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ali-annals · 2 years ago

Text

high tide came and brought you in

Pairing: Jasonette

Rating: T

WC: ~6.4k

A/N: I did almost use redhead-continuity Jason but refrained from cursing y'all like that; you're welcome.Title from This Love by Taylor Swift.

Dick=14 Cass=17 Jason=18 Steph=19 Tim=20 Duke=21 Damian=21/22ish Bruce=45 Alfred=65-ish? (I wanted to make him Sebastian, but Jason would actually listen to Alfred, so there's no mention of Alfred.) Mari & class are 18/19ish.

Italics indicates emphasis or thoughts, bold italics indicate writing.

Summary: Little Mermaid AU where Jason is Ariel and Marinette is Eric. Reverse Robins AU.

My dear niece, Marinette,

I am troubled to hear of this bullying from your classmates. This Lila girl does not seem like she is an appropriate companion.

I have thought about your situation and believe I have come up with a solution. Bring your classmates for a real educational trip to my lands. I know you are not fond of flaunting your connections, but I think they will cease and desist with their troublesome pesterings if they know you are supported by people with power and influence.

Let me know whenever is most convenient for your trip, and I shall make sure al Ghul Palace is prepared for you and your entourage’s arrival.

I have enclosed a missive for your mother in this post; please pass it along to her.

Damian sends his greetings to you and your family.

With love,

Talia al Ghul,

Heir to the Demon

Marinette slid the note back into the envelope and looked out at the sea. All she had seen for three days was sea, sky, and the occasional dark speck of land in the distance. Hopefully, by night’s fall, they would have arrived at her aunt’s private docks.

As much as she loved the sea, she was getting tired of the constant movements and plain scenery; she would be glad to have solid ground under her feet again.

The wind tossed her hair into her face and she brushed the strands away to better see the fish swimming beneath her.

This whole trip, everyone had been suspiciously silent. Ever since Aunt Talia had invited her and her classmates on this trip, they had been much nicer towards her.

She snorted, glad the sound of the wind and the breaking waves covered the unladylike sound. Nicer. Yes, they had stopped openly bullying her and now simply ignored her.

Mari turned from the railing and perched on her seat, sliding the letter between the covers of her book and cracking it open to her current page.

Her study of the Mer language, or Seaspeak, was taking much longer than her studies of other languages. She supposed it was because it required many different sounds than any other human language she had heard. Luckily, since she spoke Mandarin fluently, she was used to picking out the tonal sounds in languages, which made recognizing the syllables somewhat easier.

Hopefully, Aunt Talia or Damian could help her with her studies while she was there; they both spoke Seaspeak fluently, as they were selkies. Well, Aunt T was selkie. Damian was half-selkie half-mer, a result of a relationship Talia had had with a mer years ago. She’d always wondered how being a hybrid species affected him and his transformation, but never asked, lest her favourite cousin think she was prying.

Damian was notoriously private and territorial, only tolerating or liking a few people. Mari was proud to be counted among that number and did not want to be removed simply because she was overwhelmingly curious about the sea and the various seafolk that lived in it.

The dark clouds that gathered overhead made reading her book very difficult, and the wind kept whipping her pages around whenever she lifted her hand to copy something into her sketchbook (the thing closest at hand when she wanted to try writing Seaspeak).

Mari collected her things and stood up to return to her cabin.

The deck tilted noticeably as they crested a large wave. Looking over the sea again, Mari noticed the storm quickly rolling in. Ugh, this was going to delay their arrival and docking, wasn’t it.

The storm quickly passed right over them, the waves large and sloshing over the sides of the deck. Mari did a final check that all her classmates were in the hold before she followed them.

Lila was standing by the edge, her fingers gripping the railing tightly. Mari splashed her way across the deck and gripped Lila’s wrist. “Come on, it’s safer in the hold,” she called above the wind.

A sailor behind them called a warning as a gigantic wave crashed over the bow, drenching both girls. Mari sputtered and moved to wipe the water out of her face. The instant she removed her hand from Lila, the girl flung her with surprising strength over the side.

Mari barely had time to realize she needed to take a large breath before she plunged beneath the icy-cold depths, Lila’s face, twisted into a satisfied smirk, the last thing she saw.

~~~

Jason swam around the shipwreck, collecting strange human mementos and wondering when Bruce would finally let him on land or at least to the coast, to observe the humans.

He was tired of never being told the real reason why the younger mers weren’t allowed to explore past certain markers Bruce had set in place.

Swimming up through the wreck made him look up at the surface of the ocean, and he noted that another storm was coming. The distinct creaking sound of an older ship passing overhead caught his attention, and he decided to go human-watch. Sometimes storms made human belongings fall overboard, which he found later on his circle of the designated area he was allowed to roam in.

Jason popped his head above the waves and watched as the humans not dressed in the ship uniform scurried into the bottom of the ship.

Only two were left, one by the railing, which Jason could already tell was a stupid idea, and one who had been looking at the square object that had strange symbols on it– what he assumed was human language.

The one with the square object approached the one by the railing as a large wave crested.

Jason watched as the two humans got drenched, then the first threw the second over the side.

He noted in horror that the human was sinking rapidly, bubbles escaping their mouth. Floating debris sank around them, making him surmise the human had been hurt by the litter.

Well now he had to interact with the humans, Bruce.

He swam quickly towards the human, catching them in his arms without breaking his glide and continuing up to the surface.

He popped up behind a small mound of rock a few feet from shore and laid the human’s top half sideways on the rough surface, slapping their back and hoping they hadn’t swallowed too much water. He wasn’t sure if they had the same type of circulatory system mers did, but checked at their neck for a pulse just in case. There seemed to be a strong, steady pulse, so he kept slapping their back and hoped that would suffice.

A minute later, they coughed and spat out a mouthful of water, clawing at the rock to raise themselves and breathe deeply.

Jason was frozen by their pretty eyes and features and forgot to duck beneath the waves as soon as they awoke.

He was pretty sure this was a female human, but he wasn’t sure.

The human’s mouth moved, but he didn’t understand the sounds that they made. Suddenly realizing he needed to go, he ducked under the somewhat calmer waves and left, staying a safe distance away but close enough to make sure the human stayed safe.

After a while, the human slowly swam the few feet to the beach.

Jason watched from behind the rock as they splashed up the beach and collapsed into a ball, coughing.

They stayed there for a while, rubbing their limbs together for warmth. Jason was just about to approach them again when another human arrived from the direction of the palace high on the cliff above the bay and took the human away.

He hoped they were okay.

~~~

Marinette woke up coughing, spitting salty seawater out. Had she dreamt someone was slapping her back or…?

Curious deep teal eyes met hers as the being beside her froze. She coughed more. Were those fins? Was this an actual mer? She’d read that they were very shy and wary of humans, surely this wasn’t normal? Were they a siren luring her to her death? Was this an outlier, a mer-human ambassador or something?

“Thank you. Did you save me?” she asked, wondering if they understood human language. She tried in French, Mandarin, and English, but none of them produced a reaction. Instead, the mer dove under the waves and swiftly left.

Marinette waited till she got her breath back, then swam the short distance to the beach. Up over the cove was the peninsula Aunt Talia’s palace was situated on. Good, she was close, then.

The water was just as frigid as when she was pushed, but she was soon on the beach and sheltered by the rock wall from the brisk, cool wind.

Mari rubbed her arms and legs together as quickly as her flash-frozen muscles allowed, hoping to warm up enough to move and attract one of Talia’s people’s attention.

Before she was even ready to stand, one of Talia’s courtiers climbed down the thin footpath worn into the cliffside with a wool blanket.

“Lady Talia wished to see who was washed up on her lands, but I must say we did not expect you to be Lady Marinette,” said the courtier, Honour Guest, who was also Talia’s bodyguard.

“I didn’t, either,” replied Marinette, her teeth chattering.

Honour wrapped the blanket around her and carried her up the cliff to the palace. Slowly, the warm wool blanket did its job and warmed her up. As soon as they reached the palace, she was shown into a warm room and presented with a wool dress warmed in front of the fire. Hot tea was served, her hair dried, and gradually the last vestiges of cold faded from her body.

Talia knocked and walked in briskly. “Welcome here, Marinette.”

“Thank you for the invitation and sending Honour, Aunt T.”

“It’s no problem,” waved off Talia. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?” asked Mari.

“What happened that you arrived on my beach without your classmates or my ship?”

“I fell overboard. There was a large wave when I was telling Lila to come join the others in the hold.”

“Ah, you were with Lila,” nodded Talia, pretending to believe Mari's excuse. “Of course you were.”

“Okay, she tossed me over. She was really strong, though, Aunt T. Definitely much stronger than what a normal 18-year-old human female should be.”

“Interesting,” mused Talia. “Damian was out hunting, but he should be back shortly. I’ll send him your way when he returns.”

“Thank you!”

~~~

“WHY were you interacting with the humans?!” yelled Bruce.

“The person was gonna drown if I didn’t!” Jason defended himself, angry that Bruce was scolding him about his good deed. “You’re always saying the humans are gonna hate all mers because of the sirens and the bad mers! I saved one and you’re mad about that?!”

“You are marinated for two weeks!” said Bruce, putting his fin down. “The boundaries are there for a reason.”

“And you won’t tell me that reason!” Jason argued.

“You don’t need to know the reason, you just need to follow the boundaries,” said Bruce firmly. “Need I remind you of the last time you left the boundaries, to find Sheila?”

Jason rolled his eyes and left, annoyed that Bruce would bring up his disastrous meeting with his bio-mom. How was he supposed to know she would sell him out to merhunters? Was he just supposed to ask her and expect her to tell him her traitorous plans??

~~~

Damian coughed, gaining Mari’s attention. She sprang up from her seat overlooking the docks, waiting for Talia’s ship to return to its home port with her classmates.

“Dami! You’re here!”

She hugged him briefly, knowing he didn’t like extended physical contact.

“Hello, Marinette. It’s good to see you again.”

“It is! How have you been?”

He raised an eyebrow, smirking at her slightly. “Have we not regularly corresponded enough for you to know that I am in perfect health?”

She rolled her eyes at his jesting. “Yes, but it is common to inquire after the health and well-being of people you care about when you have not seen them in a while; did your etiquette instructors teach you nothing?”

“Yes, I am in the peak health possible. How have you been? I notice you have arrived alone, which I must say, is preferable to your rabble of classmates showing up here.”

“Unfortunately, they’ll be arriving soon. Lila pushed me overboard during the storm and a mer carried me to shore, and then Aunt T sent Honour down to get me.”

Damian frowned. “I like Lila less and less. But you say a mer carried you to shore? Do tell me how that occurred.”

~~~

Jason entered the dark cave a little nervously, the thermal vents producing warm, multi-coloured currents that gave an ominous vibe to his surroundings. Well, the Sea Witch wasn’t exactly popular or bright in these parts.

“And what brings the little fishy here to my cave today?” a cackling laugh sounded close to his ear, making him jump and dodge the brightly coloured tentacles of the Joker.

Brightly coloured purple and green, a way of showing others how toxic and unsavoury an organism was. He was desperate, though.

The palace above the cliff belonged to a human that Bruce knew ages ago, and apparently, they were not good people. Jason hoped the human he saved was doing alright, and the palace people would take good care of them, but he needed to see it for himself.

Thus, his appearance at the forbidden cave now.

“I want to be a human,” he stated boldly, a little unnerved by the deranged laughter echoing in his ears.

“Ooh? Daddy couldn’t wave his little fork around and give you legs, so you had to come to me?” taunted Joker. “Couldn’t, or didn’t? Oh, a little teenage rebellion? Well, what is life if you don’t make a bad decision or two,” he cackled, tentacles gripping the wall and carrying him around the cave as he collected random ingredients and strangely marked bottles.

Jason noticed various human objects around the space, some of which he had never seen before. What were they for? Did all humans use these or were some only for one human or a special human?

His attention was grabbed by the Joker unfurling a large, long scroll in front of his eyes with a flourish. “Just sign here, and I’ll get those legs for you.”

Jason looked at the weirdly floating pen beside the scroll and at the words on it.

“I have to give up my voice?”

“Well, I’m not doing this for free!” said Joker, faux-scandalized. “Take the deal or not, I don’t care. It’s quite generous if I do say so myself.”

“I’ll belong to you if I don’t kiss the human?”

“Yes, a fair deal.” The Sea Witch laughed eerily, pushing the pen towards him with a curled tentacle.

Jason gripped the pen and wrote his name quickly across the bottom of the contract.

Joker produced a shell and instructed him to repeat the words on the scroll; Jason could feel his voice getting fainter and fainter as the shell sucked his voice away.

With a loud cackle, Joker handed him a bottle of disgusting-looking green stuff. “Take this when you’re at the surface so you don’t drown on your way up!”

~~~

The class was extremely subdued as they drove to the palace in the carriage Talia had sent to bring them up from the docks. They barely spoke a word, not even visibly awed by their beautiful surroundings.

Talia greeted them as the maids took the class’s luggage to their respective rooms.

Marinette considered being mean and hiding from the class, but most of them appeared to be actually saddened by her supposed drowning, so she decided to show them she was alright. Plus, it would be fun to see Lila’s reaction.

Stepping out from behind Talia, she looked Lila in the eyes and smirked. “Welcome to al Ghul palace.”

“Marinette! You’re alive!” The class crowded her, repeating variations of the same words, happy their classmate hadn’t died, and relieved they didn’t have to explain to their host that her niece had been drowned in a storm.

Talia showed them to their rooms and told them the west wing –where the guest suites were– was available for them to use, and the main sitting room, dining room, and garden were at their disposal, but everything else was private.

Marinette kept an eye on Lila and noticed the other continually glancing between her, Talia, and the class. Likely worried she’d expose her, Marinette thought dryly.

That wasn’t her style; she preferred subtle tricks more difficult to trace back to her, or manipulating people into doing the dirty work. Lila had a lot to learn if she wanted to actually be good at being bad.

~~~

Jason came back from his angry swim looking pleased. Bruce frowned.

Duke swam up to his throne. “B, I think something’s up with Jason.”

Bruce nodded. “Get Cass and the others to keep a subtle eye on him.”

~~~

The First Day

Jason looked at the bottle contemplatively, then tipped it up and chugged the sour-tasting liquid. A weird tingling feeling spread throughout his lower body as he watched his beautiful red scales turn into two legs. He attempted to stand up and promptly collapsed.

How do humans use these? he wondered.

After hours of getting used to walking and maneuvering his body on land, he began a careful ascent of the cliff.

Halfway up, some pebbles bounced off his nose.

Ouch.

Wrinkling his nose, he glanced up and saw the human he had saved looking curiously down at him.

Again, she spoke to him, and again, he understood none of it.

Shaking his head, he mimed speaking, then waved his arms ‘no’.

With a sound of acknowledgement, the human nodded and extended their hand, making encouraging motions. Once he was close enough, he gripped the hand and let them pull him up the rest of the way.

He landed on a bed of wildflowers, a comfortable resting place, though it was a bit pokey in spots.

The human squeaked a swear in dolphin language and Jason’s mouth dropped. More high-pitched noises came out of their mouth, amounting to gibberish, and Jason realized the human had no idea what they were saying.

Why was their hand over their eyes? Didn’t humans need eyes to see where they were going, too?

Something soft hit him and he noticed the human threw their outer clothing at him. A gift? Were they trying to trade? But he had nothing to trade, currently

…oh, humans covered their skin in those strangely-shaped pieces of cloth. Maybe that’s why this one was acting strangely, even for a human, because he had not yet procured some of those pieces?

The human made a ‘stay’ motion at him, with a questioning expression, and he nodded, hoping the human wasn’t going to get a merhunter. Although, maybe the human didn’t know he was a mer since he didn’t have fins anymore.

A few minutes later, the human emerged from the large building and rushed back toward him. Some of the pieces of cloth were in their arms.

They handed them to him and imitated putting them on. He nodded and pulled the strange things on. They were a weird feeling against his skin, as he was used to nothing between him and the water unless his protective armour was on.

He cleared his throat, automatically attempting to speak before remembering he couldn’t.

The human turned around and smiled when they saw him in the human coverings.Their smile was like the sunrise on the horizon, and he wanted to see it again.

The human took his hand in theirs and set off towards the large building.

Inside, it was lavishly furnished, with strange human objects all over and several humans in black human coverings moving around.

The human opened a door and let him into a smaller room. They pulled out a square object like he had seen them with on the ship and opened it, then motioned between him and it. He carefully took it in his hands and his eyes widened in surprise. Seaspeak was written on the surface.

This must be the equivalent of the mers’ scrolls, he realized.

He pointed at the object and nodded vigorously.

The human smiled again and produced a smaller square object and feather, using the feather to produce Seaspeak on the object.

It was slow going, but the human managed to write a fairly legible note.

I am Marinette. I am a human. Are you a mer? Can you not speak? Do you understand any human speaking? I mean no hurt to you.

He motioned at the feather, which the human –Marinette– passed over to him.

I am Jason. I am a mer. I lost my voice to a Sea Witch to get legs. I know a bit of the human speaking called ‘Arabic’.

Marinette’s eyes lit up. “Can you understand me?” she asked in slow Arabic.

He nodded enthusiastically.

“Can you read or write Arabic, or just speak it?”

He wrote on the object again, using the bit of Arabic he’d gotten Bruce to teach him.

I can read and write a little bit.

Marinette nodded.

Marinette. What a pretty name, just as pretty as her, he thought.

“Wait one minute, please,” she requested, and he nodded as she ran out of the room.

She made using legs look so easy, he thought, then noticed her trip over a bump in the carpet, and grinned.

A few minutes later, she returned, dragging another human by the hand.

Jason ignored the immediate pang of jealousy that she apparently dragged all her men around by the hand and instead focused on worrying about the newcomer being a merhunter.

The man was tall, darker skinned than Marinette, with black spiky hair and dark green eyes; despite being a complete stranger, he seemed eerily familiar, but Jason couldn’t put his finger on it.

Marinette motioned between the two. “This is Jason, a mer. I think he’s the one who saved me. Jason, this is Damian, my cousin; he lives on this estate and is fluent in Arabic and Seapeak.”

Damian frowned. “My mother and her mother are very close, but we are not blood cousins,” he told Jason in Seaspeak. “Were you the mer who saved Marinette from drowning yesterday?”

Jason nodded, wondering why the cousin distinction needed to be made.

“Thank you for saving her life,” Damian bowed in high court fashion.

Jason’s brow wrinkled. This Damian knew mer customs?

Marinette’s wide eyes bounced between the two.

Damian glanced at her and his hard green gaze softened.

Jason looked between the two. So that’s what the territorialism and cousin clarification was about.

“I asked him if he was the one who saved you yesterday and he said he was, so I thanked him. You didn’t miss much.” Damian told her in Arabic, so he could understand it.

Marinete smiled at Damian. “Thanks!” She turned to Jason and copied Damian’s bow. “Thank you for saving my life, Jason.”

He nodded.

Damian looked at the paper that he and Marinette had been writing on.

“How long until the enchantment wears off?”

Jason stopped staring at Marinette and frowned. How did Damian know? This guy was being very suspicious.

He held up 3 fingers, hoping humans counted the same as mers.

“Three days?” asked Marinette.

He nodded again.

“What will happen when the enchantment wears off?” asked Damian neutrally.

Jason grabbed the feather and scrawled a basic explanation in Seaspeak, debating how much to tell to his apparent love rival.

Wait, was he even a rival? Were the two humans in a relationship already? No, Marinette had clearly family-zoned Damian. Jason felt a bit of sympathy for him, but not too much.

Did he want to be a love rival? Did he want to be Marinette’s lover? Yes, she was pretty and a nice person, but she was a human and he was a mer. He had only come here to make sure she was okay and to maybe learn more about the human world.

Wait. He came here to see if she was okay. Clearly, she was; they were her family. But they weren’t good people, and Bruce very strongly didn’t like them.

Did that mean she wasn’t a good person? She hadn’t sold him out to a merhunter yet, so she was already leagues ahead of his biomom.

…Unless her family were merhunters and this was a trap. He didn’t think so, but he’d keep an eye out.

The main objective here was to get that kiss so he wouldn’t belong to the Joker. He could figure the rest out later.

~~~

Layers of giant kelp tied Jason to the pillar, dangling him in front of Bruce’s throne.

“Who are you and what did you do to Jason?” Bruce demanded, fingers tightening around his trident.

The mask of Jason’s face fell away to reveal the face of the Joker. “Aww, you found me out so fast. You’re no fun! Now, your little fishy, on the other hand…he was so much fun to watch! But you won’t get his remains from me!”

A pair of electric eels zipped through the water, chewing through the kelp strands in a flash and freeing the Joker, who followed his helpers back to his cave, disappearing in a cloud of ink.

~~~

Marinette watched as Damian reluctantly explained things about the human world to Jason, who permanently wore a look of wonder on his pretty face. She was curious about the white streak in his hair but knew Damian was at his limit answering one person’s questions, so she simply sketched the pair in her book, imagining outfits combining the human and mer worlds.

"Jason," she finally spoke, sensing Damian at his limit. (She was unsure why; Jason could literally be no quieter and he was perfectly polite. Usually, Damian quite enjoyed discussing differences between seafolk and humans.)

Jason looked at her questioningly.

"Aunt Talia has a lovely pool to swim in. Could you teach me how to become a better swimmer?"

Jason looked at Damian, who hesitated, then nodded, and nodded back at her.

She stepped into the pool, feeling quite cute in her new swim outfit, and noticed Jason already splashing about in the shallow end, trying out swimming with legs, not fins.

She smiled back at him and swam over.

"How do you normally swim, when you have fins?"

Jason demonstrated, a little awkwardly since he didn't have fins anymore, then Marinette copied him.

They did several laps, Jason demonstrating techniques he barely thought about since he lived in the water, and Mari copying him.

She was a natural, quickly picking up on his corrections even though he couldn't speak. Occasionally he had to use his hands to manipulate her body to the proper form, but she always nodded when he looked at her in question.

So why was Damian glaring at him from the bushes surrounding the pool?

Jason tossed a glare back, and because he was petty, started being a little more touchy-flirty.

Marinette responded well to it, blushing and giggling sometimes.

Well, he didn't have to kiss her on the third day, just sometime within that specified timeline, right?

Slowly, Jason leaned in, caging her against the pool wall and between his arms.

Her azure gaze flicked down to his lips, then back to his eyes, her own drifting closed.

The noise of several people laughing and talking as they approached the pool interrupted the moment, and they jerked away a respectable distance. By the time Lila, Alya, Nino, Sabrina, Ondine, and Kim caught sight of them, they were halfway across the pool swimming laps.

~~~

The Second Day

Marinette turned to the shelf to grab another book written in Seaspeak for Jason.

He saw his chance and moved close behind her, reaching for it with his long arms.

She turned, grazing his chest. Her breathing hitched and she stared up at him, a tiny smile on her face.

He leaned down slowly, liking the feel of her body heat against him. Mers had lower body temperatures since they lived in the sea, and the human warmth was very pleasant.

The door to the library swung open and Damian marched in and paused in disgust at the scene.

Marinette flushed and escaped Jason's grasp quickly, stammering explanations.

"Uh, we were just- uh, getting a book, you know, so we could communicate better so we uh, don't have to rely on you to translate…"

Damian rolled his eyes and lowered a stack of books to the tabletop.

"I'm not blind, Marinette."

She flushed even deeper and refused to look at Jason for the rest of the session.

~~~

In the evening, she attended a dinner with her classmates at an acquaintance of Talia's, leaving Jason alone and another day gone by without a kiss.

~~~

"Your Majesty," the black-scaled siren bowed mockingly in front of the Mer King.

"Selina," Bruce inclined his head.

Her companions eyed him, fins flicking the water slowly.

"We have news for you, Brucie," said Harley. "The sirens are allied with the Sea Witch, Joker, and they're planning to overthrow you soon."

"How soon?" Questioned Bruce, immediately making plans.

He'd been sending out searches for Jason for the past couple of days. Was this a deliberate means of distracting him from the uprising he'd been watching for or was it a coincidence?

~~~

That night, an informant of Talia's arrived with news of the siren uprising against the Mer King. Talia immediately ordered her warship prepared to aid the mers. Mari joined the ship's crew.

~~~

The Third Day

Jason saw the rush of the humans in black as they headed towards the warship at the docks. He dropped the curtain at his window and decided to see what was up.

They had better not be going out to hunt mers from what scraps of information he had given Damian and Marinette.

He noticed Marinette among the bustling crew, Damian beside her and Talia at the foot of the dock, barking orders and directing the ship's loading.

Jason approached the duo and handed Marinette a scrap of paper he had scrawled some questions on.

What is going on? Are you going on the ship?

Marinette nodded. "There's an uprising of the sirens against the mer king. Aunt T has an informant who let her know what was happening, so we're setting off to help."

Help who?

"Oh, the king, of course. He's–"

Damian nudged her. "Mother wants you to join her."

"Oh, thanks, Dami. I'll talk to you later, Jason!"

Marinette raced up the plank to speak to her aunt and Damian turned to Jason, his hands behind his back.

"Please watch over Marinette while I am otherwise occupied."

Confused but willing to do anything, he nodded and signed the mer symbol for a promise.

Damian nodded thankfully at him and headed up the plank.

Jason watched as the rows of humans in black lined up and Talia conducted a swift drill, then handed them over to her general, Jade.

The ship set off and was soon on the open sea.

~~~

Damian turned to Marinette. "May I have my coat, please?"

Marinette unfurled a lovely black fur coat from a bag at her feet and handed it to him.

Jason's breath caught. Was that a seal coat?

Talia eyed the two with the coat, then removed her own from her bag and put it on. Mother and son dove off the side of the ship, splashing into the waves below in their seal form.

Marinette realized Jason was staring at her, perplexed, and confirmed that yes, her aunt and cousin were selkies. Or, half-selkie, half-mer hybrid, in Damian's case.

They weren't too common in these parts, so hopefully, they could get close enough to the siren revolt to do some damage before the sirens realized these weren't ordinary seals.

The ship soon arrived at the sirens' pod, where they were gathered facing the Mer King's army.

Marinette gasped. On the side of the sirens, right beside the Joker, was Lila!

"I knew something was off about her," she muttered. "Of course, she was partnered with the Joker against Bruce, and she's a siren."

Jason noticed his older siblings in a line beside Bruce and whistled sharply, his special signal echoing across the tense atmosphere.

Four heads snapped to him, and he saw relief, surprise, and confusion cross their faces. A little thing called guilt nudged his conscience, that he didn't even leave a note or tell someone that he'd be back in 3 days or less.

~~~

The standoff broke as both sides charged at each other.

Talia’s sailors had protective charms on them, allowing them to continue tossing out nets and piloting the ship around the sirens, distracting them from the mers and selkies behind them taking out the sirens a couple at a time.

The battle raged throughout the afternoon, reinforcements appearing for both sides. Talia and Damian were tireless in the pursuit of sirens. Marinette noticed them dragging Lila off and shook her head. Lila was asking for whatever came her way when she pushed her off Talia's ship.

The Joker was enraged at his pod being dismantled and charged straight for the ship, cutting speedily through the waves with propulsion. Using his tentacles to climb up the sides of the ship was easy, and he snagged Marinette and Jason in a tentacle each, squeezing tightly.

Marinette shivered as the damp suction cups stuck to her skin, the odour of rotten fish exuded from the tentacle making her cough.

Unfortunately, the limb's grip was so tight it constricted her breathing, making the coughing worse.

Ugh, being held hostage sucked.

She squirmed in its grip, trying to reach the knife tucked into her waistband.

Jason's arms were longer and he yanked her knife from her belt so vigorously he almost ripped the belt off.

With a quick slash, he freed himself from his tentacle and moved on to Mari's.

She inhaled with a gasp as Joker cursed and thrashed in pain at losing ¼ of his limbs; he dropped to the ocean with a splash and Jason dove after him, knife firmly in hand.

Red foamed on the waves formed from the excited roiling just beneath the surface; the multitude of eyewitnesses held their breath in a mixture of excitement, suspense, and concern.

"Jason!" Bellowed Bruce, speeding over to the commotion.

Jason's head breached the waves as he gasped, shaking the water from his hair. Droplets fell in a sparkling rainbow.

"Joker is dead!" Announced Jason, and everyone cheered.

Even with her limited knowledge of Seaspeak, Mari knew what he said, and she cheered as loudly as anyone else.

Joker's death broke the spell Jason is under, she realized, a little sadly.

"Jason, you're okay?" Bruce asked, checking Jason over everywhere. "Why do you have legs?!"

"...Joker gave 'em to me," said Jason sheepishly.

Realizing this should be a private conversation and damage control needed to be done now that the battle was over, Bruce clasped Jason's shoulder once, then headed back to the head beings in charge of various groups.

Marinette and Jade lowered a rope over the edge for Jason, Damian, and Talia to climb up.

She grabbed Jason's hand and pulled him off to the side to inspect him for injuries. Besides a couple light abrasions from debris in the water and a bump against the ship's rough wood, he was perfectly fine.

~~~

Talia removed her coat, which was magically dry, and rolled it into her bag.

Damian glanced between Jason and Mari, looking into each other's eyes and laughing in relief, and slowly removed his own coat and stored it in his bag.

Talia laid a hand on his arm. "She's happy."

"I know," he replied. "That's why I'm here, motionless."

~~~

"I gave up my voice as payment, but if I didn't fulfill the terms, I'd become Joker's," Jason explained to Marinette.

She frowned in sympathy. "What were the terms?"

"I had to kiss you by the end of the third day."

Was that sunburn or a blush?

"It's not the end of the third day yet," said Marinette suggestively. "We'd better make sure this isn't a soul-binding contract applicable after death."

She leaned up on tiptoe, bracing her arms against his shoulders as her soft, warm lips met his.

~~~

"I'm turning back into a merman," Warned Jason from his seat beside Marinette at the bow of Talia's ship.

"Talia!" Called Bruce from the waves below them, and Jason groaned.

His legs were replaced by a long, scaly red tail with delicate translucent fins.

Marinette gently ran her finger over the lacey end of a fin and his tail jerked.

"That tickles!"

"Sorry," she grinned, not sorry at all.

Bruce climbed up the ladder Talia reluctantly let down and immediately headed for Jason.

"What were you thinking, Jason Peter Todd-Wayne?!" Full-named Bruce.

Marinette looked at him speculatively. So you're one of the Mer King's sons…

She headed over to Damian to give Bruce and Jason some privacy.

"So, you're brothers, huh."

He side-eyed her. "I don't wish to discuss it."

She nodded and rocked back and forth on her heels awkwardly.

He sighed and faced her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You teleport over to al Ghul palace regularly. Long-distance can work, you know."

Surprised, she looked at him fully. "Thanks for your support, Dami."

"You know I have romantic affection for you, correct?" He asked abruptly, turning to face the sea.

Oh, so we're talking about the elephant seal in the tub. "I'm aware."

"You seem to be quite fond of Jason. I wish you luck with him. I'll always be here for you, however."

"Thanks, Damian." She hugged him briefly and headed over to Jason when Bruce left him in search of Talia.

"So, how much trouble are you in?"

"I'm marinated for a month," he sighed.

"...an after a month?"

He lifted his head. "I'll be free to see you whenever. But how long are you staying at Talia's?"

"Another week or two. But I have a magical stone that allows me to transport between my home in Paris and the al Ghul estate. I'll be able to see you fairly often!"

"'Really? That would be wonderful!"

He eyed the animated discussion between Talia and Bruce at the other end of the ship.

"So apparently Bruce is Damian's father?"

Mari nodded. "Aunt T and Bruce have a really weird dynamic."

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: If you're confused about the marinating thing, it's the equivalent of grounding for a mer. Because they're marine life, they're marinated, as opposed to grounding, which is for ground life/humans.:)

#jasonette #maribat #DCxMLB #fic #ali writes

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