#Wind would be a terror of the seas if he could turn into a merman | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yandere-sins · 3 years ago

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A Merman’s Tale

I actually don’t want to say a lot, but it’s MERMONDAY! This chapter was a long time in the making and is also really long, but please enjoy getting fucked by a merman! (Also before someone calls me out, I know not all sharks use both their u-know-what to mate. But that is with other sharks, not humans, I don’t make the rules ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Warnings: Yandere, Lemon (Non-Con, Vaginal Sex, DVP, Creampie, Multiple Orgasms, Womb Penetration, Breeding, Unnatural Cocks, Anal Sex mentioned but not performed, Breasts mentioned, Licking, No foreplay but magical lubricant that helps with the pain! :D), Gore (Lots of biting and enjoying it, Blood Mention, Teeth Mark mention, Violence mentioned and performed), Mermaids, Big monsters with big features, Possessiveness, Threats, Pregnancy Mention, Mention of Abuse, Very long post

[Part 1] - [Part 2] - [Part 3] - [Part 4]

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The relief to be out of the water was accompanied by a coughing fit as you were forcefully catapulted onto Atreo’s bed inside his home. Your body was winding and twisting to get even the last drop of the dreadful sea out of your lungs. Though hard and painful, you forced your torso up, sitting back to calm down. The fact you even survived all of this was ridiculous, but now that you were back in relative safety, you felt so damn hopeless.

With the faint light from above, you could see your reflection in the glass walls, the disheveled figure staring back being nothing like you remembered waking up the morning you fell into the sea. Your clothes were soaked, now fitting right in with all the water around you. When you reached your eyes, you saw how dull and lifeless they had become. Terrorized from so many near-death experiences, your expression showed exhaustion and surrender, a testament of horror.

And deep inside you, you were still afraid it wasn’t over yet.

You were toppled over by the weight of Atreo’s body crashing into you, an aura of urgency and need surrounding him as he pressed your back into the mattress. The wound in your shoulder was throbbing as more salt water dripped into it from the merman hovering over you. But he didn’t dwell above you, his already slippery body sliding down yours quickly, the realization of his neediness dawning on you.

His hands got tangled up in your clothes as you heard the distressing sound of ripping fabric. Atreo left nothing but pieces behind that crumbled off you, swaying in the water, before his face lowered to your chest, lips and tongue dragging over your skin, tending with unexpected gentleness to the little cuts he left with his claws. You jerked, embarrassed and hurt, trying to cover yourself. Even if the clothes you wore did little to hide you before, they always felt like your armor. But Atreo had ripped them apart as if they were nothing more than a fish in the sea, with no effort and even less hesitation. Stealing even the last bits of defense so he could get more of you.

Despite your reaction, you didn’t get far. Before you knew it, Atreo gripped your arm, turning you over forcefully so you’d be securely locked between him and the bed. Atreo’s sharp teeth nibbled at your back as you squirmed, trying to get away, but his face didn’t give you an inch of movement that could possibly put space between you. Never in your life had you felt so exposed and toyed with than in this moment, as the merman continued to do whatever he was planning, his mouth wandering to your right side.

Immediately, your struggles ceased as you cried out loudly, a feature you had been denied underwater, but not here where you could breathe. You wanted to thrash and punch him! But feeling his jaw snap into your lower back, sharp teeth drilling into your skin, you were left shivering violently instead, afraid that the bite would worsen.

“Stop! Stop, it hurts!” you yelled, choked up and ready to burst into tears. Underwater the pain had been an awful sting, but the squeezing of his jaw felt like it would crush every bone inside of you if he didn’t release you right that instance. You had experienced what your blood did to him, seemingly putting him into a trance that was hard to wake up from. Even if he managed to stop last time, nothing could promise this time. And if he did, it would only cause you to worry if he had even wanted to spare you back then, in the water.

Your fear, however, was unfounded, as Atreo did pull away after the initial bite, leaving behind the feeling of warm blood running down your side.

Risking a glance over your shoulder at him, you saw his tongue lap out to lick off the stains you left on his lips, his eyes deep and dark, filled with the image of the bite mark on your back. It was as if he was contemplating going for seconds, but suddenly they shot up to find your eyes, causing a menacing grin to spread on his face. “The pain will fade, little pearl. Soon you’ll understand what a pleasure it is to wear my mark,” Atreo reassured you, his voice an arrogant purr in your ears. But nothing about his looks or attitude was comforting. Not when he was saying it.

The merman leaned over you again, rubbing his nose over his first mark as if he was scenting a delicious trophy. Despite your meek protests, he pressed his arm into your shoulders, holding you down as he traveled to your left arm. Conveniently, from his position, you had little room to move, with his tail pressing down your lower body in a perfect curve against his. You realized soon that Atreo had planned to take even more from you, even against your will.

Mouth opening again, you felt him search for a perfect spot at the back of your arm, low enough so that moving it would hurt like shit. He was doing what any hunter would do, trying to keep you as still as possible while he did god-knows-what. Of course, another bite, another mark, was the natural result of him pressing his mouth into the soft flesh of your arm. You cried out, feeling so, so exhausted from the constant pain and fighting against this madness. When would it stop? Would he ever? You should have expected everything from him and nothing at the same time, but his free hand ran down your body to your hips, digging his fingers beneath your shorts.

“Ouch!” you complained. Everything seemed to get worse with the knowledge that if he wanted, Atreo could be gentle. But judging by the way he let his claws drag over your skin at any given chance and the rough pulls he used to tear down your shorts, he didn’t want to be gentle. He chose this violence over every sweet caress and tender moment with you. You didn’t even want him to treat you nicely, but at this point, anything was better than hurting all over. All he seemed to care for was his want for you to be equal to him; naked, with nothing between you two.

Atreo let out a deep, visceral growl when the last piece of fabric drifted away through the waves he created with his thrashing tail, your bodies pressing together. The sound of his feral growls echoed through your body, causing a sudden, unexpected clenching at your core. It didn’t mix well with the pain from the wounds carved into your body, but for a moment, it managed to get your mind off these burning marks. His scaled tail rubbed along your legs and exposed ass, now lying skin to skin with him, and Atreo wound himself to feel more of you—and you more of him.

Heat spread from where his scales met your soft skin, crawling up your body accompanied by goosebumps. Your breath became ragged, only half as much air filling your lungs as you felt the tingling arousal creep up your back. The sudden realization of how much you could actually feel of him filled your mind. His muscles flexed above you as they tried to hold you down while experiencing as much of you as you did of him, his breath against your arm just as short and tense as yours.

He had been trying to claim all your thoughts for himself from the very beginning, and much to your despair, he was winning at that.

At first, you didn’t notice the strange, new sensation that mixed into your perception of his body. Something else, something much more bizarre than the feeling of his scales or the obvious pain in your arm, settled between your asscheeks, protruding out of Atreo’s body. Warm and wet, it pushed you aside to make space for its size, splitting into two once it fully left the shelter it was kept in. It took you a few seconds to realize its presence rubbing against you, your body jerking upwards instinctively as Atreo was forced to pull away slightly to accommodate his cocks. But when you did, the visceral groan leaving him to quiver through your arm was what gave it away. You gasped out loud, shocked, and immediately flight instinct took over. Where would you go? You didn’t know, but you had to get away—more than ever!

Atreo unlocked his jaw again, blood dripping from his mouth as he reluctantly pulled away from your arm, leaving behind a tense feeling in your body. Yet the wound only throbbed dully in the face of more danger awaiting your below. However, the moment you tried to move it, it was like a muscle ache, just way, way worse. Perhaps after a few bites, you had become desensitized from the sharp, gut-wrenching pain. Still, even now, the tears shot into your eyes regardless of the feeling, knowing something much worse was yet to come.

“That-- You’re not serious, are you?” you whimpered sheepishly despite feeling panicked more than anything. Even if your mind revolted against pleasing him, your best chances were to stay on Atreo’s good side, and your mind instinctively knew to appear submissive to his liking. A strong, virile predator as he was could please nothing more than a sweet, submissive prey. If you wanted any chance of getting away, you’d have to play your cards carefully.

Feeling the firm, phallic-shaped objects rub against you with every slight move either of you did, you bit down on your lip hard, unable to stop thinking about what would happen. He was serious about this, you quickly realized. Lifting himself, Atreo took great pleasure in gripping your leg and turning you back over to face him, his eyes darting from yours to your breasts and halting there for a moment. A sound akin to an appreciative whistle escaped his throat before his gaze drove lower and lower. Your body was the only reflection in his eyes. Atreo looked at you like you were the most precious prey of them all, his gaze wild, animalistic, and yet adoring. He was hungry, desperate for you, even with the blood dripping from his mouth, making you realize he’d never be satisfied with just a bite—or three.

“I knew it,” he purred, the range of his sounds of lust being endless, raising goosebumps on your skin and spreading through your body like a wildfire. His tail thrashed in the water from excitement as he watched you like a spectacle, and you didn’t dare to do the same to him. You didn’t want to see what was waiting for you. Didn’t want to appraise him like he did with you. “My mate, the most beautiful of them all, look at you.”

You had no reason not to believe him. The image of you was embedded in his eyes, obscene and bare as you were. Yet, it brought him great pleasure, his nostrils flaring, hips jerking forward uncontrollably. Atreo was eating up every inch of you, burning the image inside his merman brain. What an ugly feeling it was to be desired by the creature you feared and hated most, but desire he did. So much so, you were embarrassed by the hunger of this starving beast, who was yearning to eat you. But how else were you supposed to feel when he was so sincere yet so dangerous? Who could blame you without experiencing it themselves? Raising your hands over your eyes, you simply wished to drown all the sounds, all the images and feelings. As if they were going to go away just because you weren’t looking.

Of course, that was not the reality. The reality was Atreo still holding on to your leg, slowly, deliberately pulling it up and towards him. His determination, to be closer to you than he ever had, was limitless, and you found yourself struggling with his vice-like grip on you even as you kicked and twisted your limbs. Dragging your leg higher, he roamed it with his lips, letting out satisfied, rumbling huffs as he kissed down your calf and to your knee, his sharp teeth always dangerously close to your body.

Once he reached your thigh, nibbling wasn’t enough anymore. As if you were a piece of cake, he had another agonizing taste of you, savoring the moment with his tongue probing at the wound appreciatively. Even your whining didn’t stop him from taking his sweet time lapping at your blood. You saw no other way to stop this but to push yourself up from the bed, gripping his hair and pulling as roughly as you could. Atreo groaned as you scratched over his scalp, fisting a handful of his hair. And his lips curled into a grin over his fangs seeing your feeble attempts to fight him. The sound rumbling out of his chest sent another shiver like electricity up your spine, embedding it in your memory. You felt a newfound pleasure tingling between your legs. It did cause Atreo to back off, not in the least bothered by your attempts to sabotage him. It was another display of your weakness, not even your attacks putting him down a notch. Seeing the defeat in your eyes, Atreo smirked, reminding you, “Try to stay calm, Pearl, or else I might bite a piece off next time.”

Without breaking eye contact, he licked up the little rivers of blood running down your thigh, making his warning all the more threatening. However, somewhere deep inside of you, you had already realized there was no use fighting against him over and over. No matter what you did, your struggles were in vain, as Atreo always seemed to have the upper hand. It was too early to give up, but after days of this and all that he put you through, you had reached your limits. Even if it was far from being over, what else could you have possibly done here to deter the inevitable?

Whenever Atreo shifted in his position, you felt the hot, eager cocks bopping from the opening at the front of his tail. They were waiting, preying on the warmth of your cunt just like their owner preyed on your innocent, little human life. It was only a matter of time until they would pounce, unable to wait any longer. You tried your best to ignore them, to not look at what would frighten you even more, but you were helpless to being alerted of their presence constantly. Even without looking in their direction, they seemed to spring into view every now and then as you looked at Atreo, even just from the corner of your eyes. Atreo’s gaze followed you as you gulped, allowing yourself just one glance below his pectoral muscles and regretting it instantly, draining all the blood from your head and turning you light-headed.

They looked small in Atreo’s hand as he gripped them both in one, slowly stroking up their lengths while he was still licking at your thigh, savoring your taste. Though, compared to your tiny human anatomy, they were massive. Aside from them being a twin pack, you had no doubts that they’d stretch you uncomfortably were he to use them both at the same time. They had unnatural looks, too, and you weren’t sure if that was supposed to frighten or arouse you more. One of them was thick, bulging out towards Atreo’s body. It stood hard and rigid, though the occasional twitch was hinting at his arousal. Beneath it, the second one was longer and seemingly smooth to the touch, rounded and less shaped like a cock but not less auspicious. You were sure it would go far if it got anywhere close to you. But despite their strangeness, in comparison to what you knew from humans, you were sure about one thing: Even without Atreo palming himself, he was more than ready for you.

Maybe it was the bloodlust, or he had a warped sense of desire for a creature not of his kind, but as much as it should have flattered you, you were appalled by the thought of having to take them into you. Kissing his way up to your knee, Atreo hummed against the flesh wound on your thigh. He seemed to be about to bite again when you subconsciously whimpered, drawing his attention to you. You had to think fast! Something, anything, to get him off his weird blood kink! “Please don’t! It really hurts when you bite me, I don’t want that… I thought you would protect me? I don’t feel safe…”

Though a weak attempt at persuading him, dirty in the way you used his words against him, Atreo finally let go, hovering over you as he brought his face to yours, littering it in soft kisses. “My amazing mate,” he addressed you, demanding both of your eyes on him again to know he had your full attention. You could never be sure what he was planning, but you reluctantly gave in. A smile settled on his lips as he saw eye to eye with you, gentle, kind, unlike the arrogant bastard he usually showed himself as.

“Little human, I’ll make it go away, alright? I’ll get rid of the pain and fulfill my promise. You’ve got nothing to fear now.”

Feeling him press up to you, his hands fell to your thighs, gripping them tightly before pushing them to the sides. Atreo made room for his massive body, and suddenly nothing of his words seemed like the truth. His heavy cocks fell to your stomach, sliding down as he adjusted his tail. “No!” you cried, pressing at his chest frantically as he probed your entrance, even the tip of his firmer cock spreading you beyond repair. “I’m not ready! I can’t! I really can’t!” you whined, pounding your fists into his chest, hoping to get him back to his senses.

“You can, and you will. Relax, tight one. Open up for me,” he purred, another sound that seeped straight into your soul. You realized all too late the power he had over you, his siren calls strong enough to force you into the submission you didn’t want. Perhaps it was lucky he was only probing you with one cock of his, but you still cried out in a mix of pain and pleasure as he forced himself inside, your back arching as you tried to accommodate the bulged cock.

Atreo’s cocks were already coated in a lubricant seeping out from their sheath, the fluid reacting with your insides, repressing the pain of the stretch. He grunted as your walls did their first, instinctual constriction, a groan escaping you as his tip carved its presence inside you. “It hurts,” you whined loudly, your argument lost as it was followed by a moan, your head falling back as you arched your body. It was strange. One moment you felt the pain of the mismatch of genitals you two had, but the next, it was as if the feeling was erased from your brain. You felt his warm lubricant mix with your wetness, your body betraying you as it welcomed him and the pleasure he brought. Even if your logical mind couldn’t understand what was going on, you were growing hotter and needier beneath the merman, almost eager to feel another inch of him inside you.

Lucky for you, the second cock slipped underneath, rubbing between your glutes instead. You feared it going somewhere else entirely, but Atreo made no effort to double penetrate you back and front, and you wouldn’t have reminded him of it, struggling as you were. In his hands, the cocks had looked tiny, but even just one deep inside your cunt was filling you to the brim. You knew it had to hurt, but whatever he had used to prevent that worked wonders beyond your comprehension. No, even worse than that, it made it feel good.

Letting out yet another moan, your legs closed around Atreo, accepting him inside until you felt his scales against your sensitive skin around your entrance. You weren’t the only one seemingly enjoying this, as Atreo’s body was heating up against yours, his voice escaping him loud and with no restraints, and his weight crushing you into the bed in an attempt to feel more and more of you. At the same time, his lips roamed you, lapping at you like a hungry dog at a bone.

“There you go. Look how well you’re taking me,” he groaned into your shoulder, pleased by your cunt spreading for his cock, making it wet and cozy inside you. The satisfaction dripping in his voice sent a shiver down your spine, almost turning it into your own. His tail was doing most of the work of pressing his cock into you, always winding, constantly pushing. Yet, you were held tightly in his grip, as if Atreo was scared to lose you if he let go. The poor second dick tried to make its way inside you countless times, but your own flowing fluids prevented it, forcing it to slip down and against your ass once again. That didn’t seem to bother Atreo at all. If anything, the slick sensation of rubbing against your skin only turned him on more.

Like a fish in a net, you were hopelessly caught in Atreo’s mating frenzy, sounds of pleasure erupting from your mouths and the much nastier ones of fucking from between your legs. But Atreo merely grinned, having much better ears than you and still supportive of any sounds created by you two. “Louder!” he laughed breathlessly. “I love it when you sing for me. Tell me how good I am making you feel, Pearl ~”

It was a nightmare, violently forced into the shape of a daydream with every pound into you. You could feel every vein on his dick, the curve that forced his tip against your sensitive spots, kissing you from deep inside. You were no longer hopelessly dry but soaking wet with his lubricant and your own wetness after being pounded mercilessly. All you could do was hold on to him tightly for any sense of control. Burying your nails in his shoulder blades left him groaning loudly as he felt your frail nails digging into his skin, barely damaging it but forcing his muscles to tense from the tickle.

Atreo was so frantic and entirely absorbed in the whole thing, spouting nonsense as he pushed inside you. Ever so often, he tried to breach the restrictions of your body, trying to go places no one should go just for the sake of claiming it all. “You’re so wet for me, Pearl,” he admired you, his eyelids half-closed over his usually so attentive eyes because of the pleasure. It showed how much he was losing himself in you, even his mind relaxing with joy. “Fuck, look at you taking me whole.”

Even without forcing your eyes away from the roof of Atreo’s nest, you knew what he meant, feeling the wet scales of his tail scrape against your cunt every time he pushed his cock all the way inside. It made your pussy tingle, giving you more reasons to moan. He had long hilted you. Nothing would have denied him the pleasure of having your lovely pussy envelop him completely. Was it wrong to feel this good as he complimented you for your achievements? Probably. Still, you clenched around him, making this massive hunter into a whiny, needy creature, drunk on your body and the pleasure it gave him.

A dissatisfied moan escaped you as he suddenly slowed down, coming to a full stop and breathing heavily. Atreo’s whole body was hovering above you, on the small thread of conscience he still possessed, face buried between your tits as if you were the air he needed to breathe. “Let me try,” he whispered so weakly, you didn’t hear him first.

“What?” you asked him after a few seconds trying to sort your mind. Just now, he had fucked you dumb, but suddenly he was trying to ask for something? Letting his head fall to the side, he looked nothing like the intimidating merman that had captured you deep down in the ocean. He seemed desperate, needy, the few weak pushes he made way too shallow to satisfy either of you. “Please let me try to put both inside. I need it, Mate. I need you to take me completely.”

“T-That’s not a good idea! It’ll never fit.”

“Yeah, yeah, you said that before too,” he whined, rubbing his face back into your body. “But if they do, can you imagine what it’ll be like? Can you?”

Shaking your head vehemently, he was the only one that had any idea what it was like to use both of his cocks. Displaying such a puppy-like side to you almost made you forget that it was all just show. A courtesy if you pleased. Atreo wouldn’t have stopped, even if you said no, and he definitely wouldn’t even have considered it. Pushing himself up, he looked down at you from above, staring for a moment before smirking. “You’ll never desire one of your puny human males to fuck you again when I’m done.”

His usual confidence returned, making you almost want to roll your eyes at him. You still felt so dizzy with pleasure, it was hard to follow everything he did, even when he reached down, pulling out his cock nerve-wracking slow. Because of the tightness, you felt every ridge spreading you, your pussy almost unwilling to let go. “Once you had a taste of all of me, you’ll never want anything else to plunge into your pretty little cunt. You’ll be begging me to fill you up every night from now on.”

Atreo pulled out, leaving behind an aching inside of you to be filled again. His hands shot out, one on each leg of yours as he bent them back, giving him the best possible few at your gaping hole. Licking his lips, he leaned down, breathing in the mix of juices he left behind and making you shudder as air brushed against your wet sex. With a curious lick, he tasted you, lapping at your lower lips and entrance, enjoying the jitters and moans he caused you with a grin on his face. “You’re so much better than the humans I ate before,” he joke praised. A twisted compliment, though he meant it. “You’re still so tight. But look at you pulsing so eagerly. Waiting for my cocks, aren’t you?”

You whimpered pitifully, shaking your head, trying to deny what undoubtedly was going to happen. Atreo pressed your legs back, raising your hips higher as he placed his tail under you for support. “No matter how much you deny it, I can see it,” he chortled, finally returning to his place above you. One hand reached down, gripping his lengths tightly and ensuring they were coated thoroughly as he decided to kiss you again. It wasn’t the same as he did before, no extra air coming in for you to breathe while he stole everything he could—your breathe, your tongue, your mouth. He wanted it all to himself, including your thoughts, body, and pussy.

Nothing could have prepared you for both of his massive tips poking at your entrance, the immense spread of both of them being too much to handle. You whined loudly, wiggling underneath Atreo and begging him, “Stop! Please, stop! It’s too much!” But instead, he merely grumbled, not yet satisfied with how far he had come, placing his lips against your throat. “Fuck, stop moving, or I’ll bite through your throat to give you a reason to squirm!”

His anger was less directed at you and more at the herculean task of forcing all of himself into you despite your bodies’ differences. And yet, it returned the fear, his unnatural nature gave you, to your deluded mind, a miserable quaking overcoming you instead as you pinched your eyes closed, accepting your fate. Leaning your head back, you breathed as deeply as possible, trying to calm yourself as you were getting dizzy from all of this. It took much too long to clear your mind, Atreo’s impatience showing in the way he was forcing more and more of his cocks’ lengths inside of you, only getting half as far as before. You knew you had to do something. Force yourself to relax if you wanted it to be less painful. Once they were inside, his magical lubricant would probably mend the pain, and you were too exhausted to resist him any longer.

It seemed to work, your calm transferring to him, and his free hand reached under your back, rubbing it comfortingly, the warmth helping you to relax. You even found yourself moaning whenever he pushed inside after having waited for your walls to stop constricting, using these moments to advance. Your very human body could take much more than you ever thought, the scales of his tail eventually touching your skin again, and you breathed out one last time, realizing you really did it.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he sighed blissfully, his head falling back for a moment as he rested in the warm embrace of your cunt. Atreo was huge in every sense and form. But hunched over you now, holding you in his arms gently, he seemed so proud and thankful as he let out short chirps of happiness. “Wonderful, look at you,” he purred. “You can take it. You did it!”

Just at that moment, you realized Atreo had his doubts too. Perhaps your differences did reach him at some point, latest, when he realized how impossible the fit of his cocks inside you was. At least for a few seconds, he appeared to be overwhelmed with emotions, relief and happiness. To you, this was nothing but horror and a way to make it end. But to him, it was everything. It meant you were compatible. It meant you really were his mate, his one and only.

He tugged at his cocks, making you cry out loudly again. “Slowly! SLOWLY!” you shrieked, losing your newly acquired composure instantly. For once, he heeded your instructions willingly. It might have been the first and last time he ever listened to you, but you were thankful for his tries to ease you into it. Even with the tears in your eyes, you could not deny the sparks of pleasure going through you, illusions of his lubricant. Holding on to him, it was your turn to bury your face in Atreo’s shoulder, letting out shaky breaths as he pulled out and pushed in, every time a little easier than the last.

His second cock was superior in length, touching what you wished he wouldn’t get close to. Penetrating the womb hurt, you had learned from dirty conversations with friends, drunken curiosity, and google. But here he was, kissing the entrance to your sanctum like a mad worshiper. It was merely a matter of time until he’d breach a place no human man would have been able to, and it was an unwelcome realization that Atreo’s threatening promises were going to become true. You’d never be able to get back into human sex, if ever, even after many therapy sessions. That was… if you could get out of this situation alive in the first place.

But it… felt so good.

You hated yourself for it, but you wanted him to bury himself entirely inside you. Fuck you senseless with his huge cocks until you’d see stars and even penetrate your womb like it was yet again a mere hindrance to more pleasure. Experience everything and experience it fully, have him fill you up as you twitched and shook on top of his cocks. It was all you could think about as Atreo began pumping his cocks into you, laughing out madly as he did so.

“That’s it! Fuck, you’re so tight but so wet. So good for me, pet! Cum for me!”

Atreo was losing his sanity, too, as he kept pounding into you, feeling your walls tighten and slipping by him, covering him in the sweet warmth of your cunt. Both of you were panting heavily, so close to feeling release now that the hesitation and restrictions had vanished from both your bodies and minds. How bittersweet it was to become one with the creature you hated most, but at the same time made you feel so whole, filled to the brim and satisfying your urgent, tingling needs between your legs. His mouth found yours, and he groaned, his long cock spreading you apart.

Your legs clasped tensely around his body, toes curling and sliding over his tail as the pleasure finally exploded. Whether you screamed or moaned into his mouth, you weren’t sure as you pressed your body against his, gripping his arms for support as you felt like you were falling deep into this dark relief. His lips didn’t remain on yours long, but no more sound escaped you as you laid your head back, letting him bite your shoulder once again, perfectly aligned with the mark already having started to close before Atreo opened it again forcefully.

There was nothing this time. At least no pain or fear could surpass the ecstasy of your orgasm. The first and last thing you were able to feel again were the gushes of spill he released in you, baring his fangs wide as he came. At least it wasn’t just you shaking madly as Atreo pressed you down into the mattress hard, trying to keep you as still as possible until he finished. The gurgled moans pouring out of your mouth were completely ignored as you felt his semen slosh around inside you, pain and pleasure mixing while your head had no sanity left to hold on to. Before you knew it, you were overcome with a second, despairing orgasm as his cock held open your womb so it may be filled with the merman’s spill.

The headboard of the bed splintered pitifully as Atreo reached for it, gripping it hard while his orgasm slowly wore off. You watched it crumble in his hands, your blank mind producing a few exhausted laughs as you imagined that this could have been your bones if he decided to hold onto you instead. The realization hurt almost too much, as did your body as the pleasure vanished from it, only leaving the pain behind. Aside from your pussy feeling absolutely numb and destroyed, there was nothing left of the wonderful lubricant and pleasure to keep the pain away.

“Don’t move,” Atreo slurred, and you turned your head, feeling the pain of your attacked muscles, making you want to scream. His jaw was locked in your shoulder once again, and the situation was as awful as it was… funny. If it wasn’t for you being tortured by his abusive actions, it would have been really funny to see him getting stuck like this. But one nudge of his tail and you felt his cocks stir, nothing keeping you save from the pain of their size carving you out.

Atreo sighed against your shoulder as if to say, ‘I told you don’t move,’ and you listened to him. You didn’t want to move either. Never, if possible. You wanted none of the pain and discomfort it had given you since you woke up here. But the tears in your eyes were stinging and burning as your brain tried to understand, accept, and come to terms with the situation. Soon enough, your chest quivered as you sobbed quietly, every little shudder causing Atreo’s teeth to rip through your skin more. Healing from his bites seemed less likely by the second, but what were a few scars on your body against the ones you had suffered mentally?

You’d never return to your old life, and maybe it was better this way.

Because you couldn’t believe there was a way to recover from the abuse you experienced. The unfathomable, despairing happenings, even if anyone would believe you once you started telling them about mermaids and the underwater nests they lived in. Gods, you could barely believe it yourself after everything that happened.

Finally, as you were grieving the loss of your sanity, Atreo managed to unlock his jaw, bringing his deep red lips up to kiss away your tears, smearing the blood all over you. For a few calm moments, he brought his hand down, gently caressing your cheek as if to tell you it was all okay now, his brows furrowed. His dark eyes showed more concern than they had in a long while. Then, without any hesitation or care, he pulled his tail away, tearing his cocks out of your pussy and, with them, his cum. The burning was cooled by the fluids leaking out of you, but with a surprised, “Oops!” he was quick to catch them before they seeped into the bed, pushing them in with his fingers. After his cocks even his fingers seemed small, but they did the job of stopping his spill before flowing out.

In the little time he had regained post-orgasm conscience, he already hurt you more physically than throughout the whole ordeal. Yet, you clung to him, your crying intensifying. Atreo pulled you against his chest, managing to turn you around and spoon you without popping his fingers out again, holding you in his arms as he slowly rocked your body comfortingly. His free hand landed on your abdomen, the massive amount of cum still sloshing around you inside while he hummed merrily, and you realized he was more than satisfied with his work. Even though to you, your whole body seemed to be crying some sort of fluid, may it be your tears, blood, or his semen.

Without ever stopping to hum, Atreo licked your wounds, and you stopped crying soon after, feeling very dull and calm. Tired, exhausted, whatever you wanted to call it, but all you wanted was to sleep and wake up from this nightmare. You tried to ignore it when Atreo spoke to you again, already dozing off as you heard his voice next to your ear, purring sweet, horrifying nothings into your sleepy mind.

“My mate… soon we’ll have our own family. Or we keep trying as long as we need to. But once our pups are born, you’ll finally realize how great I am and want to stay here forever. I just know it, trust me. My sweet, sweet pearl, I’ll sing for you every day now. You can rely on only me.”

Unbothered by the meanings of his words, your world turned black as the softest of melodies echoed inside the nest, luring you to sleep in your captor’s arms.

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ddejavvu · 3 years ago

Note

can i request merman!sirius x human reader for multiverse monday? it can be sfw or nsfw but if you gonna do nsfw can you make him a sub 😂 thanks!

today is multiverse monday! send me any au you can think of :)

babe i would make it nsfw but idk how mermaids fuck so i'm gonna have to go the safe route with this one and make it a siren kinda thing

Your hands wrapped firmly around the cool wood planks lining the boat, cheeks a bitter cold as the wind stung them. The rousing cheers from the boat's crew filled your ears as a celebration raged on behind you, fish from the massive cargo they'd just hauled in set out as the night's specialty.

You hadn't asked to come along on the fishing trip. Frankly, it seemed stupid. You weren't interested, and your father had gone years without your help. Why did he suddenly need you to come along now?

Amidst your brooding thoughts a song slipped through your subconscious, a simple melody sung in a deep, smooth, silky tone. You weren't sure if you were even hearing it, it was so faint and foreign, but soon the sound grew, swirling through your brain and eradicating your train of thought, and it became apparent that it was something you weren't just imagining.

Each new note of the tune sent a shiver down your spine, your body desperately begging for you to stay put while your head urged you forwards. You threw a hesitant, haphazard glance towards your father and his crew, noticing his eyes on you for a split second before they darted away. You took the opportunity while you had it, slipping away from the crowd and ducking down to the lower deck.

You'd never felt a rush of adrenaline like this, your heart pounding while your feet padded against the deck. You felt water soak into your pants when the ocean sprayed your ankles, the boat rocking roughly against the waves.

You were barely able to steady yourself from falling overboard, but you caught yourself at the last second, leaning against the railing of the boat that was closest to the song you were hearing. You peered down into the murky depths of the sea, eyes scanning each wave that rocked the boat for signs of the mysterious noise.

When you found no evidence of the song or the singer, you turned dejectedly back towards the stairs, hands slipping from the rails as you retreated back to the upper deck.

However, just before you could get a foot onto the first step, you felt something cold and wet wrap around your ankle, ripping a startled scream from you as you recoiled from the touch.

You were no match for whatever had grabbed you, as you felt your ass hit the deck and slide to the edge of the boat. Your stomach churned with dread as you tried bracing yourself on the slippery wet deck, frantic pleas for help drowned out by the chaos upstairs.

As soon as your mouth was in range of the side of the boat, you felt the same thing that was gripping your ankle slide over your mouth, muffling your screams. Your eyes widened in terror as tears poured from them, feeling your body slip through the bars of the boat and submerge completely in the ocean.

You managed to get a flimsy grip on the deck, hauling yourself back up with all of the strength in your body after sending a swift kick to whatever creature had you hostage.

The sweet silky song was gone, the rushing of the ocean waves around your shivering form the only noise in your ears now. No longer did the calming melody of the sea lull your regretful thoughts away, instead water rushed into your ears, your nose, your mouth, filling your lungs and making it impossible to breathe.

Though your fingers held firm to the railing of the boat, your kick hadn't deterred the creature at all. Its appendage had barely slipped from your mouth, but you screamed with everything in you, crying out desperately for someone to help.

"Dad! Dad," You shrieked, "Please help! Dad, help!"

You pulled against the creature with all of your might, strength renewed when you heard footsteps stagger down the stairs to the lower deck. If you could just hold on long enough, you'd be saved!

Your father's boots came into view and you blinked hazily through the salt water in your eyes, peering up at him with tears still streaming down your cheeks.

"Dad! Help, pull me up!"

You watched as his hand reached for yours, relief clouding your chest as you waited to be rescued. When you felt the brief contact of your father's hand on yours, however, it wasn't pulling you up and out of the sea. Instead it began prying your fingers off of the bar one by one, loosening your grip and sending you further into the embrace of the creature below you.

"Dad, are you insane?! What are you doing?"

"I've made a deal," Your father's gruff whisper sent chills down your spine, "I killed one of them, and they wanted a sacrifice. They wanted you, someone young that they could take. You're going with them."

Your tears flowed faster than ever at his admission, fear spiking in your chest once more as you realized that you'd become a human sacrifice, "Please, please don't let me go!"

"It's the only way, Y/N." Your father finally grabbed your hand, holding it away from the pole tightly for one more second as he spoke, "I'm sorry," Before letting you slip from his grasp and down into the chilling depths of the ocean.

The only thing you felt was a sharp, stabbing pain, though whether it was coming from your lungs or your heart you had no idea. Betrayal swirled through you, clouding your thoughts as you blinked hastily through the salt water, finally making out the outline of whatever creature had you in its grasp.

You made out strong, sharp facial features before anything else, a striking jawline displayed on smooth pale skin. Long, dark hair flowed behind the person, caught in the waves just as you were.

Tattoos ran along the lengths of his arms and down his chest, leading straight to a fish's tail that glimmered in the dim moonlit water. The tail was a deep blue, darker and richer than the ocean, which was saying something. You finally came to the realization that you'd been sacrificed to merpeople, that you'd heard a siren's song, and that you'd fallen for it.

You'd never wanted to go back in time more than you did now, water still slowly infiltrating your lungs and seeping into your closed mouth. The merman in front of you sent you a sadistic smile, mouth parting to let slip perfectly clear english despite the water surrounding you both.

"A life for a life, sweetheart. He got us, so we got you. It's only fair."

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carnistirs · 4 years ago

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forelsket

↳ @taangweek 2020 Day 7: Ember Island

Warnings: rated mature for some mild gore (just to be safe)

Summary: While on vacation, land-dweller Toph accidentally finds herself a merman who won’t leave her alone.

Read on ao3 or under the cut

forelsket {Norwegian} the overwhelming euphoric feeling you experience when you’re falling in love with someone

‘

Toph hears the ripple in the water and bends over the dock, angling her face towards the abyss. She pushes her foot back into the sea, feels currents brush against her ankle.

She isn’t afraid, has never once been afraid of anything in her life, so she holds her spine erect and keeps her face expressionless at whatever’s staring back at her from beneath the surface of the water. It feels like a fish, a particularly big one, spinning its tail in circles. She picks up her cane and jabs it into the water, hard and quick, and the creature retreats further into the ocean’s depths.

But then she hears it – the singing that rises above the stillness of the sea.

Even stifled by the water, it’s the smoothest thing Toph’s ever heard. There’s a pull at her chest that has her leaning over the dock even more, guiding her body until her face is partially submerged.

And there are no words to describe what she hears – it’s like wind chimes against a gentle wind, the sweet tune of a hermit thrush at dawn, a choir in an large, empty church. Except, it also isn’t any of those things because this is seamless and infinite, a song more mellifluous than anything the best of humanity could ever hope to produce.

It’s a song that lures doe-eyed sailors out the sea with smiles on their faces, even as they’re choking with water in their throats.

Part of Toph knows she should have drowned by now or been dragged out further until the tides carry her body away. Instead of yanking her into the water though, the song wraps itself all around her like the most comfortable hug in the world.

This is—

She jerks her head out of the water and doesn’t even cough at how long she’s been holding her breath. She just inhales once, an eerie calm settling over her.

(When Toph leaves the dock, the song turns manic, lingering like a prolonged shriek in her ear until the noises of the beach houses muffle it out.)

‘

She jerks awake when the song tugs at her again, reeling her back to involuntary awareness. The summer heat is already unbearable enough without this thing’s fucking voice leaving her restless in bed. She feels hot and sticky all over, and that voice is crawling underneath her skin, scratching wildly at her until she’s close enough to smell the sea again.

Come back.

Toph feels herself blink once before she’s right at the window, hands braced on the frame like she’s about to jump out into the darkness.

A snarl rips out of her when she realizes the stupid thing she was about to do, so she raises her palms, snaps the window shut. The voice is there still, occupying a corner of her head.

When she turns around, she ignores the bed completely, heading towards the shower in her bathroom instead.

‘

“Do you hear that?” she asks, tapping her cane irritably against the floor. “The singing? Do you hear it?”

“Toph,” is what Zuko says, careful. “That’s the fourth time you’ve asked that in the past hour. I don’t hear any singing.”

‘

The frenzied croon in the back of her mind stops, a plucked string on an instrument, once her toes reach soft sand again. She hears the creature’s tail slap against the water in excitement and grinds her teeth together.

Figures it would already be waiting for her.

“What do you fucking want,” Toph hisses furiously, tossing her cane to the side and launching herself in the water towards it with her hands wrapped around it’s throat.

Sharp teeth click together and there’s a beginning of a hiss, but it doesn’t attack her in return.

As she’s choking the creature against a boulder, palms flat against the gills on its neck, she feels a blanket of smooth scales wind around her legs. The movement is coy, and it’s sudden, how much she wishes she could see whatever expression is on it’s face.

There’s a moan that vibrates against her hands – it sounds like a male – and Toph jerks away, scalded. As she’s falling back, she remembers that she’s never learned how to fucking swim, and she’s flailing now, arms wild and chaotic—

He coils his tail around her tighter, his palms framing Toph hips as he gently pulls her back up. There’s webbing between his nimble fingers as he cradles her to his chest, and she feels scales on his arms and shoulders while she instinctively grasps for him. He hums at her soothingly, swaying slightly to the beat of the waves.

“You—” Toph sputters, wiggling her legs in the strict hold of his tail. “Stop trying to cop a feel, motherfucker!”

The creature – merman – laughs. “You threw yourself at me first.”

“Because you’ve been fucking singing to me for days! You know what you’re doing!”

“How else was I going to get you back here?”

(To me.)

Toph snaps an arm out, her hand grazing the dock. She’s surprised that she’s able to break out of his grip easily as she’s hauling herself over the dock, but she feels fingers in her hair, teasing along her scalp. A curious tug at her hairband has her tresses spilling over either side of her face like wet curtains. She adjusts the askew sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and sniffs.

“Give it back,” Toph snaps.

“I’ve always wondered why humans used these,” he chirps, snapping the band against his wrist because, of course, he’s now wearing it as a bracelet. She hears him swimming forward, hears him folding his arms along the edge of the dock and resting his chin on them. “Hi. I’m Aang.”

‘

Every time Toph goes down to the beach, Aang gives her treasures – sea shells that feel like no other, a string of pearls, lost items that haven’t seen land in centuries.

She gives him a fork, once.

“What’s it called?” he says with absolute marvel in his voice.

Her mouth twitches. “A dinglehopper. I know you don’t have any, but it’s used to brush your hair.”

Toph should have known that wouldn’t deter him in the slightest. She finds herself sprawled flat on the dock minutes later, her hair hanging over the edge and a fork running through her strands as he smoothens out the tangles.

“Are you the kind of merman that eats humans?”

Aang’s hand stills in her hair, hesitating. “Yes, but only the bad ones,” he answers quietly.

“Really?”

“I’ve lived a long time,” he creeps closer, placing a cold hand on her temple, and she smells the sea and the wind on his wet skin. “You’d be surprised at the amount of terrible things that take place at beaches when no one’s looking.”

Toph raises an inquisitive brow. “How old are you?”

“Oh, I’ve surpassed centuries,” Aang replies, and the buoyancy in his voice is tempered by the wistfulness that manages to seep in, making him sound incredibly lonely.

“You have other friends, right? Mer-friends?

“Yeah! Katara and Sokka – you’d like them, I think – but they don’t live in these parts of the ocean. They’re also busy looking after their tribe, so they don’t have time to travel like me. Not like they used to anyway.”

“How about family?”

“They died a long time ago.” Fuck, there’s that sadness again – the one that sounds so strange on the merman because he’s always happy. “There was this war and I wasn’t there and – well, I lost them.”

Aang combs his fingers through her hair, fork forgotten, and doesn’t offer any more information other than that. She shouldn’t have brought up family, so she keeps quiet, basking in the sun and letting him braid her hair into whatever style he wants.

Later, when Toph wanders back into the beach house, Zuko blurts out: “Did you braid your hair with seaweed?”

“Huh,” she grins, her fingers absentmindedly touching the filmy, wet thing weaved into her braid, “guess I did.”

‘

There’s a man following her.

Toph hears Aang in her head again, his melodious voice comforting her as if he knows, so she follows the direction his song takes her to until she’s able to hear his sweet singing beyond the comforts of her mind. The man who’s been tracking after her for fifteen minutes stops in place, a shudder wracking through him. The man turns, hypnotized, his body wading into the water.

The song for this man makes Toph’s bones rattle, but it doesn’t make her want to seep herself in frigid water, doesn’t make her want to sink her body deep until she can no longer breathe.

(She wonders why.)

“Hello,” she hears Aang murmur in a honeyed tone that coils around the soul, yanking and claiming. “Why were you following that girl?”

“She was pretty,” the man says and he sounds drugged, like the words are being dragged out of him.

“And what were you going to do to her?”

“Take her back to my place.” She digs her nails into her palm hard enough to pierce skin, anger swelling up in her. “Show her what a real man feels like.”

For a few seconds, Toph hears absolutely nothing.

Even the waves are silent.

Then, teeth rip into warm flesh and the screams coming out of the man’s mouth are awful. He screams and screams as his skin is being pulled and his flesh is being slowly sampled.

Toph thinks to herself that he deserves this, that he deserves to be chewed and bitten into until he’s nothing but an empty, white husk.

She grips her cane tighter, smearing pinpricks of her own blood against it, when their bodies wrestle along the wet sand. Toph wonders if Aang’s just playing with his food at this point, drawing it out to watch the man struggle in terror. The sound of teeth gnawing on skin grates at her again, and Aang must have ripped out the throat this time because the man doesn’t make a single noise after that.

“Toph,” comes Aang’s whisper. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look—”

“I said I’m fine!” she shouts, but then she bursts out into cackles because she doesn’t know how to deal with this. Aang makes a confused noise and wriggles his body closer to her, which must make a ridiculous sight. “I mean, I might just be an accessory to murder. I don’t know. And,” – laughs even harder – “I might even go to prison, but that’s okay, I guess—”

“What’s prison?”

“It’s a place where they keep bad people like murderers or people who help murderers. Sometimes they never get out.”

Aang wraps his fingers around her wrists, pulls her down. Her ass hits the sand and she doesn’t even get to properly process it because he’s already nudging himself into her arms, his tail flopping behind him.

The smell of blood on him is strong, enough to almost make Toph gag, but she snakes her arms around him, slowly pressing her cheek to a copper-scented shoulder blade. He croons a lullaby to her, his palm rubbing circles along her spine.

“You won’t go to prison,” he says, chants – fuck, she doesn’t even know or care at this point – as his damp mouth brushes Toph’s cheek. “His body will never be found when I’m done with him.”

“They’ll still look for him. This guy’s extremely rich if he’s able to afford a beach house on this island. There’s always a lot of attention when a rich person goes missing—”

“He’ll stay a missing person forever then. They won’t find him. I promise, Toph.”

So, Toph builds a sandcastle and listens to the way Aang easily snaps the bones off the corpse’s body, the way he peels the clumps of flesh off with his fingers and teeth, the way he laps at the river of blood. It’s an hour of just listening to him eat before he gathers up the bones and slips noiselessly back into the ocean.

She inches further down to where the waves leave seafoam against the sand so that Aang doesn’t have a long crawl back to her. When he does eventually come back, he sprawls across her thighs, pressing a sated smile into her hipbone.

Her palm grazes his stomach, expecting a huge bulge—

“The fuck?” Toph grumps, slapping her knuckles this time against a stomach that is obviously flat. “You just ate a whole human! Where did it all go?”

Aang chuckles, the noise sounding like soft bells.

‘

“You know the guy who owns the house next to ours?” Ty Lee chimes across the table during breakfast. “Something Feng, I think? He’s been missing for two days now. His wife’s hysterical.”

“Wasn’t he the creep who kept trying to talk to you the other day?” Mai says, bored.

“Good riddance,” Azula says mildly. “We don’t need vermin like him stinking up this island, no matter how impressive his net worth is.”

Ty Lee, slightly aghast: “Azula! That’s a terrible thing to say.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Hey,” Zuko whispers to Toph, “do you know anything about this?”

Toph forks some scrambled eggs into her mouth. “Not a clue,” she throws back with a shrug.

‘

“Just let your head drop back in the water,” Aang instructs, his words curled around a grin as his hands hover behind the back of her scalp. A finger tips her chin towards the sky, allowing her ears to drop beneath the surface, and it’s so fucking weird floating on the water like this. “Don’t make that face, Toph. You said you’d try. It’s not that bad – see, you’re doing it!”

“I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

Toph lets out a long exhale, trying to keep her limbs extended. It’s the strangest sensation – surrendering herself to biomechanics and water while simultaneously trying not to drown in the process.

“You’re doing so well,” he cheers in a soft murmur, brushing the tips of his fingers across her toes. “Stop,” Toph grits through her teeth, “that tickles. If you make me drown, I’m dragging you down with me.”

“Hmm, yes, drag the merman – who’s lived his entire life in the ocean – down with you,” Aang hums. “That’ll definitely kill him.”

Her retort is ready, but she never gets the chance to say it because Aang abruptly sweeps her into his arms, a violent hiss escaping through his teeth. He’s tense against her, gripping her so tight that it feels like he’s trying to brand his palms into her skin.

“Cute snack you got there,” an unfamiliar voice pipes up. “Care to share?”

“Who are you?” Toph shoots back, but adds in a quieter whisper: “Is he one of your mer-friends, Aang?”

“Oh, yeah, Aang and I go way back.”

“We’re not friends,” Aang says, terse, and the amount of venom coming out of his mouth makes his voice sound like a discordant note. “And she’s not food, Jet. Go somewhere else to feed.”

A loud snort. “She looks like food to me.”

Toph growls, trying to strain her face in Jet’s direction. “Hey, fuck you, seaweed-tits. This ass is off the menu.”

The other merman barks out a laugh and makes a move to swim closer, she thinks, but Aang flicks his tail up in a loud splash, letting out a snarl that vibrates against the back of her skull. Aang sinks his fingers into the back of her thighs, ready to just toss Toph back up onto the pier dock.

“Fine, whatever,” Jet spits derisively, diving back into the water with one last scoff.

Aang carefully lifts her back onto the dock and quickly buries his face against her stomach, his arms coiling around her. Even with the obvious threat gone, he still feels rigid and strained, his tail rolling behind him in agitated circles.

“Sorry.” It’s muffled against her skin, but Toph feels his mouth shaping the word.

She flicks the center of his temple. “You don’t need to apologize, Kelpbrain.”

‘

“Do you really have to go?”

(Please don’t go.)

“Yeah,” Toph says, rueful, letting him press his palm to the arch of her foot. He’s holding onto her foot like he wants to keep her forever. “My school’s starting again in a few weeks. I have to go back.”

“Where’s this school of yours?”

“It’s in Ba Sing Se, a city in China. Have you heard of it?”

The prolonged, forlorn stretch of silence implies that Aang has not heard of either Ba Sing Se or China in his entire life.

“I’ll come back,” she promises, reaching out a hand only to have it automatically clasped within his. “After the semester ends, I’ll convince my parents to fly me out here if I have to, okay?”

Aang lifts his other hand to Toph’s face, curving it against her cheek and pressing his thumb to the bow of her mouth. “It’ll be colder when you come back,” he says, his voice small and vulnerable to her ears. “The beach will be too cold for you.”

“Please, like that’s ever stopped you before. You’ll just screech a song in my head until I come to you.”

“I could follow you—”

“No.” Toph’s not even sure he knows how to. “Even if you somehow managed to find me, there’ll be too many people. It won’t be a private island like this. If someone sees you, they’ll want to catch you and you could end up in the wrong hands.”

She’s wearing a nice dress – the others wanted to celebrate their last night on Ember Island by eating at some fancy restaurant – and Aang knows that the material swathed around her skin is worth a hefty amount. He pulls her into the water anyway, snaking his tail around her legs like he’d done the first day they met.

“Do you have to go,” Aang mouths against her shoulder, snuffling.

Toph nods, tightening her arms around his neck. “I’ll come back. Don’t cry on me now, idiot.”

She’s sopping wet when she returns back to the beach house (“That was an expensive dress,” Azula hisses, snatching Toph’s wrist and dragging her up the stairs to find a new one—) and her chest feels heavier, buried under the weight of saltwater.

‘

(Aang sings out to her when she leaves the island and it has her eyes stinging behind her shades until his bereft voice fades from her head altogether.)

‘

“You okay?”

“Zuko, you really need to stop asking me that.”

“It’s just—” Sighs, thinks of what to say. “You’re always…studying. You never want to go out with us anymore.”

“What, is it a crime to study now?”

“No, it’s like you’re forcing yourself to keep busy. You’ve been like this since we left Ember Island. What the hell happened there?”

“Hate to break it to you, but most kids get depressed when their summer breaks end. It’s no big deal.”

‘

The shower in Toph’s apartment has a tub built into it and she’s never really had any use for it in the past. These days, she’s grown comfortable with filling the tub with water and just letting herself sink into it.

She slouches to bury her nose into the water, inhales to feel the sting—

And there’s no beautiful song that curls gently around Toph’s skin. There’s no salt in the water that she’s grown so used to smelling. There are no scales slipping against her legs.

“Fuck,” Toph murmurs because she hates this, hates feeling this way.

‘

When Toph hears him one December afternoon, just a whisper at the back of her mind, she pivots off the street and walks until her cane is tapping against sand. There are a few others on the beach in spite of the weather, but his dulcet hymn leads her farther and farther away from the general public. She stops at a patch of large rocks, her heart skipping at the sound of a tail splashing.

“You stupid, stupid fish,” Toph says, but she’s smiling so wide that it actually hurts. The answer she receives is a happy trill, the noise echoing that of a friendly dolphin. “There are people here.”

“I found an alcove nearby,” Aang lifts his hand from the water, wiggling his fingers at her. “Come with me? No one will find us there.”

“How did you even find me?” And, fucking hell, navigating through these jagged rocks is really something Toph should not be doing, but she finds his hand halfway and tangles their fingers together.

“Sokka helped me figure out where China was. Oh, he wants to meet you by the way! He thinks you’re cool.”

“For a human?”

“In general,” Aang says, sounding so happy. “But yeah, for a human too.”

Aang carefully lures her into the water and it’s fucking cold, but he’s pressing warm kisses to her mouth, so much that she doesn’t mind that she’s wholly surrounded by the sea in the dead of winter.

#oh lookie another modern au #i'm sorry 😓#taang #aang #toph #aang/toph #taangweek #taang week 2020 #merman!aang #ember island #fanfic #teabag fics #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender

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secretly-a-plant · 6 years ago

Text

Head Underwater (PRB 2019)

Here is the fic I wrote for the @phandomreversebang 2019! Thank you so so so much to @lovelydeps and @phanandpenguins for being an amazing artist and an amazing beta! I couldn’t have done this without them. (Reblogs, likes, and comments appreciated!)

Ao3 Link

-Dan’s POV-

The ocean is a beautiful and serene place. Dangerous yet peaceful, mysterious yet full of joy. And forbidden. Completely and utterly forbidden. Ever since I was born I've been told horrific stories of winged creatures flying too close to the waves and getting lost in the blue depths. Unable to escape because their wings are sodden with saltwater and the tears of drowned sailors. I’ve been told that every creature that lies below the surface is my mortal enemy, destined to destroy me. That I should never venture to the sea for as long as I live. And yet, I seem to have an unhealthy fascination with the sea. Specifically with a dark-haired merman whose eyes shine brighter than every star in the sky.

I first saw him years ago. I had just gotten into a fight with my parents. This wasn’t a rare occurrence, it seemed that my father and I were always at each other’s throats, and my passive mother almost never took my side. I had stormed off in my usual manner, but instead of retreating to my room, I found myself walking the seldom tread path to the coast. I sat on a rock, closer to the sea then I had ever been before. I was gazing off at the skyline when my eyes caught a shimmer of light in the shallows. Curious and feeling rebellious, I moved closer. It was then that I locked eyes with the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Full of terror and amazement I quickly turned away and ran back up to the sanctuary of the forest.

And here we are. I’ve been coming back every day since to try and catch a glimpse of the mysterious sea dweller. Pathetic, I know, but I can’t bring myself to stop. One more look I tell myself, just one more complete look and then I’ll be satisfied. Today is a gloomy sort of day. Dreary and cold. The type of day that sinks through your skin, chilling you from the inside out. I don’t expect to see him today, but my subconscious seems to be driving me towards the water anyway. I walk past the cliffs that surround the cove. Craggy and leering, like giants sent to protect the land. I feel my feet sink into the sand as I close my eyes and breath in the ocean air. I feel the mist settle on my skin and the wind whip through my hair. The serene moment is interrupted by a loud splash. I jump at the sound and dive behind a rock. I cautiously peek out from behind my hiding place to be met with the exact thing I had been searching for. I tell myself that I have to go. I’ve gotten what I wanted and now I must return back to safety. But I can’t tear my eyes away. He turns, and quickly I duck down, but I know he’s seen me. I hear the gentle sound of water lapping against the coastline and tentatively emerge from behind the boulder. In front of me is a merman. Dark hair, pale skin, shining blue eyes, and a long scaly tail. He looks nothing like the drawings of mermaids that are in history books. Those mermaids are fearsome and ugly. Eyes full of rage and mouths full of fangs. The creature standing before me looks like he was crafted from sunbeams, and wrapped in layers of serene waves. Once my mind has started working again I realize that he’s looking at me with as much unfiltered awe as I am with him. Has he never seen a human before? But surely he must have if the tales of these creatures are correct. I come to my senses and abruptly turn around. I can’t just stand there and let myself be distracted by how he looks. Looks can be deceiving and while his skin may be devoid of imperfection, there are horrors in his mind. I get no more than two steps when I hear a gentle timid voice.

“Wait!” He says, his voice apprehensive as if testing it out. “Please stay.”

I turn around and see the look in his eyes, curious and pleading. I take a few steps back and sit down on the sand a few paces away.

“Hello,” I say, with a surprisingly steady voice. I know I should be scared, terrified even, but I can't bring myself to feel anything but wonder.

“Greetings, I am Phil”

I feel a small smile start to spread across my face, matching the one that Phil has adopted.

“I’m Dan.”

-Phil’s POV-

I’d never seen a fairy before. I’d heard about them, horrible winged creatures sent down from the sky on thunderbolts, with a personal vendetta against the ocean. But looking at the being standing before me, I don’t know how he could be dangerous. His eyes were ringed with red as if he’d been crying, and every part of him from his curly hair to his oversized jumper to his soft gray wings looked safe and warm. Such a contrast from the harsh blues and steely grays of the coastline. Suddenly he turns around and starts to run. I think “No, wait!” but the words are stuck in my throat and I watch as he disappears among the cliffs. And then he’s gone, so quickly that I was certain I imagined him. I sat there for a moment before slipping back below the waves.

That was years ago. I thought I’d never see him again and that it was probably for the better. When I had gone back to the ocean teeming with excitement at my discovery, no one believed me. They couldn’t fathom that a fairy would come anywhere near the water. And so I waited. I resisted the urge to go back up to the surface to try and catch another glimpse of the boy I had seen so long ago. Today was different. It was a dreary mid-October day. The ocean floor was empty, my parents always went away once the leaves changed to seek warmer waters, and most of the marine life went with them. However, I seemed to be the exception. The brisk weather had given the ocean a dreadful chill. The sun was not strong enough to pierce the layer of waves and seafoam and warm the sand underneath. I made the decision to go on the shore. Maybe I could find a nice rock to lay on, and the sun could chase the chill from my bones. As my head breaks the surface, I see a creature standing on the shore. A creature with curly hair and soft gray wings. My eyes widen in surprise. It couldn’t possibly be the same fairy, could it? But it must be. His wings displayed the same patterns that had lived in my dreams for years. Slowly he turns around, and stands motionless, looking me directly in the eye. Then he jolts, as if startled, and turns and starts to run. This time I manage to voice the words that I hadn’t been able to say last time.

“Wait! Please stay.” I say, immediately self-conscious of the tremor in my voice.

He hesitantly turns around. Finally facing me, he takes a few small steps in my direction and sits on the sand.

“Hello,” he says, his voice calm and smooth.

“Greetings, I am Phil.” I wince at the overly formal greeting, but he doesn’t seem to mind. I begin to smile. He does too, a shy grin growing on his face.

“I’m Dan.” He says, then hesitates and blurts out a sentence so fast I can’t understand what he’s saying.

“What was that?” I ask, with a slight chuckle in my voice. He is clearly embarrassed, his cheeks flaring red as he stumbles over his words.

“I’ve been, um, waiting for you. For a while. Since I was young. I’ve been coming here every day hoping to see you again.”

“So you are the same fairy! I’d hoped I wasn’t making a mistake.”

“Um, yes. That would be me, I think.”

“So. Dan. You’re a fairy. Aren’t you supposed to hate me?”

“Oh, uh, well not exactly hate you. Resent and fear you more than anything else. And frankly, shouldn’t I be asking you the same question? Isn’t your species hell-bent on killing off every single fairy?”

“That’s ridiculous. I’ve never hurt a fairy in my life. Neither has any other merfolk that I know. I’ve always been told that it was fairies that were set on destroying my species.”

“The only reason we ever wanted to hurt you was because of the pain and suffering you’ve caused us. Do you have any idea how many faires your relatives have drowned?”

I start to feel anger replace the curiosity that had bloomed inside me. What right does that boy have to come down to our ocean and start accusing my ancestors of murder?

“Maybe you should go. Who knows, if you stick around maybe my murderous grandma will emerge from her home and eat you.” And with that, admittedly petty, comment I sink below the waves, making sure to splash some of the icy water back up on the shore.

-Dan’s POV-

At first, all I'm feeling is rage. But slowly it starts to turn into guilt. He was just defensive of his family, if I had been in his position I would have done the same. Besides, he clearly had very little knowledge of the bloody rivalry between the two species. Maybe if I go back and apologize we can come to an understanding. But not yet. He probably won't be back today, if the way he stormed off was anything to go by. My shoes were now soaking, which definitely made me a little less apologetic. If I give a little time for the dust to settle hopefully we can ease the tension a little bit. For now, I should probably just go home and try not to catch a cold.

When I first wake up I have no memory of yesterday's events. As I drag myself out of bed my conversation with Phil comes back to me. I stand still for a minute, trying to process what had happened and where to go from here. I eat a quick breakfast and gather a small collection of things to bring to Phil.

When I return to the small cove, I see no sign of Phil. I move closer to the water, probably closer than I’ve ever been, and hesitantly call his name. I wait a few minutes, then come to the realization that he’s not going to show up. Maybe he’s still mad about yesterday, or maybe he just didn’t feel like indulging a stranger who accused his family of murder. As I’m about to turn away, I instead decide to sit down on a warm rock dangerously close to the coastline. I never realized how peaceful the ocean was until now. I start to zone out until I hear the sound of something moving in the water and I quickly snap back to attention. It’s Phil. He looked like he was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

“You came back.” He says, sounding confused, and then his expression shits to annoyance. “You’re not here to slander my species’ reputation are you?”

“No,” I said indignantly. “I actually came back to apologize. Plus, I brought peace offerings.”

I begin to pull a couple of sweet rolls out of my bag. “I don’t know what you eat, but these are some of my favorites.” I hand him the food, and he takes it, looking at me suspiciously. He takes a hesitant bite and I immediately see his eyes light up.

“They’re good, aren't they?” I gloat with a slight smirk on my face.

“These are quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever tasted!” He exclaims loudly.

I let out a short bark of laughter at that. He quickly finishes both of the rolls and proceeds to come a little closer, resting his elbows on the rock I’m resting on. I find myself inching back instinctively, but instantly regret it after seeing the downcast look on Phil’s face.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For assuming that you and the rest of your species were murderous beasts? I brought one of my history books so you could see it from my perspective.” I slowly pull the book out of my bag and hand it to him, making sure not to drop it in the water. He opens it and flips through the pages. Then, to my complete and utter surprise, he bursts out laughing. Hysterically laughing. Laughing so hard that his tongue pokes out of his mouth. He quickly puts the book on the rocks so that he doesn’t drop it.

“Why are you laughing? I thought you would be...well I don’t know what I thought your reaction would be, but certainly not laughter!”

“I’m laughing because this is simply the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Merfolk’s don’t look like this! They all look like me! Well, similarly to me anyway. If I looked like this I would have converted a long time ago.”

“Converted?” I ask, confusion evident in my voice.

“That is what I said yes. Any merfolk can choose to become human. It’s complicated, supposedly painful, and it doesn’t happen very often, but it is an option.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well, there seems to be a lot of things you don’t know.” He sounds teasing as if he was talking to an old friend and not someone he had met yesterday.

“Maybe you could teach me?”

“Are you really willing to learn? You still seem scared of me.”

“I am still a little scared, to be honest, but it seems that our historians got some things wrong when it comes to the ocean, and I want to know the truth.” He smiles brightly, and in that moment I knew that I would do whatever I could to see that smile again.

----

To my surprise, visiting Phil has become my favorite past time. I bring him food and books and stories, and in exchange, he teaches me about his life, tells me stories, and gives me the gift of friendship. I am going back home after one of such these days when I find a letter from my parents. Great. I love my village, I’ve got a small house perched on top of a tree, and I love visiting the markets and walking on the soft pine needle carpeted floors. That being said, everything about my home is tainted by my family. I was never anything my father wanted to be. I stopped studying and became a pathetic drop out living off of odd jobs and his parents’ financial support. So getting a letter from them asking to come over for dinner is far from good news. Nevertheless, I prepare to endure the endless streams of questions such as ‘Do you have a job?’, ‘Are you eating enough?’, Or perhaps most annoying of all, ‘Do have a girlfriend?’ My parents are obsessed with micromanaging my life. They’re constantly trying to set me up with horrible banking jobs and nice mellow mannered girls from good families. I hate it with a passion. And yet I don’t have the courage to tell them that I don’t want either of those things. I arrive at my parents' house. I take a deep breath and knock on the door.

----

Dinner is awkward, to say the least. There’s a blanket of silence that lays over the table that almost never accompanies family dinners. It’s nice, peaceful even. It allows me to have the illusion that I’m not a disappointment to the family name. That is until my father clears his throat.

“So, Daniel,” I hate when he calls me that. “Where have you been going every day? Did you find a job?” I stutter and nearly choke on a bite of potatoes. They noticed. Of course, they noticed. I’ve been so stupid. They cannot find out about Phil. It would only end badly for both of us.

“Oh, not exactly.”

“Care to explain?”

“I’ve been um, studying uh, history?” I grab at the first excuse that enters my mind.

“History? Where?”

“The next town over has a nice library. I’m thinking about pursuing a career in it.” There, that should keep them satisfied for now.

“Oh! That’s wonderful Dan!” My mother says with a warm smile on her face. I begin to feel guilt growing in my stomach. If she knew what I was really doing would she still be smiling? Certainly not. And I hadn’t seen her this proud of me since primary school. I smile weakly and try to eat more food even though I now feel sick to my stomach.

-Phil’s POV-

After a few months, Dan slowly becomes my favorite part of my daily routine, and I often find myself missing him when he’s not here. Although there are other things to look forward to, my parents are visiting today. It’s still too cold for them to stay here for long periods of time, but they claim to miss me, so they’re swimming down for a day. I’m waiting for them just outside of our house, rubbing my arms together to try and ward off some of the chill. I begin to see their dark silhouettes emerging from the murky water, and I quickly swim out to meet them. My mother quickly embraces me with a warm hug, and out of the corner of my eye, I see my father smile warmly. My father has never been as affectionate as my mother, but over the years I’ve learned that he shows his affection in different ways.

The minute we get back in the house my mother immediately comments on the lack of nutritious food.

“Goodness, Phil! Have you been eating at all?”

“Um, well…” I stammer at a loss for words, unsure how to explain to her that I’ve been eating large amounts of fairy food every day.

“No matter,” She interrupts my mildly panicked mumbling “Fortunately I predicted this and brought some food with me.” She begins to pull food out of her sack, far too much food for three people I might add, and I chuckle fondly.

“So Phil, what have you been doing lately?” My father inquires. I freeze. Should I tell them? I can trust my parents with anything, can’t I?

“Well, I’ve um, been spending some time on the beach…”

“Not too much time I hope,” My mother says jokingly “We wouldn’t want you to grow legs and run off somewhere!” I chuckle weakly.

“Well actually, I’ve been making some friends,” My mother looks at me confused and before she can interrupt I rush to continue “His name is Dan, and he’s very nice, I’ve been teaching him about merfolk culture.”

“This...Dan, he’s not a pixie is he?” My father says apprehensively, sharing a worried look with my mother.

“Well yes, but…” My father breaks me off. “Absolutely not. Fairies are dangerous. All they want is to hurt us. Humans I could possibly allow, but I will not see you talking to fairies.”

“I know dad, and I thought that he wanted to hurt me at first too but he’s actually very caring, and he just wants to understand,” My father stands up abruptly.

“We need to leave, and this time you’re coming with us. I can’t have you endangering yourself and others.”

“What? No! I’m staying here! I like it here!”

“Phil,” My mother says weakly “Please don’t do this. We need you to stay safe.”

“Why does everyone hate them so much anyway? What did they ever do to us?”

My mother and father share another loaded look.

“A long time ago, when your grandmother was still a young girl, fairies discovered the ocean. They were fascinated, naturally, they had never seen anything like it before. And the merfolk were scared. These creatures were coming to close for comfort, and tensions were running high between the two species. One day, a curious fairy wandered to close to the water. There was a mermaid there, the boy was fascinated, he’d never seen anything like her before, not knowing what she was he tried to capture her. The mermaid, scared and confused, tried to get him to go away,” My father breaks off, his voice choked up. “And when he didn’t, she drowned him. After that, the two communities were at each other's throats. Merfolk began mercilessly killing off fairies, and fairies were hunting and capturing merfolk by the dozens. Eventually, the fairy council and the merfolk council made a peace treaty. No more fighting, no more killing. But you can see why we don’t exactly get along.”

I sit in stunned silence. We had both been right, me and Dan, our ancestors had tried to kill each other. Finally, my father speaks breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the room.

“Phil I can’t force you to do anything. But please consider what I’ve told you.” He turns to face my mother “I think it’s time that we go.” She rises nodding silently and goes to hug me, just as tightly as before, although this time it was lacking warmth and joy.

---

As soon as I saw the end of my father’s tail disappear into the fog, a thought struck my brain. I have to tell Dan.”

-Dan POV-

When I get down to the beach the next day, Phil is already at our meeting place looking anxious. When I approach he looks up suddenly as if startled out of his thoughts.

“Are you ok?” I ask, worried about my normally chipper friend.

“There's something I have to tell you.” Anxiety swirls in my stomach, those words almost never lead to something good.

“Last night my parents visited.”

---

By the time Phil finishes recounting the horrific event, I feel sick to my stomach. I stand up quickly the minute he finishes speaking. I don’t know what to do. My thoughts are running wild and nothing is making sense.

“Please don’t go” I hear Phil’s voice say. He sounds scared and confused, his voice reflecting my thoughts exactly.

“I know it’s awful and confusing, but I’m hoping that we can work it out together. Just because our species have a bloody and dishonest history doesn't mean that we can’t be friends.” He sounds nervous as if there is any universe in which I wouldn’t be his friend.

“You’re right. I want to be friends.” I say with a small smile. I sit back down on the rock and Phil sets his elbows up next to where I’m sitting, causing water to splash up beside me. I flinch, my natural reaction when coming in contact with ocean water. Phil must have noticed because a small smile starts to form on his face.

“Have you seriously never been in the ocean before?”

I shake my head no, and Phil lets out a startled laugh.

“You have to try it! It’s the best thing ever!”

“Nope. No. Definitely not.”

“Please Dan? For me?” He looks up at me pouting with big blue eyes and how could I possibly say no to that?

“Fine. But only so you’ll shut up.” I say, rolling my eyes. I try to feign nonchalance but my heart is racing. Surely the water can’t be that dangerous. I cautiously dip my feet in. It’s cold and slightly terrifying, but calming at the same time. I stare in fascination at the spot where my feet disappear under the water, waves lapping at my ankles.

“That doesn’t count! You barely dipped your toes in!” Phil looks at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes and the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth. Suddenly I understand Phil’s train of thought.

“No, Phil-” But it’s too late. Pale hands wrap around my ankles, pulling me down into the ocean. I emerge sputtering and wiping water out of my eyes to find Phil doubled over in laughter.

“You absolute twat! I could have drowned!” He scoffs.

“You wouldn’t have drowned. Not only is it shallow here, but I’m also here to pull you out if you were in any real danger.” I huff, but in spite of my annoyance, I feel a smile building up inside of me. I look at Phil, and I feel pure unfiltered joy. I wish I could live in this world forever, just me and Phil. My sentimental thoughts are interrupted by a shiver that wracks through my body.

“Bloody Hell, Phil! It’s fucking cold!” Another wave of laughter hits him before he opens his arms invitingly.

“Come on, a hug will warm you up.” I try to keep up my pretense of being cross, but I can’t resist the temptation to tread through the water into his arms. He wraps me up into his arms and I immediately warm up. He seems to be a swimming heater. I stay there for what feels like hours but was in reality probably less than a minute. I pull back slightly and find my eyes locked onto his. Mine brown, like the earth I had walked on since I was a very young child. His blue, like the ocean in which we were currently standing. We were so close together I could feel his gentle breath on my face, and I feel my gaze subconsciously dropping to his lips. I break away from his embrace and chuckle nervously.

“I should probably go, I don’t want to catch a cold.”

“Yeah, that’s, uh, probably a good idea.” He seems so disheartened compared to a few minutes ago, and I long to say ‘No wait! I made a mistake, I want to stay here forever!’ but I need time to process the thoughts running through my head. I slowly pull myself out of the water. I stand up and turn to walk away.

“Dan?” I turn around,

“Yeah?”

“I- I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow?”

“Definitely.”

---

By the time I get back to my home, thankfully without being spotted in my sopping wet clothes, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that I fancy Phil. This is a terrifying thought because there is absolutely no way that Phil could ever reciprocate my feelings. I suppose the best solution is to ignore these feelings until they go away. After all, it’s just a little crush.

---

This isn’t working. Every day my feelings for Phil grow stronger. It’s like a rose blooming in my heart. Soft beautiful petals representing the happiness I feel when I am around him and the hope that perhaps he could feel the same way, while the thorns represent the facts of reality.

-Phil’s POV-

Ever since I got Dan to come into the ocean, I can hardly keep him out of it. Nearly every time he visits he immediately jumps into the waves. This has done nothing to help my growing feelings for the other boy. When Dan was on land and I was not, there was a clear, visible barrier between us that helped keep my feelings at bay. But now that he is in water with me, so close that I could reach out and touch him, I find my feelings snowballing every day. How could someone not fall in love with Dan? He’s perfect. Absolutely, amazingly, perfect.

---

A few more weeks pass, and I think I have to tell Dan how I feel. It’s getting impossible to bottle it up. Dan’s constantly being flirtatious, without ever officially making a move. The hope that my feelings could possibly be reciprocated continues to grow. But how? In what way can I possibly reveal the romantic feelings I harbor without humiliating myself? The question hangs over my head, making the task seem even more daunting.

---

It’s a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Dan is lounging next to me on the same sunny rock that he sat on the first time we talked. We’re not talking, but the silence isn’t awkward. With Dan, gaps in conversation are never uncomfortable. The quiet understanding covers me like a blanket. Instead of talking I take time to simply sit and watch Dan. His eyes are closed, face turned up to the sun. He has a small smile on his lips making his dimples pop. I’m struck with the sudden realization that I might be in love with him. It’s terrifying, but my brain is invaded with thoughts of growing old with him, of living together, of having a family with him. The tidal wave of emotions causes me to take a sharp breath. Dan turns to look at me, his warm eyes gazing at me fondly.

“What’s up?” I feel my heart burst in my chest and I know I have to tell him.

“I have something I need to tell you.”

“And that is?”

“Um I- I like you. Actually I mean I might love you, but that’s a rather recent development so I’m not completely sure-” I pause at the look on his face. He has turned fully towards me, and his mouth is open in shock. I immediately feel shame growing inside me and rush to apologize.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, and you probably hate me now -” I’m cut off by Dan once more, however this time it is from Dan pressing his lips to mine. I melt into the kiss, his lips lotting into mine like they are pieces of the same puzzle. He pulls away, his face splitting into a shy grin.

“I think I might love you too.”

- Dans POV-

The months after we confessed our feelings are some of the happiest of my life. The many months that I’ve spent with Phil have been a roller coaster of emotions. Curiosity, anger, fear, infatuation, and now we seem to have fallen in sync with each other, a feeling that can only be described as love. But alongside the happiness there’s also pain. I can only see him for a few hours every day, and even then I can only hold him close to me for a small fraction of that time, and I’m sick of having to sneak back from visiting him everyday because my clothes are dripping with saltwater. These thoughts have been plaguing my brain for weeks now, and after a lot of research I think I might have found a solution.

---

It looks like it’s going to rain. Not ideal for visiting the ocean, since I usually get soaked anyway and the rain adds an extra layer of chill. I sit on the rocks, dipping my feet in the water, anxiously waiting for Phil to arrive. When he finally swims to the surface my eyes light up with excitement.

“Phil!”

“Dan!” He exclaims, mocking my excited expression. I take a deep breath, a cocktail of anticipation of nerves swirling in my stomach.

“I have an idea to propose to you. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and we both know that our situation isn’t ideal, to say the least. I did some research, and I think that there’s a way for me to become human. I know you’ve mentioned converting before, but I know it’s a hard and permanent decision. But even if you don’t want to do it, I still think I will, I love you more than I can put into words, and I want to escape this prison that I’ve put myself into. The past between our species horrifies me, and I hope that by converting I can begin to break down that barrier. I want to be able to hold your hand and go on adventures with you, and I-” My voice breaks and I realize that I’ve started to cry.

“Dan,” Phil says, voice cracking with emotion, “I want that too. All of that, and honestly I’ve been thinking about the same thing, and if you’re sure you want to do this, I want to join you.”

“Okay, alright, then let’s do this,” I say smiling as I wipe a tear from my face.

“Let's do this.”

---

My first thought when I get back to the forest is that I have to tell my parents. At least my mom. If I disappear off into the human world, she deserves at least some sort of explanation. With that thought I change directions and head to my childhood home.

---

I approach slowly and knock faintly on the door. Despite how quiet my knock was, my mother still answers within seconds.

“Dan! What a wonderful surprise! Please come in, I just finished making biscuits.” We walk in to the warmly lit kitchen and she ushers me to the stools by the kitchen counter. I take a seat, and she bustles around gathering plates and mugs. She sits down, placing a mug of tea and a plate with a biscuit on it.

“So dear, not that I don’t love it when you visit, but why are you here?”

“Well,” I start, I break eye contact and instead gaze into the murky brown of my tea. “I-I um, I think, and I’ve thought about it a lot, and done some research, and I uh, want to become human.” She looks at me with soft eyes.

“You met someone, didn’t you?”

“Well I mean, yes. I met someone.”

“Who is it? What girl is so special that she can draw my baby into the human world?”

“For starters, his name is Phil,” my mother’s eye brows raise in surprise. “And he’s not exactly human, in fact he’s actually a mermaid. But don’t worry! He’s very sweet! Probably the sweetest person you’ll ever meet, and he’s going to convert too, and-” I break off in surprise as my mother rises from her seat and quickly envelopes me into a hug.

“Darling, I want more than anything for you to be happy. And I trust you to make good decisions about who you spend your time with. If you need help, I’m always here.” Instead of words, I decided to just pour all of my love and gratitude into the hug.

---

“Now Dan,” My mother is once again seated across from me, this time her face serious. “Converting isn’t easy, and it’s permanent.”

“I know. I’m not rushing into this.”

“I know.” She smiles. “It’s not complicated, you must simply have someone cut off your wings at the very base. Now the tricky part is that if you have any reservations about it, any at all, it will be extremely painful. More painful than anything else you will ever feel. That being said, if you believe that you are truly doing the right thing for yourself, the cut will be quick and painless.”

I swallow, nerves swirling in my gut. But then I think of Phil, of his eyes and his smile, and all my doubts melt away.

“Can we do it now?”

“Now?”

“Yes. I want to do it as soon as possible, and there’s no one that I’d rather have do it then you.”

“I- alright then. If you're sure.”

“I am.” I hear her take a deep breath as she rustles around looking for a knife. I hear her come up behind me.

“Can you, take off you shirt for me dear? It will be easier that way.” I do as she says, and then take a deep breath to steady myself. I feel the cold metal against my skin, and then a soft tingling, similar to the feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. I feel my wings fall, and for a moment I feel my skin melding together, leaving no trace them. I turn around and see my mother smiling.

“Did it hurt?”

“Not at all.”

“Then you should go to him. I’ll always be waiting for you if you ever need to come back.” I hug her tightly a few tears falling from my eyes onto her shoulder.

“I love you.”

She gives a wet chuckle, “I know, my darling.”

-Phils POV-

I decided a long time ago that I wanted to convert to human, and now that Dan’s doing it too my decision is set in stone. I also decided a long time ago that I didn’t need my parents’ help or acceptance. The merfolk history nauseates me, and now that I know the truth I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life as one of these creatures. According to Dan, his conversion was easy with no complications. When I saw him walking down to the ocean, a large grin replacing his wings, I cried tears of joy. He jumped into the water and wrapped me up in his arms. Unfortunately, the merfolk are a little more dramatic. In order to properly convert, it has to be a full moon. I have to remove ten scales and then my tail will supposedly fall away to reveal legs. Technically, no one else had to be there, but I told Dan many times that I want him with me regardless. As I gaze at the ocean, lounging on a rock while waiting for him, I hear him approach.. I turn around excited to see him. He looks tired and disheveled as if he’d just woken up. Which, to be fair, he probably did. I curiously look at the bundle of clothes he has in his arms.

“What are those?”

“Oh, uh, those are clothes. For you. After you transition, I mean.”

“Oh yeah, of course. I didn’t even think of that.” I give a nervous chuckle. He sits down next to me and pulls me into his arms.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” His whisper tickles my ear.

“Of course.” I pull away slightly and begin tugging at my scales. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. I hesitate. Dan locks eyes with me and gives me a small smile as he gently squeezes my hand. He says so much in that smile. He says ‘I love you’ and ‘I will support you no matter what you do.’ I take a deep breath as I pull the last scale.

---

I inhale sharply in amazement as my scales begin to slide off of me, forming a puddle around where I am sitting. I begin to see pale skin replace the deep blue. Dan passes me a shirt and a pair of trousers and I quickly turn and dress. Or try to. I’m clearly not used to legs, or being on land. Dan laughs loudly, and quickly stands up to help me stand. I fall into his chest and join in his laughter. He pulls away slightly and places a gentle kiss on my lips.

“Do you want to leave now? Or wait?”

“Now. I want to get started on my new life with you.”

---

As we’re walking through the forest, on the way to a train station that can take us to London, Dan pauses behind what must be his parent’s house. He looks and suddenly the back door swings open. A kind looking middle aged woman walks out, Dan’s mother I’m assuming. She looks at us. At first her expression is shocked, but then it slowly transforms into one of happiness and love. She winks, then turns around and closes the door.

-Dan’s POV-

Dear Mom,

I’m sorry I haven’t contacted you before now. Phil and I are really happy in the human world. It wasn’t easy at first, we had to find someone who could give us fake information to make everyone believe that we had been in the human world forever and didn’t just spawn into existence a year ago. I am going to give this letter to the agent that helped us, and I sincerely hope it gets to you. Fortunately, this letter is filled with happy things. I wrote a book, about the magical ‘fantasy’ world of fairies and mermaids, and Phil has been working as a marine biologist ever since he found his ‘land legs’. We have a house, a dog, and a gaming system where we spend way too much time playing mario kart. Don’t get me wrong, there a lot of things that are bad here. Take taxes for example. But at least here me and Phil can have the life we’ve dreamed about. In fact, I’m trying to put some of those once distant plans in motion. After I finish this letter I’m going to propose to Phil, that is unless I back out, and I hope with all my heart that he’ll say yes. Because I love him. So so much. So much that someday I want to have a family with him, as scary as that is. I want you to be a part of that too. Please write back, maybe we can plan a time to meet. I want you to meet Phil, formally this time.

Much Love,

Dan

I put my pen down and fold my letter into an envelope. I put it on the kitchen counter, nearly tripping over Otto, our corgi. I walk out to the back garden where Phil is sitting on a bench looking out at the sea. I place a gentle kiss on his forehead before sitting down next to him.

“Phil?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever miss it? The ocean?”

“Sometimes. But it doesn’t matter, because you’re worth a million oceans.” I shove him lightly, a fond smile on my face. I take a deep breath and pull the rings out of my pocket. Phil gasps, and it takes a lot of self restraint to not burst into laughter at the look on his face.

“Phil, you are easily the most important person in my life. I would cross continents for you, and it is my deepest hope that you would do the same for me. So with that thought in mind, I would like to ask you to marry me.”

“Oh my god Dan, yes! Of course yes.” I smile as I slip the ring onto his finger. It’s simple, containing a small bit of feather from my wings. It matches mine, the same design but with some of Phil’s old scales instead of feathers. He laughs.

“What are you laughing for?” I say indignantly.

“I’m sorry, it’s just so cheesy.”

“Shut up, it’s supposed to be cheesy.”

#prb2019 #prb #phandom #phanfiction #Phandom reverse bang #daniel howell #phil lester #Dan and Phil

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asoftervirge · 6 years ago

Text

between the salt water and the sea strands

RATING: PG, may increase as the story goes on PAIRINGS: R. Sanders/P. Sanders (main); T. Sanders/OMC (mentioned)

FIC WARNINGS/KINKS: Near Death, Drowning, mentions of cultural taboos FIC SUMMARY: Patton, a merman and Prince, rescues Roman from the storm.

TAGLIST: @backatthebein, @levy-the-b00kw0rm, @ierindoodles, @rosesandstuff, @notveryglittery, @patchworkofstars (if anybody else wishes to be tagged, please let me know!)

CLICK HERE IF YOU READ IT ON AO3 INSTEAD!

<< Chapter 1 >> Chapter 3 coming soon!

Patton loved the sea.

He loved its vastness, how full of life it is; the way he could swim for miles and miles and be greeted with all sorts of colorful fish, dolphins, whales, turtles, and other aquatic life that he makes friends with; the way its waves seem to comfort him, beckoning him home. He loved the feeling of the sunlight reflecting through its surface and the dazzling light show it would create for him.

Patton loved the sea-- but sometimes that isn't enough.

He wanted more yet he can't have it, for he was destined for the throne, for the power over every reef and sea creature in their parts of the ocean. He comes from the largest kingdom in all the oceans, and is the eldest twin of the great Sea Queen Y’Mera.

The issue was...he was perfectly qualified for the job.

He was everything a king, a leader, should be. He was very passionate, optimistic, and very friendly with all the mermaid and mermen of Atlanna. He spoke when he needed to speak, and when he did, it was always positive feedback and constructive criticisms; he always listened to people's wants and needs and gave them the best advice he could; he held his mother's wisdom, her people-pleasing habits, her gentle voice and guiding hand. But he wasn't a king...he was only Patton, and that was all he wanted to be. Just Patton. If anything, his younger twin, Emile was more suited for the job than he.

He didn't desire such a life: a life that had him constantly sitting on the throne of his forefathers and foremothers, all the previous Kings and Queens of the Seas. He wanted to explore more than just the sea, he wanted to know what it was like from the World Above. He has heard from other mermaids and mermen what the World Above was like, and grew a deep and burning desire to see it for himself.

If only there was a way for him to—

“Patton!"

He quickly whirls around and gave a small smile when he sees who was calling out to him. It seems that where ever he went, his best friend, Virgil, wasn't far away (and he was glad for that, don’t get him wrong! He just…sometimes preferred to have a little piece of mind). He see the deep sea merman swimming towards him.

Despite what Virgil thinks (and Patton would physically fight him on this subject daily), he thinks Virgil was just as lovely in the sunlight as he is in illuminated darkness (as he is a bioluminescent merman). There were small, black and purple scales covering the lower half of his face, especially around the eyes, and crawling up each arm and over his shoulders, where they met and covered most of his back. His gills were matching scars on either side of his neck, and had sharp fins protruding off his elbows, and coming from his forearms to his hands (which had sharp yet dulled claws. Patton believes he gnawed at them with his fangs again) is an ombre of purples ranging from lilac to a grape purple. His tail was sleek and elegant, a dark violet (with a variety of patterns when illuminated) and it tapers and splits off into smaller, forked fins at the bottom. There are sharp, spiny, purple fins jutting out from his spine and tail with a lighter purple webbing in between.

The deep sea merman took a few shaky breaths, the worry that was in his silvery-violet eyes slowly morphed into relief. “Please don’t worry me like that! Do you know how long I’ve been chasing you for?!”

“Oh…I-I’m sorry, Virgil,” Patton smiled at his best friend sheepishly. “You know by know that I can’t help it.”

“Uhm, actually, you can help it, you just don’t want to.” Virgil corrected, giving him a glare that makes Patton swim away guiltily. “Pat, you know I love and care about you, I would literally support you in just about anything…but you can’t keep disrespecting Her Majesty like this. She’s more than a Queen, she’s your mom, and it makes her upset when you rebel against her. And you know I take the fall for you most of the time, not just because I don’t want you or Emile punished, but because you’re my best, and only, friend.”

(Virgil had only became Patton’s friend when the prince was around the age of fifteen. He had actually found Virgil being mistreated by some of his future subjects, the deep sea merman had swan too far from the comforts of his mysterious home and that was how he met Patton. After saving him from his tormentors, Patton tried to befriend the merman, but Virgil was a little on the crueler side. It took a lot of time, patience, and friendliness before the deep sea merman finally warmed up to the Atlanna prince and they began inseparable friends since.)

(Sometime after, Virgil was later summoned to court by Queen Y’Mera. Realizing that her son had a deep connection to the deep sea merman, and Virgil had a strong protective nature towards her eldest twin son, she decided to name him Patton’s bodyguard and personal advisor, which was a very daunting task for him, but he still happily accepted the position.)

The more Virgil spoke, the more ashamed Patton became. He knew that Virgil was right, but like he said, he can’t help himself. Ever since he was young, he was always curious about what life would be like outside of the sea, to be a part of the World Above, and it’s only grown more and more as he got older.

“I know, I just…” Patton begins childishly, sighing quietly. “I just don’t like sitting there and letting them— letting them slowly turn me into something I don’t want to be. Take control of something that I don’t want to take control of.” Not wanting to say anymore, he simply turns and swims away. As he does so, he hears Virgil sigh and groan to himself.

“You know, you are going to have to accept your position sooner than later!” Patton secretly hated how quick Virgil can be (he is an anxiety-filled merman after all) and soon his friend had quickly caught up to him.

As their chase/swim continued, the ocean grew darker around them, signaling that a storm was brewing in the World Above. Lighting flashed overhead and it brought them to a standstill, a giant array of white light clouded their vision for a split second.

“…you know I’m right, Pat.” Virgil said, his voice was that of the prince’s best friend, not of someone who was assigned to him. “You’re the eldest of Y’Mera’s children and the true heir to the throne, even if you wish for that to be Emile.”

Patton bit his lip as thunder continued to rumble; he yearned for this discussion to end early so he could just watch the storm with Virgil and forget all his duties a little while longer. “I-I know…but you know how I feel— I don’t wish to be the King…Emmy would a better one than me.”

“While I can see why you would say that,” Virgil nodded thoughtfully. “You and I, and even your brother, know that you were the one who was properly trained to take the throne.”

“I know but I—” The prince stopped as a shadow fell across the two mermen, their eyebrows furrowed in confusion as they regarded the ship sailing above them. They’ve never seen a ship out in a storm this violently before; they thought the Humans knew to avoid the sea when it was this bad.

The prince was swimming away before Virgil could stop him, breaching the surface to watch the Human ship. As another bolt of lighting flashed above, the silhouettes of the Humans aboard were briefly illuminated, revealing their panicked and terror-stricken faces. One of them stood at the helm of the ship (the captain, Patton thinks?), holding onto the wheel with a vice grip, a look of desperation and determination on his face.

“What’re you thinking?!” Virgil asked as he popped up beside him, his violet hair was flopped down into his face and blended in with the colors of the sea and sky. “Please tell me you’re not going to do what I think you’re about to do!”

“Virgil, they need our help…” Patton replied quietly, never tearing his gaze from the ship.

“I knew you were going to say that!” Virgil groaned, gripping his hair tightly in both fists. “Running away from your duties and risking being near Humans, wanting to actually rescue them?!”

Patton opened his mouth to give an order (the first time he would do such a thing to Virgil), but a third bolt of blinding lightning smashed into the deck of the ship before he could, the screams of the sailors suddenly filled the air. He jerked to move towards the ship but Virgil’s hands were clamped around his arm, firmly holding him back.

“Patton, no!” Virgil yelled, but Patton could barely hear him over the howling of the wind and the rumbling of the thunder. He yanked them back down underneath and turned the prince around so he was facing him, his eyes were wide and filled with panic and the tone of his voice was pleading. “Please don’t! No Human life is worth the punishment you’ll be getting from your mom!”

“It is though!” Patton said, even if he knew Virgil was right once again. Being near Humans, and to even save their lives in a situation like this; it was one of the Atlanna’s greatest taboos, and one that Patton might not escape from.

The prince tore his gaze from Virgil’s (out of guilt or stubbornness he didn’t know, maybe both) and watched the wreckage sink beneath the waves, the sailors struggling to stay alive and afloat. He watched as a majority of the crew made their way back to the surface, clinging onto the broken pieces of the ship, and fight back against the strong currents— but also watched as one didn’t and was drowning near them.

“Virgil—” he began and the deep sea merman’s eyes grew wider (and they would’ve had tears if it was possible for a merman to cry underwater) and tightened his grip on his friend’s arm.

“Please!”

“—I’m so sorry.” With that, he escaped Virgil’s grip and swam away, wrapping his arms securely around the drowned Human. He couldn’t help but take in his features for a small moment— his half-lidded, reddish-brown eyes, the messy and wavy brown locks, the beauty mark underneath his left eye— and then lifted, heaving the Human back to the World Above.

He was desperate to find some sort of land among the churning, storm-tossed sea. He remembered the other mermaids and mermen talking about a cozy-looking village that wasn’t too far from where they were…but he couldn’t remember where it was, so he was forced to get his bearings together.

Patton tightened his grip on the Human, wrapping his fingers tightly around the fabric of his shirt as he tried to swim with the additional weight of another being. The wreckage of the human ship surrounded them, a minefield of burnt and broken wood, and the storm above them continued to rage on, thundering with all the rage the ocean and Mother Nature could muster.

After some searching (and making sure other Humans didn’t see him) he finally found a small, sheltered bay-like cove that was close to the village and set the small Human down on the edge of the shore. He watched the unmoving Human, worried that he wasn’t seeing his chest moving up and down, then he hears him loudly gasping and sputtering, turning away from his tough to cough and throw up all of salt water that he must’ve swallowed as he drowned. He quietly breaths a sigh of relief; he was breathing, he was alive.

“Hey, hey…shhh, shhh…you’re alright, Human, it’s okay.” Patton soothed, rubbing the Human’s back comfortingly (if this helped Virgil during anxiety attacks, this should help a Human too, right? Could the Human even understand his language?)

Once the Human was done coughing and gotten all the salt water out of his lungs, his breathing slowly regulated but was still a little shallow and quiet in sound. Carefully, Patton turned him around and took in their feature a little more than he did when they were still in the water: his face was pale but slowly regaining its tannish color, his hair was a sopping wet mess, and his wet clothing had showed off his muscular chest.

Patton knew, of course, that the Humans were different from them— they had neither scales or tails, their faces were a little rounder, their skin was much softer— but this was the first time he’d ever seen one up close before. He leaned in a little closer, regarding the small constellation of freckles across the human’s cheeks, the soft curvature of his lips, studying each of his strange, scale-less face.

“Yurari yurureri…utakata omoi meguru hakari,” Patton began singing quietly. He knew the Human wouldn’t understand the Ancient Mer Tongue, but he figured it would add some health, healing, and comfort to them.

A small, feeble groan sounded from the Human and it made the prince freeze. “N-Ngh…” He sees him beginning to stir, his face scrunching up in the high sunlight that was peeking through the weakening storm clouds.

Despite this, Patton kept his hand on their face and continued to sing. “Tsutau minasuji…Sono te ga hikaru asu wa.” Once his song was finished, he sees the Human give him a gentle, appreciative smile, slowly opening his mouth to speak to him, but he quickly dashed back into the water.

“W-Wait! Please!” He hears the raspy, broken call of the Human as he reunites with the familiar and beautiful blue of his ocean home. He feels awful for leaving the Human alone like that, but in the distance, he heard a voice calling to them, said voice holding relief and possibly even happiness. Despite this, his curiosity remained as he resurfaced to the World Above and observed the Human a long distance away behind a few sea rocks.

“Roman! Thank the Gods you’re alright! We thought you’d died!” Patton sees another Human in front of the one he saved (Roman…he kept that name in his mind and heart). He looked about the same as Roman, but there was still some uniqueness to them: He had dark brown, almost blackish hair that was pulled away from his face, a sharper, angular face, clothing similar to Roman’s, and he had strange goggles over his eyes.

“Logan…” he sees a hopefully and overly emotional look spread itself across Roman’s face as he regarded the Other Human. “I…I’m so sorry!”

“Shhh,” the Other Human soothed, his voice calm and gentle as he pulled Roman into a protective-looking embrace. Patton smiled at this, perhaps this Logan fellow was his companion like Virgil was to himself. “We believe you drowned. Some of our crew tried to aid you, but the currents were too strong. How did you manage to swim against them, surely your nose and lungs would’ve been filled with water.”

“Someone…someone saved my life.” (Patton’s breath hitched when he realized that he might truly be discovered and Atlanna won’t be a secret to the Humans.)

“Oh? If so, then where are they? And how did they manage such a feat?”

“I don’t know…they’ve gone.”

“I’m sorry?”

“They’ve gone. I woke up to the most gorgeous singing I’ve ever heard— what it was, I don’t know since I couldn’t translate the words— and then I saw them, or almost saw them, but then…they were gone…”

“Roman, I’m sorry…but that doesn’t make much sense. Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating?”

(Even if he felt a little wounded at being called a hallucination, but it really was better that way. If Humans ever found about Atlanna, who knows what they would do to his people, Virgil, his brother, and his beloved mother.)

“Logan, you— you have to understand I’m not making this up!” Patton snaps out of his thoughts as he sees Roman protesting strongly, glaring at Logan fiery eyes. “I saw them, I heard them! I know they’re real!”

“You nearly died from drowning. It’s quite common for seafarers to have hallucinations, especially when they’ve nearly drank themselves to oblivion." Logan placed the back of his hand on Romans’s forehead. (Was that a common practice amongst Humans?) “You also know that we’ve heard similar stories at the drinking houses we’ve been to, sailors saying they’ve been saved by mysterious folk to draw in a crowd.”

All that did was make Roman growl and shake his head violently. Patton couldn’t help but feel a little touched and flattered about a Human believing in his existence even if it was strongly forbidden. He felt his heart swelling, a happy, almost loving feeling bloomed in his chest.

“Come, Roman. Let me take you home. I’m sure Thomas is worried sick about you.” The prince sees Logan wrapping his arm around Roman’s waist as he lead him back to this Thomas Human. He continued to watch them until they were far away from his line of vision.

“I hope I can see you again soon…Roman…”

#Sanders Sides #Sanders Sides AU #Patton Sanders #Virgil Sanders #Roman Sanders #Royality #platonic Moxiety #between the salt water and the sea strands

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dansphlevels · 7 years ago

Note

Mermaids please, I love mermaids!

I had a lot of fun writing this fic! I definitely want to write more siren/mermaid au’s in the future. Maybe a sequel to this one? Let me know what you guys think!

Caudal

Day 3 of 12 Days Of PromptsSummary: The cave has two exits. One, a hole in the ceiling, wide enough that Phil could see the stars glitter at night. The other exit was through the pool in the middle of the cave, where they’d come from. The siren leaned against the cave wall a few meters away, tending to his wound. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but the damage was done. Sharks circled in the pool, desperate for a taste of the merman. The hole in the ceiling was too high up, the walls too steep to climb. The sharks circled in the pool of water, ready to eat whatever comes their way. No way out. Phil was stuck, with no food, no fresh water, no hope to escape, and a siren who had tried to drown him not hours before. Length: 8k wordsThemes: merman/mermaid/siren!au, sharks, survival, enemies to ?

Phil was not supposed to be there.

A storm was coming. The waves lapped against the coastal sand, hitting it harder than it had the day before. The sky was more gray than blue and more cloudy than clear. The gray had infected the water, turning it darker. Even before the first raindrops fell it was clear that a storm was on its way.

So all in all, the beach was not a good place to be. But Phil found himself walking along the sand, his bare feet no longer complaining after all the time he’d spent on that very beach that month. A change of scenery was good for people whose minds were blocked, so he’d heard. So far, the retreat was more of a break from reality, and though no new ideas came to his mind, it was a much-appreciated one.

He allowed himself to walk right up to the edge of the sea, letting the waves pound at his legs. They weren’t too big, just forceful, as if pushing him back.

The wind blew hard against him as if agreeing. It whipped against his white t-shirt and tan cargo pants, blowing his raven hair back. He wasn’t in swimming trunks, but it hardly mattered. No phone- it had been left in Manchester, very purposefully- and no wallet- no need for one, his rental house wasn’t far away. Really, no reason why he shouldn’t go for a quick dip.

He took a few steps forward, and all around him it grew quieter. The birds calmed, the wind dyed down, even the water seemed to be less harsh.

He took another step forward, and heard a strange sound, something that didn’t in any way belong in the ocean. It was… a piano?

Phil’s feet walked forwards on their own free will, diagonal along the coast towards the rock formations a half kilometer away. They were shaped like mountains but much, much smaller, only a short hike to the top. Phil had wondered why no one ever came to this beach, and over the past few days being here he’d decided it must be because of the intrusive rock formations. They were ugly, and there were lots of things like that under the water when you got over too far. Bad for surfing, and no good for pictures. The beach was completely deserted, every day of the week, even when it didn’t storm.

These thoughts went through Phil’s mind as he walked, the gentle playing of the piano becoming less faint as he grew closer. Soon, he was up to his waist in water and started swimming, doing a smooth front stroke towards the noise. The ocean stilled for him, as if it was listening to the playing as well.

He swam out further than he planned to, but there wasn’t a single thought in his mind that made him want to turn back. He had to find out where the noise was coming from. It was a beautiful tune, unlike anything he’d ever heard before. The notes ran together easily, enticing and beautiful and perfect. Whoever was playing the instrument must have a true passion for it, and a talent as well.

There were large outcroppings of rocks sticking out of the water that Phil had to swim around. He slid in between them, careful to keep his legs from touching the sharp, dark grey stones on either side. The area was badly polluted, with soda cans and plastic bags floating in the water. A fisherman’s net slid against his legs, catching on his foot. Phil had to pull out his pocket knife and cut it. The pocket knife was for opening clams, but luckily, it worked, and Phil was free from the ropes.

Phil began to swim faster as the source of music came closer. The piano keys tapped delicately one after another, going in his ears and circulating through his entire body. Every cell, every tissue yearned to go closer, begged to find the source. It was The Answer, to everything he’d wanted and everything he was searching for. This was why he was here, this was the reason he was alive.

A rowboat was wrecked against one of the huge slabs of rocks. A large chunk had been taken out of it by a mouth the size of Phil’s torso. He kept swimming, faster. He had to get to the noise, he had to get to the music.

He swam past the last rock outcropping, into the open sea. The music pulsed and hummed, all around him, but when he turned in a full circle he saw nothing, no piano anywhere. But it was here, he knew that with all his being and all his mind, it was here.

He held his breath, and dived under, opening his eyes underwater. He looked around desperately, his actions becoming more and more anxious. Where was it? He had to find it, this was The Answer! He needed The Answer!

The water was so deep he couldn’t see the bottom. Nearby, there was a huge wall of rocks, sharpened and deadly, part of the mountains that made this bay so ugly. But where was the music? Where was it?!

Phil came back up, gasping for air. It had begun to rain, droplets of water hitting the sea in little ripples of motion.

He treaded water, catching his breath, his heart pounding in his ears as he realized the music had stopped. Not a bird dared to chirp, nor the waves dare to splash. Everything was perfectly silent.

Something wrapped around his leg and Phil had no time to scream as he was ripped into the water. Someone had grabbed him, and Phil yanked and tried to kick or pull away or do something but whatever it was had grabbed ahold of him and wasn’t letting go. Bubbles raced to the surface as they descended so quickly Phil’s ears popped and he heard the thumping of a drum in his head.

Something had grabbed him, a slick form that felt almost like a human hand, wrapping around his ankle tightly, pulling him down. And he was going to die.

The thought made his brain go into overdrive, it’s blurry waterlogged HTML code sending mass orders of panic. Get away get away get away get away was blared through loudspeakers on repeat, his entire body screaming in terror and agony as they descended so rapidly the pressure made his insides crumple like a soda can.

And then they were slowing, the decent smoother. This was the moment before the white of death, where everything slowed as your heart prepared to stop. Phil’s arms went down to his sides, working on orders from the shred of his brain that still worked. He fumbled with his pockets.

Phil looked down and almost blacked out.

The tail was the color of crystalline swamps, a shade of green unlike anything Phil had ever seen. Fins ran off of it, flowing naturally in the dark water. A hand, a human hand the color of milk but slightly sickly green was wrapped around his ankle, pulling him down. The figure, the monster, the mermaid, the whatever it was, pulled him deeper. A creature of terror, of darkness, of death, it swam downwards towards the ocean floor and Phil’s immediate death.

The tail brushed against his legs.

Phil pulled out the object from his pocket and opened it. Before he had time to consider it, he plunged the knife into the creature’s tail.

Horrible dark blue liquid the color of poison poured out from the wound, and the creature let go in pain, it’s body writhing with agony. For the first time, Phil saw its face, human, a boy’s face twisted in pain and horrible anger, pointed teeth bared and ready to rip his throat out as Phil tried desperately to swim away. It swam to him in a burst of motion, grabbing him and pulling him down, when something changed and it shoved him away. The water was turning sickly blue from the blood, and the creature was looking at something in the distance. Then he turned, swimming away at an incredible speed away from whatever was there, and Phil may have been drowning but he knew danger when he saw it. He followed, hurriedly, kicking with all his might and praying that he wouldn’t drown. His lungs begged to burst, his whole body screaming in pain at the pressure.

The mermaid swam into one of the caves formed by the rocks, and Phil followed, desperately kicking and praying and drowning all at once because he was a talented individual who refused to die like this.

The light of day was getting closer, and he swam upwards, letting out his final puff of breath and begging the God he didn’t believe in to save him.

And then there was light, and then there was air, and Phil gasped and swam to the edge of the pool, trembling hands gripping onto rock. He didn’t know what was chasing them, but he knew that if it was bad enough to scare the merman, then he didn’t want to meet it.

Phil dragged himself onto land, coughing and then vomiting, the taste of salt wedged underneath his tongue and down his vocal cords. He crawled away from the pool of water, his entire body shaking with cold/fear/exertion/pain.

Nothing came out of the water to kill him. He was safe, for now.

Phil had finally stopped throwing up and managed to slump to the ground a few feet away, his entire body aching horribly.

"Hello there. I’m sorry I didn’t drown you, this would have been much easier for the both of us if you’d just died like you were supposed to.“

—

Phil sat against the stone wall of the cave, his feet resting on the sandy ground.

Across from him, on the other side of the pool, lay the creature. He was… well, Phil knew what he was. But he wasn’t sure if he could admit it.

The creature’s top half was almost human. He had a male torso, and though he had muscles, he also seemed skinny to the point of malnutrition. His skin was extremely pale, with an almost green tint. If you looked at his face and just his face, you might call him handsome, but possibly ill. Damp brown curls hung over his eyes, and he pushed them back in annoyance.

Phil wished that was all. But it wasn’t.

Under his belly button, where one’s stomach would begin to curve into a pelvis, the skin turned scaly. Instead of having legs, he had one massive tail, long and dark, swampy green and onyx black.

"You’re a mermaid,” Phil said aloud, still staring at the boy.

He huffed. “I’m not.” His voice croaked, and he cleared his throat, the same way Phil had to do whenever he hadn’t been using his voice for a while.

"Then what are you?“

The creature- the man- the not mermaid?- sat up a little straighter, showing off his pale green inner arms. A small smile tugged at his lips. “Come on, you know. I was the one who grabbed you. You don’t look horribly dumb, just make a guess.”

"You’re a merman,“ Phil suggested, his voice monotone. His eyes flickered back and forth between the creature’s tail and his eyes. Dark, very very dark, probably brown.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not a mermaid, or a merman, or whatever else you’re suggesting. Mermaids don’t exist anywhere but German fairytales and old pirates stories. And in case you haven’t noticed, I exist.”

I noticed. “Then what are you?”

He smiled again, like he was imagining trying to drown Phil and succeeding. “Well, I’m a siren, obviously. You heard my music.”

The puzzle pieces clicked together all too late. “The piano music.”

"That was me,“ he agreed. “I always think, surely this time they won’t fall for it. Someone will have enough sense not to go out to sea in search of a piano of all things. And every time, I’m mistaken.” He shrugged, and the end of his tail, the semi-transparent parts flapped nervously.

Phil looked into the water. The cave was about the size of a small room, circular, with most of the space being taken up by the pool in which they’d small up in. Above, it rose in the shape of a mountain, with a giant crater at the top where they could see the gray sky through.

The water lapped at the constraints of the pool upsettingly, dark and blue without any green at all. Far below, Phil could see something move.

"Something’s-“

"Sharks,” the siren supplied. “They love the taste of sirens. Can smell our blood from miles away, and come racing.” He crinkled his nose in annoyance. “Rude of you to stab me. It will take at least two or three days to heal, and who knows how long the sharks will stick around for.”

"Sharks,“ Phil repeated, still staring down into the murky depths, trying to make out any features.

"Yes,” the siren agreed, as if talking to a small child.

"And you’re a siren. Which is different from a mermaid, apparently.“

"Yes.” Now he looked slightly annoyed. Phil wondered if he’d try to drown him again. “Mermaids are fictional. And sirens…”

"…play piano music in the middle of the bay,“ Phil finished. "And are attractive snacks for sharks.”

He was definitely going to drown Phil.

"You act as if I’m the bad one. Like, out of the three of us in this cave, I’m the worst one.“

"Three of us?”

"Including the shark. Though there’s likely more than one. I can see better if I stick my head underwater, but right now my goal is not to die, so I’m not going to do that.“

Phil backed up from the pool, going back to his original position against the cave. He bent his knees, bringing them to his chest. "Yeah, but you’re the one who tried to drown me. That’s pretty bad in my books.”

"You’re the one that tried to drown me,“ he corrected. "With carbon emissions and pollution. Honestly, have you ever thought about your actions? That maybe dumping thousands of tons of sewage into the ocean each year might be a bad idea? Because I have some news for you, some of us have to live in that ocean, and we can’t do that very well when you’re destroying our ecosystems!”

Phil blinked.

Dan stared back at him, not daring to look away.

"Nerd.“

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Wait ‘til I get my hands on you, you slimy little land bastard-”

"I prefer Phil, actually.“ Phil smiled, tilting his head a little. His skull ached, like someone was trying to hammer new information into it. Maybe he was seeing things. After all, he did just inhale a lot of seawater.

Neither spoke for a while. Eventually, the siren stopped staring at Phil and instead tended to his injury.

Phil tried to mind his own business for a few minutes, observing the cave. He doubted the merman siren could get out by a land exit, but he probably could. He looked around, and then eventually stood, walking around his side of the cave. He was able to walk all the way over to where the siren lay without any difficulty, but he’d already almost died once today. The last thing he wanted was to be thrown to the sharks while being lectured about carbon emissions.

Every once in awhile, Phil caught the siren looking at him. Whenever he caught Phil’s eye he would quickly look away, back to his wound.

Finally, Phil decided he had to accept it. There were only two exits to the cave: the pool and the hole in the roof. Unfortunately, the pool contained a shark hungry for a fish-human hybrid, and Phil didn’t doubt that he’d settle for just a human. And the walls were tilted towards the hole in the ceiling, making them impossible to climb. It was like the inside of a volcano, Phil realized, but with a pool of water instead of magma.

He tried to be discrete about looking at his company in the cave. But as he watched him work, he realized something.

"You took the knife out?” He asked before he could stop himself.

The siren huffed, pushing his brown curls away from his face in annoyance. “Clearly.”

"You should have kept it in. It was the only thing keeping your blood from flowing out, you’re supposed to leave it in until you get to a vet.“

The creature looked up so pointedly Phil wondered if he should make things easier and just jump in the water on his own terms. "A…. vet?”

"You know, like a person who cares for animals.“

"I know what a vet is,” he snapped. “But I’m offended that you’d suggest I might need one.”

Phil blinked. “I mean… you’re tail…”

He brushed it aside. “You know what, never mind. It doesn’t matter anyway, because I took the knife out already. In the water. That’s why I bled so much, that’s why the sharks came, and that’s why we’re in this mess.”

"Because you took the knife out?“

"Because you stabbed me.”

Phil huffed. This wasn’t getting anywhere.

"How’d you know that anyway? The knife thing?“

Phil crossed his arms, looking down at the surface of the water, turned gray from the sky’s reflection. "I went to school to be a vet. I ended up doing something else, but I still ended up learning a lot of stuff like that.”

He stared at the sand, digging in it with his fingers. It was true. He’d ended up changing to studying language and film after he’d gone to see surgery performed on a horse and passed out.

He was so deep in thought he hadn’t even realized the siren was saying something. “Feel…. Feel! Erm, Fell? Feel? Phil!” He snapped, and Phil looked up. “Phil!”

"What?“

"Stop digging around and come help me! God, you’re a vet, I’m not supposed to have to ask.”

Phil stood, looking at him unsure. “Will you drown me?”

"Not until after you help me.“

"No.” He crossed his arms tightly, hoping the merman couldn’t see how nervous he was. “Promise you won’t try to kill me. At all. Ever.”

He whined. “But Feeeeeellll.”

"It’s Phil.“

"But Phiiiiiiiiillllllll.”

"Do you want help or not?“

He pouted. "Fine.”

"Swear it. On your tail,“ Phil added quickly.

He continued to pout, but gave in. "I swear on my tail that I won’t try and kill you again if you heal me.”

"If I help you,“ Phil corrected. "I’ll do my best, but I have no supplies.”

He groaned. Phil decided it was enough and walked over and knelt next to him.

The wound probably looked worse than it actually was. Even so, it didn’t look too bad. “Well, you’re not bleeding much.”

"Wow, thanks for that professional advice.“

Phil ignored him. "Does this hurt?” He reached over, carefully touching the area around the wound. It was a little darker blue-green than the area around it. Phil realized too late that it was stained with the siren’s blood.

“It doesn’t really hurt,” he announced.

Phil nodded. "That’s good. Um… you should… apply pressure.”

"Great.“ He seemed unamused but did so anyway.

Phil’s mouth tasted like seawater. He was on one knee next to the creature, right next to his tail. It was even more beautiful up close. So dark green it was almost black. Now that Phil was closer, he could see flicks of gold in it, especially around the area where the tail met with his skin.

"You’re staring,” the siren noted.

"Sorry.” Phil tried to stand, but his eyes caught onto the fins at the very end of the tail, lighter greens and blues with golden veins. "Can I touch it?”

"Um, what?”

"Touch your… fins. The flipper things.” Phil pointed. His tongue seemed to have forgotten how to work.

"My… caudal fins? Fine, just be very gentle. They tear easily.“

Phil crawled over and knelt next to the flippers. Most mermaid pictures and drawings he’d seen depicted the end of the tail, where a human’s feet would be, to be two elongated flippers, like those ones that some freedivers used. Or maybe it was one flipper, shaped like a v.

The siren’s ‘caudal fins’ were not like that. It was as if he had multiple pairs of mermaid fins all stacked on top of each other. Smooth and soft like fabric, folded together in a confusing mess.

Phil reached out, and touched it. All of sudden the fins shot out, jumping and unfolding to form one massive flipper in the shape of a math bracket {.

It unfolded so fast and took up so much room that Phil was almost pushed into the pool of water.

His eyes widened. "Woah.”

It was clear the siren wasn’t sure what to think. He had a perfect poker face, like he was just observing Phil, trying to decide what to make of him.

There was a rip in his tail, a little hole by the ends, which were a little torn themselves. “What’s this from?”

"Fishhook. Like I said, you humans have no respect for the creatures of the sea.“

He folded his tail once more, pulling what would have been his knees up to his chest and leaning on it. "Okay, now it’s my turn. Come here.”

Phil gave him a strange look but crawled over anyways.

"Let me see your… legs. That’s the word. And your… feet? Those.“

Phil hesitated. "Wait. I need to know your name first.”

"Why would you need to know that?“

"I don’t like strangers touching me. Just a general rule.”

The siren stared at him intently. “Fine. My name is Danye.” He pronounced it like ‘dawn-yay’. “But you can call me Dan, since humans lack vocal ability. My pronouns are he/him.”

Phil looked up. “I’d kind of assumed that already.”

"Rude. You should never assume someone’s gender.“

"I mean- I wouldn’t think that mer- sirens would care about that sort of thing.”

Dan gave him a look like he wasn’t sure how much to tell him. Then he shrugged. “Meh. You’ll probably die in the next few days anyways. You would care a lot more about pronouns if none of the creatures of your species had penises.”

Phil found his eyes drifting down to Dan’s waist. “Um… you don’t-”

"Have a dick? Oh yeah, sure, let me pull my tail down like a pair of pants. It’s around here somewhere… Obviously not, you fern. And don’t ask how we reproduce, because I’m not going to tell you.“ Dan patted the spot next to him. "Come here.”

Phil decided to just listen, scooting over. Dan quickly grabbed his ankles, dragging him a little closer. “Your legs are filthy,” he noted.

"What? No, that’s just hair.“

Dan looked at him like he was trying to decide if he was lying. "You grow hair out of your legs?”

"Um, yeah? And out of our arms, and chests, and stuff. And most guys my age can grow beards, if they try. I can only get a weird neck beard.“

Dan touched his neck, as if imagining hair sprouting out from it. As he moved his arm, Phil realized his armpits were completely bare of hair.

Eventually, Dan went back to inspecting his legs. Apparently, he’d known what toes were but never realized there was such thing as toenails. He prodded at Phil’s ankle bones and felt his knees. "It’s unnatural,” he decided finally. “And frankly, I’m uncomfortable.”

"Hey! You’re the one who’s part fish!“

"And you’re the one sitting by the shark-water, so I’d watch it,” Dan threatened. “Can you see them?”

Phil leaned over, looking into the water. A figure circled beneath, closer than it had before. “Only one, I think.”

Dan rolled over onto his stomach, a real process with his large tail. He dragged himself over to the pool by his forearms, army crawling close enough to see over it.

"How long until it leaves?“

Dan shook his head. "A few days, at least. Sharks will do just about anything for a taste of sirens.”

Phil’s stomach ached. “What do we do?”

"Wait it out.“ His voice was calm, which would have been reassuring if he didn’t look so worried.

—-

The rest of the day was spent waiting. They were shaded from the sun, but it still came in from the cave, glittering against the water.

Phil retreated back to his side of the cave and laid on his back, staring up at the walls curving up to the hole in the ceiling. The walls weren’t smooth, but he doubted he could climb out that way. It would take upper body strength that he just didn’t have.

He didn’t dare nap. It might be difficult for the merman to crawl over across the sand, but Phil didn’t doubt that he could. And, as casual as their interaction earlier was, this was still the creature that had tried to drown him. Phil knew better than to trust the creature too easily.

At some point in the afternoon, Phil rolled over onto his side and found Dan laying on his side as well, staring at him from across the water. When he caught his gaze, Dan scowled and rolled over, staring at the wall.

Phil watched the sharp edges of his back, observing the dark contours and the greenish tint of it. Then, lower, as the skin turned into thick green-black scales that lead to his tail, longer than human legs, with the folded caudal flipper at the end. He moved his flipper around nervously, tapping it against the sandy ground. At one point, his fin twitched, launching a pile of sand into the water so aggressively Phil wondered how strong his tail was. It must have been incredibly powerful. He remembered the hands wrapping around his feet and the force pulling him down so quickly there was hardly any resisting it. Dan had been able to do that with hardly any exertion.

His stomach ached slightly as the day went on. He would have been okay if he hadn’t thrown up his breakfast- a painful side effect of almost drowning.

Phil kept thinking that they’d start talking again, but the siren seemed intent with ignoring him. Finally, the long day was over and Phil could feel his eyelids weighing down, begging to be closed. He wanted sleep. After a short struggle, he gave in, hoping that he’d wake up in the morning.

—-

Dan did not kill him.

When Phil woke up, Dan was leaning over the pool, staring into it. He glanced up when he heard Phil stir, then went back to looking into the water.

"There’s more,” Dan noted.

It took Phil a few moments to process. “More what?”

"Sharks. I see at least two, but I think there’s a third one.“

Phil could feel his stomach rumble. "What do we do?”

"Wait it out.”

"How long?”

"As long as we need to,“ Dan snapped. "Unless you want to jump into the pool and try swimming.”

"Would it work?“

"No. You humans are miserable swimmers, you’re painfully slow, what with your deformed fins. They’re horrible for propelling you.”

Phil took a wild guess that Dan was talking about his feet. “We don’t have fins. They aren’t deformed, they just are made for land use. I can swim better than you can walk.”

"You want to test that theory?” Dan gestured to the shark-infested pool. "Be my guest.”

Phil stood slowly, brushing the sand off of his clothes. “If you’re so intent on me dying, why didn’t you just kill me in my sleep? You could have tossed me to the sharks and been done with it.”

The siren looked more hesitant now that Phil was standing. He had to look up to see him.

"I didn’t throw you to the sharks,“ he explained slowly, "because then they’d win. I hate sharks. Even more than I hate humans. If I kill you, trust me, I’m not going to let the sharks get something out of it.”

That did not reassure Phil. “But you wouldn’t kill me anyway,” he reasoned. “Because we made the deal.”

"I agreed not to kill you if you healed me. Well, guess what.” Dan moved a little ways back from the water, bringing his tail around for Phil to see. He pointed at the gash, which appeared to have scarred over, but was definitely not healed. “You didn’t heal me.”

Phil ran his fingers through his fringe, brushing the sand out of it. “Healing takes time. What did you expect, that I’d just say the word and it’d be fixed?”

Dan looked at the ground.

Phil realized too slowly. “You actually thought that?”

"You humans are insufferable,“ Dan defended. "Too busy polluting the ocean to explore it. There are things down there that would make you curl up in a ball and cry, Phil. Don’t act like you know my world.”

"Wait- what? There’s something down there that could heal wounds that quickly?”

"Shut up.” Dan pulled his tail back behind him protectively, slumping onto his stomach. “It’ll be at least two more days until the sharks go.”

Phil’s stomach flipped inside out. “What?”

"The sharks. They know they have me trapped.” He shrugged. "We just have to wait it out.”

Phil could feel his breath quicken as panic set in. “I can’t… I can’t survive that long! I need food-”

"You can’t go a few days without food? Wimp.“

"But I definitely need water. A human can only survive two, maybe three days without water, and even then they might go mad.”

Dan looked at Phil like he was trying to decide if he was lying or not. “There’s water right here.”

"Freshwater! I can’t drink salt water!“

Dan’s voice mimicked Phils, getting higher and louder. "Why not?”

"Because- ugh! Because humans can’t process salt! It’ll be worse than drinking nothing because the salt will dry up all the water!“

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why did you humans evolve to not be able to drink salt water?”

"Stop acting like you’re the normal ones! Why would anyone want to drink salt water?“

Phil hadn’t realized, but he’d been stepping forwards, getting closer to the siren. He saw Dan’s eyes widened, then he lashed out, pulling himself up and whipping his tail around, knocking Phil off of his feet. Phil yelped as he collapsed.

Apparently, Dan could move fast on land when he wanted to. Within a moment he was on top of Phil, grappling with him and trying to pin him down.

Phil tried to slide out from under him, fighting and slapping his hands away. Dan’s tail was extremely heavy, even heavier than he’d previously thought.

Dan grabbed something off to his side, and raised it above his head, preparing to strike. Phil processed it in a split second- the gleam of the blade, the way it was still stained from dark blue blood- and before he knew what he was doing, he’d knocked it out of Dan’s hand. It fell into the pool with a plop.

Dan jumped off of him, reaching out to the water desperately. "That was our only weapon.”

Phil sat up, moving away from the siren in a hurry. “Yeah, well you should’ve have tried to stab me!”

"You shouldn’t have been preparing to attack me!”

"I wasn’t!”

"Oh really?“ Dan mocked him, squaring his shoulders and sitting up straighter. "You stood up, made yourself look tall and then stalked towards me. If that’s not preparing for an attack, I don’t know what is!”

"I was just arguing with you! I wasn’t going to attack you!“

Dan’s tail fin fanned out fully, unfolding into a huge fan. He cursed in a language Phil didn’t recognize, and quickly retracted them. "It doesn’t matter. What is done is done.”

He rolled over onto his back, still scowling. “You humans. You’re always right, aren’t you?”

Phil was careful to sit down, not wanting to make the same mistake as last time. “What do you have against humans?”

“Everything. Do you even know how much of a global footprint you leave? You’re killing our earth.“

“Well, you’re… you’re… you’re over hunting the fish!” Phil retorted. In reality, he hadn’t known sirens even existed until the day prior, much less how they affected the environment. But based off of the offended expression Dan made, he’d hit a sore spot.

“For your information, we work very hard to conserve our species diversity. The Tecopa fish extinction was an accident! Things like that can’t always be avoided!”

“Excuses excuses.”

“Don’t act all innocent, we may have caused the extinction of Tecopa, but your species killed the Dodo bird! Do you know how upset I was when I found that out?”

“The dodo bird has been dead for centuries!”

“How long do you think it took me to figure that out?“

Phil paused, his eyes growing wide. “How old are you?”

Dan gnawed on his bottom lip. The longer he hesitated, the more Phil freaked out. Could he actually have been alive when the dodo bird was around? Was he a hundred years old? Two hundred?

“I’m twenty-five.“

“Oh.”

“Do I look old to you?“

“No! You look… young, in fact.”

“Young?“

“Good! You look- good, like, not little or anything-”

“Are you calling me fat?“

Phil covered his face with his hands. Dan didn’t say anything for a few moments, then scooted over, the sound of his tail dragging on sand obvious and entirely without grace.

Dan tapped on his arm. "Phil!” He whispered urgently. He still pronounced it sort of wrong, like he was trying to say Feel. “It was supposed to be a joke! I forgot how delicate humans are!”

"Oh, shut up.“ Phil moved his hands away from his face, smiling at the ground beside him.

Dan poked at his arm again, equally urgently. "How old are you?”

Phil brushed aside his fringe, looking at the boy’s troublemaker face. “Twenty-nine. Almost thirty.”

"How long do humans tend to live?“

"You know about ecological footprints but you don’t have how long humans live?”

Dan shook his head.

"Guess.“

"Um… Forty years.”

"Higher.“

"Four-hundred years.”

"Lower.“

"Two hundred?”

"Usually around seventy,“ Phil supplied, "But it depends. My grandpa lived to ninety-three. How long do sirens usually live?”

Dan shrugged. “I don’t actually really know. No one really dies of natural causes, it usually because of predators or fishing nets, that sort of thing.”

Phil licked his lips. They were beginning to crack. He needed water soon. “That’s… pretty sad, actually.”

He shrugged again. “Depends on how you look at it. On the bright side, no one ever really grows old. You’re as strong as you are strong for, and survive as long as you can survive for. Then, when you aren’t strong enough anymore… nature takes its course.” He was playing with a shell in the sand, digging in it absently. “How many sharks?”

Phil peered over. “Three. They’re closer to the surface now.” He leaned down a bit more. “They’re a lot closer, actually. And… I think there’s more underneath.”

"That’s weird. There’s no reason for-“ Dan stopped mid-sentence, his face going even paler, if that was possible. "Oh no. The knife. Did it have any of my blood on it still?”

Phil’s eyes widened. “Yeah. But there was just a little-”

"That’s all they need,“ Dan mourned. "They know I’m here, and they’ll be desperate for a taste. No way they’re leaving anytime soon now.”

Phil’s stomach turned over. His mouth tasted like salt water and sandpaper. “How long?”

"Dunno. But we might have to find another way out.“

In perfect unison, they both looked up at the hole in the cave ceiling.

—-

It was the next day. Phil felt faint and light-headed, and his stomach and head ached.

They talked quietly. Every so often, a fin would break the surface of the water. The shark would swim a few slow laps, testing it out, and then submerge once more. Every time one came that far up, their conversation paused, and didn’t resume until it disappeared again.

Meanwhile, Dan tried to convince Phil to climb the cave walls. "It’s our only option!”

"Dan, do you see them? There’s no way I’ll be able to without falling in!”

Dan huffed, his caudal fin bouncing up and down in agitation. It was partially unfolded, maybe half of its full size, and every once in awhile it twitched, closing and opening like the shutter of a camera. Though he didn’t complain, Phil knew Dan was suffering the effects of hunger as well. He was incredibly skinny, only muscle and bones. Maybe he stored fat in his tail, energy to use for later.

If they were stuck in the cave for much longed, Dan would survive for more time than Phil would. He wasn’t suffering from dehydration; he still could drink the ocean water, while Phil knew better. He couldn’t filter out the salt like the siren could, it would just make everything so much worse.

They stopped arguing as a shark’s dorsal fin peaked through the water. Phil could see its full body through the thin layer of water; it was probably almost as long as he was, and much wider. And there were even bigger ones lower, ones that couldn’t fit in the little pool easily and had to wait further down.

It’s fin submerged, and they continued. "It’s our only chance,” Dan argued. “If we stay here, we’ll die. If we try to swim out, we’ll definitely die. You especially, with your deformed…. foot things. This is the only chance we have.”

Phil stared up at the ceiling, at least a dozen meters up. “What good would it do you? It’s not like you could get out that way.”

"True,“ Dan agreed, "But you could give me provisions. Lower them down. Food, maybe a weapon. Trust me, I don’t like the odds much either, but it’s our best bet.”

"I won’t. I can’t do it Dan, I can’t…. what’s that noise?“

Dan tried for a blank expression. "What noise?”

Phil was looking around, desperate to find it. “Its…. it’s music! Don’t you hear it? It’s… a piano!”

Dan shrugged, not saying anything. His fingers tapped out a gentle melody against the sand, and he watched as Phil’s eyes widened, and then looked up.

"It’s coming from up there,“ he realized. "I have to find it.”

His hands were already on the rocks, searching for hand holds. He soon pulled himself up, his feet finding holds.

He climbed slowly towards the source of music, getting increasingly frustrated the longer it took. “I have to find it…”

Meanwhile, the sharks grew more agitated. They churned, going up to the surface and dipping back down. Two sharks circled, tail to tail, and Dan scooted away from the water, his breathing increasing. His fingers didn’t stop tapping, tapping so lightly he was hardly touching the sand.

Phil grunted. His hands were shaking slightly, whether from the stress of not being with the noise or the exertion it wasn’t know. Possibly- likely- both.

He was so high that the cave walls had sloped over the pool. If he were to fall, he’d fall into the shark-infested waters.

Dan began humming, a low and quiet melody that went along with the gentle tapping of piano keys. Phil cried out, grabbing for another ledge, only centimeters deep. He forcibly pulled himself up. He was only holding on out of pure willpower.

Dan’s willpower, to be exact.

Over the courage of a few long, painful minutes, Phil managed to climb the increasingly steep cave walls. At the top, it was too smooth for him to find a single handhold, so he jumped. Dan caught his breath as he leaped, pushing up and away from the wall, hands reaching out frantically for the edge of the crater.

He grabbed it, swinging as he gripped onto it with both hands, trying to pull himself up. Dan exhaled, “You’ve got this!”

But he realized too late. Dan’s fingers were idle, and the music was replaced with an eerie, ringing silence.

Phil’s eyes snapped open, like they’d been closed the whole time. His grip loosened, and he dropped like a stone into the frothing water.

—-

It happened too fast for Dan to have time to make a decision. He had to go with his gut, and before Phil had even completely hit the water Dan’s gut was throwing himself over the edge into the water. He grabbed Phil and swam.

The sharks were so surprised that for a split second, maybe a fourth of a second, they didn’t react. Then they pounced.

But by then, Dan was already at the bottom of the pool, swimming with all his might and tearing out of the cave and into the open ocean. He didn’t dare look back, but knew that the sharks were right on his tail- literally.

Phil was limp in his grasp, his legs bumping against Dan’s tail with every beat of it. Dan could feel Phil’s heart beating through his tshirt- or maybe that was his own heartbeat, thumpthumpthumping in his head.

He risked glancing behind him as a shark opened its huge maw, ready to snap. Dan dove to the side, barely avoiding having his flipper bitten off entirely. His caudal fin was completely unfolded, beating against the water as his body gyrated rapidly, swimming so fast he could hardly breathe.

Another sharp snapped at him, and he dove to the side, narrowly slipping in between two outcroppings of rocks. The waters were becoming more and more dangerous, floating with pollution. Huge outcroppings of rock jutted out from beneath the seafloor, and Dan swam in between them, his entire body made for this type of swimming. Still, the sharks gained. He only had a little time before he made a wrong move and then it was over- for both him and the limp boy in his arms.

Dan ducked under a piece of sinking wreckage, weaving in and out of the huge rock formations so fast that his tail whipped against one of them, stinging with pain.

Phil was so limp in his arms that he wondered if the boy was even still alive. Then Dan cursed- he’d forgotten humans couldn’t breathe underwater! How long did he have? Surely, Phil could survive another few minutes, right?

A shark grabbed part of his tail, and Dan wanted to scream as a section of his caudal fin was ripped off, tearing like tissue paper. He swam faster, looking for anything, anywhere he could go to ditch them…

He spotted it. It was too far up, but he’d have to make it work. With a ginormous shark right on his tail, Dan dove to the bottom of the sea. At the very last moment, he arched his back and curved, swimming upwards with more force than he’d ever used in his entire life.

They broke the surface of the water with so much speed they soared upwards, then fell to the earth and landed on an outcropping of grassy land with a horrible thump. Dan felt Phil slip from his hands, and without any way to stop himself, tumbled a few meters down a grassy hill, sputtering and grunting as his body pounded against the ground.

Finally, he came to a stop as they land flattened out. He slowly did one last roll, then managed to groan and stop himself on his back. The sun was so bright it was almost blinding; the sky was so blue it was as if it was trying to imitate the sea.

Dan coughed, sitting up. He flexed his caudal fin, slowly extending it to its full length. He’d only lost a small section. It left the end of his fin torn and ripped at, but he knew it would still work, and since it was his fin instead of his actual tail, he didn’t lose any blood.

Up on the hill, Phil was finishing throwing up bile. He stood, shakier than ever, and turned, looking down the hill to where Dan lay in a heap, covered in grass and out of the water, but still very much alive.

12 Days Of Prompts Masterlist / Fic Masterlist / Request A Fic

#mermaid #merman #siren #au #ocean #water #sharks #caudal #dansPHlevels #fanfic #fanfiction #phanfic #phanfiction #phan #prompt #prompts

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elsewhereuniversity · 7 years ago

Text

The Hesitant Zones

“I want to ask you something.” Trench told her roommate. Not-Chad sat on his bed, contorted beyond human limits, his shining eyes (green and blue like stormy arctic sea, without pupils or irises) unblinking,producing sounds that should be impossible for any type of mouth (or machine) to produce. He was holding flowers and cookies Joshua from second floor brought him, so she supposed that was cooing.

Chad was gone for half year already, which was honestly all well by Trench. He never cleaned the room, and always brought his loud, annoying friends over. She had no idea why he was taken, and didn’t care. Not-Chad was clean, great help with homework and even since he moved in, Joshua, who was one of best chemistry majors on whole campus ever started helping her with her projects- she thought he would bail out once he learnt what Not-Chad was, or Not-Chad would curse him, but changeling lavished in pathetic romantic wooing and Joshua stopped wearing iron, so Trench counted herself lucky.

“I guessed so. You brought me thirteen raspberry tarts yesterday.So what zones do you want to talk about?” Again, luck had rained upon her. Trench was forbidden major, as were many biologists, but smart one. She didn’t try to figure out how fae worked-she doubted something like that was even possible with magic. Instead, she gathered information about their world and customs, by giving fae treats in exchange for stories.

Fae saw nothing wrong with that. They got presents in exchange for talking about their favorite subject-themselves. They would talk, and Trench would separate pearls from useless chatting. Not-Chad happened to be quite talkative fae (some sort of shape shifting merman, she found out) who didn’t waste words on useless information. In exchange for cakes, he would tell her about structure of his universe, The Elsewhere itself. For sake of metaphor, and because she was marine biologist and he sea fae, they called different regions of Elsewhere zones.

“About hadopelagic, demersal and benthic.” Not-Chad froze, and turned towards her, his glamour flickering so she could see his toned chest, silver skin, gills and long bioluminescent hair.

“What?”

“You heard me. Spit it out..”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said that Elsewhere is like ocean. That it has just as many zones. That each zone contains stronger powers, that each one is less defined and more deadly to lesser beings. But abyssopelagic zone isn’t bottom of ocean. There are three more. So what dwells there?” Mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones contained things that didn’t bow to Courts, creatures best described as sentient archetypes and natural personifications, godlike fae who could freeze and burn and shatter the whole world. Abyssopelagic zone contained True Royalty.

She couldn’t imagine what horrible, mad things existed beyond them. But she had to know.

“No. All food in world wouldn’t be enough for such information. You could bring me everything edible in world and it wouldn’t be enough.” He wasn’t joking, Trench knew and paled. Fae considered many things edible. Cakes, infants, diamonds,dreams, radiation.

“What would be?”

“No.” He trembled as he whispered that word, too caught in imagining what he knew and wouldn’t give her. That information would bring her fame, and more importantly, save so many lives. If they knew more about fae, they could protect themselves better.

“You will tell me.” Not- Chad’s teeth became those of shark, and mist surrounded him as glow of his eyes intensified.

“YOU WILL NOT THREATEN ME, MORTAL.”

“Nor will you harm me, Innglu-Sakkan.” She spoke, and Not-Chad fell on floor upon sound of his Name.

“How..”

“A birdie gave me that name for a price.” He snarled, his spit red like corals.

“ Sentry-Mary!” He spat out.

“Yes.” Trench confirmed with smile upon her face. “They gave me this sweet name in exchange for my hesitation. Such a bargain.” Fool, Not-Chad thought.Hesitation gives conscience, holds base instincts in check, brings terror and caution. It is child of fear and wisdom, and you need to lose both to lose hesitation. It saves lives. And souls.

“Now, if you don’t tell me what I need to know, I will have you kill your pretty boy toy.” Old Trench would have never demanded that. But Trench had no fear, no doubt anymore that she was right.

“His roommate is very embittered knight. Hates your people. And so gullible. But big iron mace. I will just need to sob, and order you not to properly defend yourself, and I won’t even need to order you to keep your mouth shut. You could spill all beans and she wouldn’t believe you. Your friends won’t protect you because you broke Treaty.”

Fool, he thought. Giving names of their rivals to humans was discouraged and frowned upon, but not forbidden. Sentry-mary would keep quiet, but once word got out that he was gone, they would connect dots and go to Court. Trench and Joshua’s knight would be nothing but petals on wind.

“How do I know you won’t get rid of me either way?”

“You don’t. But I have no need to dispose of you. You are far more useful as source of information. Now free.’‘

’'This information won’t come free. There are laws even power of Name cannot overrule. You need to give up something to know about Great Ones.”

“Very well. What?” She said with frown. Old Trench would have considered it.

“There is somebody I want to protect.They are my… ..” He spoke some word her ears couldn’t process. He sometimes did that, when word couldn’t be explained by any human language. “ That child is very dear to me. Promise me they will always have place withing your family, as equal as yours.” You will be gone, forgotten by world, and creature of myth and dream will take your place, and none will know.

“That is all? I accept. Now speak.” Old Trench would have understood, would have gotten meaning of words.

“There are indeed three more zones, or layers as some call them.‘He cried as he spoke. Whisper released power that rattled Trench’s bones and echoed across all fae in world. Silence deeper than that of space filled room, and all light was extinguished, and Trench could feel water pour down her throat as hundred fae rattled door and windows ( it wasn’t salt and iron that stopped them. None may interrupt until information about Royalty was given out. After…). had Trench still any hesitation left, ounce of fear and wisdom, her heart would have been filled with such dread that it would have given out (yet she could feel shadow of horror, but ignored it).

’'They too are inhabited by the Great Ones. they aren’t nobles as you know that word, or we for that matter. They are enormous, and unreal, and too powerful for your reality to contain. They play no games and fear no charm. They are predators, and like ocean, they take what they want when they want how they want. They swim and devour, and only beware of those who are bigger, stronger than they. All of us bow to them, and only time they join with each other is when they form packs to tear stronger foe to pieces.

But for sake of metaphor, think of it like this. Abyssal zone is for princes, and archdukes, and despots. Hadal is for high kings,devarajas and pharaohs. The demersal zone is for emperors, tsars and great chiefs.” His kinsmen break through, army of shadow too many of them to fit in room yet they all do.

“And benthic? What creatures dwell there?” Trench asks, uncaring of cold fingers that grasp her limbs.

“A creature, or perhaps the creature. You have your God. We have our Queen, the Queen of Queens, She Who Dreams.” He says as strong jaws bite down on his shoulders.

“What does she dream?” Trench asks, not even noticing claws that rip beneath her ribs (but she notices alien, uncaring light streaming in through window, stronger than that of Sun, and her blood knows fear again).

“Stars and oceans. Life and death. Destiny and desire. You and me.” Changeling speaks as shadows devour him.

“She dreams everything.”

#irleughlivelyatalanteangodfan #stories #royalty #the hesitant zones #not chad #trench #it’s COOING that’s really cute #the list of edible things on the other hand is NOT CUTE but i love it #ohhhhhhhh this is magnificent and chilling #submission

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chut-je-dors · 8 years ago

Photo

First drawn on iPad, then at the halfway of the colouring process I moved to work on the computer. I’m a sucker for mermaid!aus, so of course I needed one for McLennon. I only used watercolour brushes + a crayon brush, and topped it with a watercolour texture in the background. Read more for the 2300 word story that I wrote to accompany this!

Paulos, the youngest son of King Triton, is forbidden from going on land. Ever since the kingdom of Atlantis lost its queen, Mary, to a mysterious disease, King Triton has strictly refused from letting anyone ashore. There is nothing else that Paulos wants, though, his curiosity too strong.

After a vicious fight with his father, once again about this same subject, Paulos runs into a merwitch. She suggests that he goes on land, without telling anyone.

“What your father does not know, will not hurt him, my boy.”

Paulos follows the tug in his heart and rises from the sea, scrambles on a shore in the middle of a night. Mermagic, something that other merpeople possess more strongly than others, allows his tail to transform into legs. He stumbles his way over to the nearest city, fascinated and curious about the new world.

Three days later he returns to the sea; and there he is met by the seawitch, who tells him that the kingdom thinks Paulos ran away, and that King Triton has died from grief -something not entirely unusual for merpeople.

“You cannot return to the sea,” she tells him. “Do not even set a foot in the water.”

Paulos, shocked and mortified, turns and does not look back.

Paulos meets someone after having spent a week on the streets, mourning, his life crumbled down. The boy throws him a sandwich with a smile on his face, and takes Paulos to his place. Paulos cannot speak English, but little by little, he learns. He learns about the boy, John, as well. He wants to learn more.

“What is your name, then?” John asks, curiosity embedded into his expression. Paulos thinks, not able to pronounce his real name with the letters of humans.

He searches for the right word.

“Pa-Paol-” he grimaces, and John laughs.

“Paul?” he asks, and Paulos stops trying, and smiles, nods. It’s good enough, and John looks so happy when he says it, finally able to call him by his name.

Paulos becomes Paul.

They have a large circle of friends -John, mainly, and he pulls Paul in. Two years have passed, and Paul feels at home with John. He is afraid, as well.

The soul of merpeople is set to break in two before they are born. The two pieces of one soul are meant to be together again, and thus, a merman only loves once, and only wants for one. That is how Lord Poseidon, Paul’s grandfather, decided when the first merman, King Triton, was born. A merman, or a mermaid, can wait for their other half for centuries. Some are born at the same time, more often one has to wait. King Triton waited for Queen Mary for thousands of years.

Paul knows that John is his other half.

He is afraid, because it is not right for his Chosen one to be human. But he loves John, and wants John.

But John is human, and humans do not have Chosen ones.

Paul’s friends decide to play a prank on him. Paul does not swim, because his legs become a tail once he is under water. He always stays ashore, listening to music and reading a book, when the others swim.

His friends grab him, and despite him screaming, terror entering his voice, they carry him into water.

“He’s afraid of water, you idiots!” John is shouting, further away from everyone else. Paul is thrown into the water, and he sinks.

“C’mon, it’s barely three feet deep there,” someone says.

“How isn’t he up already?” another wonders.

Paul comes up, gasping, splashing, and his silvery tail is visible to everyone when he tries to get away from the water in panic. Shocked sounds are heard everywhere, but Paul does not care. Because-

The water rises and King Triton is hovering above them, water holding him up. The air crackles around him, the trident in his hand glowing blue light.

“You have betrayed your people,” King Triton says, and Paul is shaking, trying to get back to the shore. Everyone else is running away, except John, who dashes forward, towards Paul. He shouts Paul’s name, and water slides tightly around Paul, lifts him up, choking him.

“You have betrayed me,” King Triton thunders, and Paul tries to get away from the water’s magic grip in vain. He cannot understand what has happened- how did everything come to pass. His father is still alive.

John’s feet touch the water, and he starts to wade through it to where Paul is hanging in the air. He calls Paul’s name, panic etched into his voice, shock and fear in his expression.

Paul shouts at him, to stay away, to run. Paul cannot lose him, not like he can himself. John is important; not like Paul who has managed to destroy everything he held dear in this world. King Triton thinks he abandoned merpeople- but instead of dying from grief, he has lost his sensible mind. Paul prays to Lord Poseidon that his father could find himself again.

King Triton looks at John with storm and lightning in his eyes, points the trident at him, and John comes to a full stop.

“You will feel the pain that I have from you abandoning merpeople. It is all the fault of humans, in the end.”

Water pours out of John’s mouth, and he chokes, coughs, more water coming out. He cannot breathe, and he brings hands to his chest. He is drowning, standing knee-high in the sea, and Paul loses himself.

He screams, and writhes, and his body jerks when a sob comes through. He sobs out John’s name, and tears run down his cheeks when he looks at John fighting, water filling the man’s lungs from inside.

Paul drops to the sea, and without thinking, he dashes towards John, grabs him, and pulls them to the shore. John waves on his feet, falls down and then vomits, water pouring out.

Paul sobs, and holds him, his tail turning into legs again, and looks up at his father.

The King looks at him with a strange expression, the swirl of water that holds him up becomes less powerful, lowering him slightly.

“He is your Chosen one,” he says, and Paul nods, cries, holds John tighter when the other’s body jerks with his coughs. There is no water anymore inside of him -it disappeared, just like Paul’s restraints as well.

King Triton’s expression is, for one second, defeated. Then it hardens and he looks at Paul, the storm back in his clear blue eyes.

“If you, or he, ever touch the sea, you will be locked under Atlantis for the rest of all time, and he will drown.”

And he leaves, and Paul sobs against John, and John puts a hand on his back and coughs one last time, sounding exhausted.

“You have a lot to explain,” he says, and Paul cries even harder.

Merpeople do not cry. Sadness, for them, becomes physical pain, but they do not cry.

Paul does not know what he is, anymore.

He wipes out the memory of almost everyone at the shore. He is skilled enough in mermagic, and possesses an indescribable amount of power. He is a direct descendant of Lord Poseidon, a god, and one day the trident might have been his.

Not anymore.

They leave the shore, he, John, and a couple of friends that deserve to know. Otherwise all this could happen again. Paul tells them everything -except for John being his Chosen one.

They take it fairly well. After three hours John is able to crack a joke or few about Paul being technically a fish. Paul is in a silent shock, and he doubts it will leave in a moment.

A year passes, and John suggests they move to London. He has got a job offer from a record shop. Paul goes wherever John does, and so they leave Liverpool. John’s aunt Mimi hates them for doing that, and vows to never talk to John again for abandoning her. Paul wonders how different their families can be, and at the same time so similar.

Paul gets a job from the London Zoo. His ability to work with sea animals is astounding, and he is happy there. The fish call him Prince Paulos, because every sea creature can see who he is. He has said that he is not a prince anymore, but the fish feel more comfortable in their captivity when he allows them to call him like that.

John cooks chocolate cake every Sunday, and gets better and better with it. Paul loves those cakes, and loves human food, since merpeople mostly eat seaweeds and other plants. Those have always tasted bland, especially now that Paul has got to know the joy called spicy food.

Life is good, since they do not dwell in the past, and do not think of the future. Sometimes John looks at Paul with such a fond gaze that Paul wonders whether John could love him back. It is illegal in the human world, though, two men together. So Paul does nothing, and enjoys life as well as he can.

John gets a letter from America. It is from his father, who left him and his mother when he was not even born yet. Alfred writes that he is dying, and wants to see John once before he goes.

Paul makes the decision for John, and reserves two tickets on a ship.

“But what if your father-” John tries when Paul is packing, doing John’s work for him as well.

“Don’t be daft,” Paul says cheerfully, although he feels slightly weak in the stomach. “Technically we’re not in the water.”

John just looks worried, his fingers curling into fists.

Paul loves being on the sea. He stands on the deck with the wind hitting his scandalously long hair. It is a regular haircut for a merman, but amongst humans it was met with wide eyes and scowls. John quickly took it from him, though, and it became a running joke between them. The fish hair, John would say at the barber, and then laugh at his confused expression.

The first half of the journey goes well. Paul gets more and more nervous as they approach Atlantis. He knows that his father cannot find him as long as he does not touch the water, and then as well he has a chance of cheating a bit. He knows mermagic, which will be used to capture him, and he knows how to defend himself. He used to be His Royal Highness, Prince Paulos of Atlantis and the Seven Seas; he knows how to stand for himself, and for others as well.

One evening Paul is in the cabin he and John share, reading a book. The ship tilts, completely out of nowhere, and Paul almost falls off the bed. He manages to keep himself in, and looks up, alarmed.

Then the bells start ringing, and he knows that things are going bad.

He remembers John mentioning of going for a smoke. He lets out a small, terrified sound, and rushes to his feet, scrambling to get out of the suddenly strongly waving room. He runs up on the deck as fast as he can, avoiding other people, and pushes out through a doorway.

The storm is bigger than what he’s ever seen before. The waves are huge, raising up so high that they could even reach the deck. The ship is making its way through them steadily, but people are trying to get inside as quickly as they can, yelling at each other.

Paul spots John, coming towards the stairs with his hand on the rail, and then a wave comes.

Paul watches how John’s eyes widen before water falls upon him. Paul shouts, dashes forward, people are screaming. The wave withdraws lazily, and Paul’s heart falls down into the pit of his stomach.

The deck is empty; John is not there.

Paul turns to look at the sea and does not hesitate for a second.

He runs forward, ignores somebody shouting ‘stop him!’ and jumps over the rail.

He meets the water with a deep inhale, feels his legs pull together and his clothes disappear with the mermagic taking over, and he opens his eyes.

John is going down. He is unconscious, and the water is pulling him towards the darkness that is not dark to Paul. The current is strange, and certainly not one that should be here at this time of the year, but Paul ignores it in the favour of concentrating on John. He needs to get his love on the surface before it is too late; if John dies, Paul has nothing left, and he will go as well.

He swims after John, heart thudding against his chest. They are way too deep -Paul knows he cannot get up in time. His fingers close around John’s wrist and he pulls, looking up. The surface is too far away.

“Come on,” he calls out to John, just for the comfort. He takes John into his arms and starts swimming up, against the current, John lifeless in his hands.

Paul knows he cannot make it. John has been under water too long already.

He looks at John’s face, at his beautiful features, and his stomach turns into knots.

He cannot lose John.

The words come from deep within, a spell that he did not even know existed pours out. He holds John against him, and something golden lights up. Paul feels the familiar pull of mermagic in his heart and he shouts the last words breathlessly, and there is a silver flash of light that blinds Paul momentarily, and then he looks up.

John is floating above him, still unconscious, his body curling backwards. Paul looks at him, and- looks again.

John’s tail is the most beautiful he’s ever seen.

#..........so #i've been thinking about this for at least two years #and i've always had this image in my head of john and paul just after john has become a merman #and that image is just delicious #and so i just needed to draw it #and i just couldn't give you the drawing without explaining it now can i?#............so i wrote this 2k fic #which basically means #i have enough material for this au to write a 200k fic #i'm not even kidding #but.............i'm not gonna do that probably #i just had to get this out of my system #now i can concentrate on other things #hahahah #anyway #the story is probably crap but i kinda like paul's tail #i painted it and went 'wow'#'hang on a sec. i did that?'#'cheers mate'#hahah #my fic #my drawing #beatles #beatles art #beatles fic #mclennon #mclennon fic #mclennon art #mclennon fanfic #john/paul

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onearmedmechanic · 8 years ago

Text

Washed Up

Bingo Squares: Mermaids, Sand in uncomfortable places, Seashells & Starfish

This was a little rushed haha

I haven't had much time to work on entries but I’ll throw in what I've got

There was a storm. He remembered that much.

Huge waves, higher than mountains, that came down with the force of angry gods. Rain that came from all directions and wind that cut straight through the sails like razors. The captain had shouted himself raw issuing orders even as the rain drowned out his voice. He fought against the wheel as if sheer stubbornness could keep his ship from sinking.

He would stay behind. He would go down with her.

That’s what captains did.

Jack had made his peace with death a long time ago and he was ready to face the storm; but as his body sank towards the ocean floor the sea wasn’t ready to take him quite yet. He vaguely remembered a shadowed shape and strong arms on his torso. Then he was breathing again.

Jack groaned aloud, rolling over. The last few hours were hazy but his memory was starting to return as he pushed himself upright, coughing seawater out of his lungs.Jack cursed lightly as he stood to his feet, brushing sand out of his hair and knocking a starfish off of his shoulder.

“Sorry little guy.” Jack remarked to the starfish, tossing it towards the beach as he looked around. He had washed up on a tropical island, with a lush forest and sugar sand beach that stretched on for a ways in both directions. Jack let out another very vulgar curse when he saw what had become of his ship.

She wasn’t smashed to pieces like he had predicted but she was perched safely and mostly intact a few yards up shore and from what he could see. There was no way he could get her back in the water by himself.

Not even with most of his crew. There wouldn’t even be a chance to try until the tide came back in. Dammit.

“Son of a taint.” Jack groaned again as he pushed a hand through his stiff and sandy hair.

The captain turned on the heel of his boot, searching for some sign of his rescuer. It had to have been one of his crew members. There was no way the ocean carried him all the way here and he distinctly remembered the feeling of hands as he was pulled from the water.

A soft groan made Jack pause, going completely still as he searched for the source of the noise.

It was too dainty to be any of his crew and he surely would have recognized their bodies against the pale sand.

But as he surveyed the landscape again he found it, mismatched eyes swinging towards the beach they landed on a rare sight.

Laying on the sand, close enough to the beach for the waves to gently lap at the sparkling blue tail, was a merman.

He was laying face down but the gentle movements of his chest insinuated that he was still alive. Jack took the moment of quiet to study the little thing.

There wasn’t much he could see but it was so rare to find merfolk of any kind that he took what he could get.

The first thing that caught his attention was his tail, Jack had seen a few of them in his time but all of them had been dead and stuffed, this one was beautiful. The most beautiful he had seen as it sparkled and glimmered in the sunshine like a thousand rare jewels. His hair was a soft reddish-brown color and it was easily long enough to run your fingers through. Jack barely resisted the urge to reach down and do so.

From what Jack could see, the merman had pale blue tattoos swirling over his left arm and the left side of his torso.

So he was a siren. Huh.

Jack didn’t move as the merman began to stir, letting out a soft noise of pain and attempting to push himself upright.

“Ugh, i think i have sand in my gills.” The little thing groaned to himself as he came to, apparently unaware of Jack’s presence.

“Need some help, kitten?” Jack smirked when the merman looked up at the captain with a look of pure terror, a gasp escaping his lips.

Oh this was just too precious.

Jack chuckled as he locked his mismatched gaze with the equally unmatched eyes of the siren. Brown and blue eyes, shining with fear.

This merman would fetch a high price to anyone with a brain and a wallet… If Jack was willing to let this opportunity slip past him.

Speaking of, the merman was carefully trying to push himself back into the waves without Jack noticing, but the captain’s eye was sharper than most and he simply hooked the toe of his boot into the crook of the mermans elbow and pulled him back so that the waves were no longer touching him.

“Oh no you don’t. We need to have a little chat before i can let you go, sweetheart.” If i'm going to let you go.

“What do you want?” The merman frowned, his eyebrows knitting together and he looked adorably angry, his arms propping him up on the sand.

“Aw don’t be rude, cutie. Let’s start with your name. I'm Jack.” Jack couldn’t keep the smug smirk off of his face at the knowledge that he had the upper hand against the merman.

“Rhys.” The merman replied. Blinking his pretty brown and blue eyes at the pirate.

“Nice to meet you, Rhysie.” Jack crooned.

There wasn’t much to be known about merfolk because it was rare that a human survived an encounter with one. According to legend they were told to be able to bend the ocean to their will and pull massive storms out of thin air. That would explain what happened last night, but not how Jack survived and certainly not how his ship remained intact and operable. Hell if he was lucky maybe he could get the merman to float it back out to sea, and if he was really lucky he could get the merman on it before the little thing slipped back into the ocean.

Sirens were especially rare and had the ability to hypnotize and seduce sailors causing them to crash to their deaths, those who survived were driven mad with love.

But now, Jack had one all to himself.

“You’re Captain Jack, aren’t you?” The merman said, apparently his curiosity getting the best of him. Jack didn’t miss the way his eyes tracked the arch of his scar, as if confirming his own question.

“Indeed I am.” Jack nodded. “Heard of me?”

“Everyone has.” Rhys dropped his eyes, worrying his bottom lip just slightly.

“Have they? So tell me cupcake…” Jack squatted down to get closer to the merman’s level. “What does a captain need to do in order for one cute little merman to float his ship back into the water?” Jack picked up Rhys’ chin, forcing the young man to look him in the eye.

“What makes you think that i can put it back?” Rhys frowned again, quirking one eyebrow up. He certainly was catty for someone whose very survival lied in the hands of a bloodthirsty pirate.

“Because if you don’t…” Jack pulled a wicked looking knife out of his belt and tapped the blade to his own temple with a serene smile “Then I’ll give you one to match.” He didn’t have to threaten Rhys very hard. If the kid knew about him then tales of his violence often followed his name.

This seemed to be the case for the merman, whose eyes widened with fear. Jack watched his adam’s apple bob in that skinny pale throat.

“And if you try to skip out on me, i will hunt you down and hang you on my wall.” Jack threatened with a wicked smile.

“O-okay. A-and if i fix your boat, you’ll let me go?” The young merman’s voice wavered a little.

“Sure, kiddo.” Jack nodded.

“Help me sit up.” Rhys couldn’t flip himself over and Jack assisted him so that he was facing the ocean.

It took a few moments for anything to change. When it did start to change it didn't look like much. The wind came harder and as Jack’s eyes left the merman the clouds above them churned and swirled as if they were alive. With the wind whipping his hair about Jack started to see the tide come in quicker almost as if it was breathing. The young mermans tattoos began to glow as a massive wave crested and dragged the ship back out into safe waters, taking the anchor with it and waiting patiently for its captain.

Jack noticed Rhys breathing hard as the tides returned to normal levels and the storm clouds dissipated.

“Good job kid.” Jack said as he grabbed Rhys’ arm, pulling him away from the beach.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” The merman exclaimed as he was dragged away from the water, from his only escape route. “We had a deal!”

“I said I would let you go, i never said when.” Jack grinned as a look of fury spread across Rhys’ face. “You should be more careful when negotiating with a pirate.” Rhys scowled at the pirate grabbing a seashell and throwing it at the older man, hitting him in the temple.

“You little shit.” Jack caught the next one that was hurled at him but a third hit him in the chest. Reaching down he grabbed the kid’s wrist. “Knock it off.” Jack growled.

“Or what?” Rhys spat, acting like a petulant little child.

“Guess.” The threat must have hit home because Jack watched the merman’s eyes trace the arc of his scar. Whatever snarky quip was next on the line up died in his throat and he dropped the pretty seashell in his hand.

Jack shrugged off his jacket, dropping it into the sand so that he could take off his belt with every intention of tying the merman to a tree until he could locate the rest of his crew or at least a long boat.

“Captain!” he heard a voice call for him and he turned in the direction of the forest.

“Wilhelm?” Jack replied, almost shocked to find that there were any crewmen left, he had been so consumed with his new find that it had slipped his mind. It wasn’t hard to mistake the sound of his massive first mate tromping through the underbrush and the captain looked down at his merman and told him to stay. Rhys scowled at him but with nowhere to go he had no choice but to stay or risk crawling back to the beach.

“Fine.” Rhys snapped and Jack took off towards the sound of his first mate. He caught up with Wilhelm a few yards into the jungle. He was flanked by two of the crew.

“How many did we lose?” Jack asked right away.

“Only 3.” Wilhelm affirmed. “I managed to get them rounded up. The ship?”

“A little banged up but she should be able to make it back to Opportunity without any trouble.” Jack said, taking in the appearance of his first mate. “Come with me, I’ve got something to show ya.” The captain motioned for only Wilhelm to follow.

Jack rounded the trees to show off his new find to his first mate when Rhys looked up at them. He was sitting in the sand, Jack’s coat clutched to his very naked form.

He looked up at Jack with scared, wide eyes. His hair was a mess and there were tears sparkling in his eyes.

It was a strange sight but what caught Jack’s eye was the long pretty legs folded up underneath him.

“My my my…” Jack smirked at the kid. “What have we here?”

#BLSummerBingo2017 #mermaids #seashells #starfish #sand in uncomfortable places #Rhys the Company man #rhys borderlands #Handsome Jack #pirates

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