine…’ – Jazz begged internally, hoping his friend was still there and not actually gone as they feared might be the case.
“J-Jazz?! Where are y- cough!” Blaster’s voice was scratchy from how dry his throat was “Are you there?”
That- that was Blaster! It was him still! His voice sounded rough but Jazz could recognize the tone anywhere. So, the orca mer pulled himself up as fast as he could to reach his friend. Good thing the tide had come and he did not have to drag himself too fat from the water. In just a few clicks, Jazz was already in front of Blaster.
“J-jazz- gha.” Blaster was wheezing, breathing was getting harder with his drying gills and the panic was not helping “What h-happened? D-did we manage to es-scape? Are you and Prowl f-fine?” – he tried to clear his throat but it felt dry and scratchy.
“Yes, we did but- Blaster, you need to worry about yourself more! How are you feeling now? Are you in pain? It was- rough, to say the least.” Jazz moved as close as the plastic seats would allow him to from this angle “I was so scared you’d be gone and I-I would have to-. But! You are fine! You are still you, even though you look like a mer.” – Jazz thrilled happily and wiggled.
Blaster took a deep breath instinctively about to scold Jazz to not move so carelessly on dry land, least he scraped himself badly, only for the dry air to hit him through the gills and start another coughing, rasping fit.
“Blaster! Ah, shoot, Prowl mentioned about you drying out being bad.” Jazz touched Blaster’s back and indeed he was dry to the touch “We need to get you some water, just a sec!”
“J-Jazz wai-!” – Blaster tried to follow but he was still clumsy and unused to his new body.
Blaster wiggled his now longer, legless body, pointedly ignoring the strange sensation of fins and scales shifting and hitting the plastic seats forming the row where he was wedged in. He himself barely fit in the space, it was a wonder Jazz and Prowl even managed to get him up there. He did not want to be stuck here, wedged between the seats.
“Here it comes! I’m going to splash you with some water. Try not to fling yourself into the seats by mistake.” – Jazz called from the water’s edge.
“Wait-!” – Blaster was about to call out but it was too late.
Jazz used his wide tail to hit the waters surface and fling it up so it went up in the air and hit the row of seats where Blaster was. The water splashed over the redhead, soaking him completely. Blaster’s fins flared open at the sudden shock of cold water over his dry scales but as it trickled down it brought some relief to his gills. Still, he sputtered and tried to move out but Jazz repeated the motion several more times, splashing more and more water on top of Blaster. The redhead struggled and wiggled as he tried to tell Jazz to stop with the splashing.
All that water brought a bit of a… surprising effect out. As his scales were no longer dry, the natural mucus Blaster’s new form was now producing also got hydrated. The white crusty layer became translucent and slimy really fast.
“Jazz, stop thi- Waugh!” – Blaster shouted in surprise as he slipped.
His scales now easily slipped out from the row of seats and he tumbled down the stairs, the smooth surface just making him slide down the hard steps like a wet fish until he splashed into the water. He let out a screech as he sank – he tried to swim to the surface; to angle his body so his head would go out of the water but the new tail just did not move in a way he was used to, instead he sank. From somewhere in his throat, distressed thrills and screeches came out, which made Jazz also panic.
All that noise roused Prowl from his light doze on the left side of the stadium. The mer woke up confused but ready to attack whatever caused the calls of panic, only to be met with Blaster flailing and practically drowning, despite being a fish mer that breathed water.
[Stop panicking. Just use your gills, you’ll not drown.] – Prowl told the former human.
Blaster just stared at the orca mer with wide, panicked eyes as his tail still swung aimlessly through the water and making it hard to approach without being hit.
“Blaster! Use the gills! You are fish, it will be fine, you won’t drown!” Jazz called out to the panicked man [Sorry, Prowler, it seems like he still can’t understand ya.] – he addressed Prowl next.
[This is inconvenient. Is he still coherent, I mean fully coherent?] – Prowl asked, not taking his eyes off Blaster.
[Yes, that is Blaster, alright. He’s just freaked out at the moment. Can’t imagine how I would have felt if I suddenly got turned in a human or something.] – Jazz dove under to take a closer look at Blaster.
Underneath the water, Blaster stood still, floating a bit over the fake turf and silt that now made up the bottom of the stadium. He was almost frozen, too scared to move, one clawed hand still holding his nose and mouth shut, but the gills on his side and neck moved in a steady rhythm, taking in water and pushing it out. Blaster could practically feel the water moving through them and how he no longer felt like he was suffocating and it freaked him out. This was NOT normal, this is not how he should be breathing and het he is. Somehow, he became a mer, a fish person and he was now breathing underwater.
A pair of large arms gently touched his shoulders, which made Blaster flinch but Jazz’s smiling face calmed him down. The orca mer hummed a tune, which vibrated the water in such a weird way Blaster could practically feel the notes passing through. He slowly relaxed and let go of his mouth, the last few bubbles of air escaped through his nose as he breathed out before his nostrils closed shut- Eugh! That felt weird. He shuddered, but let himself be moved by Jazz. The mer wrapped him in a hug and slowly brought him up to the surface.
“Blaster, how are ya feeling? Better?” – Jazz asked.
“Gasp! M-much better. Thanks, about that. I-I thought I would drown.” – Blaster gasped and took a gulp of air with his lungs, he would still feel his gill moving, despite all that.
“Good thing, you didn’t. That would have been terrible and embarrassing.” Jazz then hugged Blaster rather tightly “I-I am just SO HAPPY you are fine, Blaster! I was so worried this whole time! But it is still you! You are still here and you are alive! You are a mer now but still it is you!”
Jazz’s strong arms were like a vice grip as he squeezed Blaster closer and nuzzled in his wet hair. (Yet another oddity as fish mers did not have fur or hair, just fins.) Blaster felt like he was being crushed, so he tapped Jazz’s hand and swung his tail in an attempt to slip out, a squeak came out of his throat, not unlike that of a squeaky toy, a sound he should not have been able to make but could now. He was mortified and would have been blushing if he could.
[Jazz, let him go. He’s panicking again.]- Prowl scolded the larger mer.
“J-Jazz. A-air, can’t breathe!” – Blaster said at the same time.
“Ah! Sorry, sorry!” – Jazz immediately let go.
Blaster began to sink once more but this time he was not panicking as much and he managed to use his arms to stay afloat, even if his tail was still more like a dead weight at the moment. Jazz offered a helping hand and Blaster took it gratefully.
“There, now. Just relax and try to straighten your tail out a bit. You need to move it from side to side instead of just twisting it randomly.” – Jazz began to gently pull and lead Blaster.
Prowl just stood to the side and observed the two as Jazz instructed Blaster through basic swimming. He was glad they did not have to kill Blaster. If the human had indeed become a monster, how they initially feared, Prowl himself would have took the responsibility, if only to spare Jazz the hurt of having to kill someone he considered a friend. Still, now that Blaster was a mer, if an odd one, brought a different set of problems. A few careful sonar clicks earlier had confirmed to Prowl that Blaster was thin, and worryingly so. The former human may have grown a bit in length and size but not in weight- they would need food soon, especially since he and Jazz could not properly hunt in the past few days while taking care of Blaster.
Also, what would they do with Blaster now? Prowl knew they couldn’t leave him here. He could not survive on his own, the city was dangerous enough and a human recently turned in a mer was in no condition to survive when he could barely move properly. Prowl really did not want to bring a human back, but after all this, it seemed like he’d take both Jazz and Blaster back to his home city. Have a medic check Jazz out for his injuries and bent fins and also examine Blaster.
‘I need to have them both checked out by a proper doctor, also, now we’d need to find some food. Our top priority before leaving for deeper waters would be teaching Blaster how to swim well enough for the journey through open waters and stock on some food supplies.’ – Prowl began making a plan of action and needed steps.
At the other side of the stadium, Jazz happily led Blaster around as the former human struggled to swim with his tail. He was slowly getting the hang of it, but his mind still couldn’t help but wander.
He was a mer now, right? Was he stuck like this? What should he do now? Could this even be fixed? Would anyone even be able to recognize him? What would his mother and father think if he ever saw him? Would he ever see them? He could barely move right now, forget about getting all the way to their house. Would his family just think he’s dead when they can’t find him, unaware he isn’t dead, just not human anymore? Would other people just… dismiss him because he looks like a mer and just think of him as an animal?
“You are doing pretty good. Think you’ll be fine now if I let go?” – Jazz asked, snapping him out of it.
“Sure, I guess? We could try.” – Blaster mumbled.
Jazz let go and this time he did not sink like a rock.
=== Bonus: Fanart ===
Another Piece of fanart I got in the meantime from @Foxtherad from Tumblr!