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thecardsimagine · 6 years ago

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Of shipwrecks and seafoam

Summary: Let me tell you a story about a pirate and a merman, finding a love that goes beyond insecurities and death. Let yourself be taken away onto a journey about doubt and secrets, understanding and a bond that even goes beyond the deep blue of the ocean.

Pairing: Merman!Julian Devorak x Pirate!Reader (Nonbinary) Rating: Mature because of swearing and suggestive content Warning: Blood, Death, Killing Genre: Romance, Drama, Alternate Universe

a/n: Hey, this is my mermaid fic with finally some mermaids! Amazing, really great, what a big surprise! Tired after editing this chapter, but I look forward to your comments and thoughts to the chapter! Let me know ^-^

Chapter 2 - Ideas and Encounters

You didn't know how long the wreck of a dream occurred to you. It must have been many hours until your body had enough of it and changed the thought to something more pleasant. It was a simple, daylight sky. One you had often seen on the ship, with seagulls flying overhead and croaking. There was a soft melody playing in the background, like a lullaby. It sounded like something your mother would have hummed to you when you were a child, calming and pleasant. You liked it a lot, and yet, something about it made you feel uneasy.

In this dream-like state, your body was present, but you couldn't move it. Something would carefully touch you, but you didn't know if it were your own hands. Maybe, but it didn't feel bad. It would touch your closed eyelids, the side of your face. You couldn't feel your own hands, but you felt how it crossed your arms over your chest. You must have looked like a dead body at its burial, that's how you thought you were laying. A scary thought, but you weren't as much scared as you were comfortable. At least for a while, your wound wasn't hurting, your body was seemingly weightless. To say you were pleased with it, was an understatement.

And then, your dream world started to crumble.

It would all just turn to blue, then black, leaving nothing behind but your awakening state. Your eyes fluttered open, the sound of birds chirping reaching you. It was still early, but the sun was already on its way to the top, and the fire next to you had long gone out, leaving only ash behind. You hoped to be able to relight it latest at night - either that or being off the island and back in civilization by that time.

Your sleep had been… bad. There was no lying about it. Outdoors, on the sand, having terrible dreams and there was also the encounter midway through it. Your head spun lightly as you sat up, letting out a small groan and bringing your hands up to rub your temples. Though it was supposed to be a sunny day, currently clouds hung over the sky, and you felt a little chilly as a gust of wind hit your face.

Admittedly, you hadn't put on your trousers after trying to go for a swim yesterday, and your skin resented you for it now. You decided the best you could do was relight the fire and wait until you were warmer again. Turning your torso a little to grab for your pants that rested nearby, you felt something coming off the side of your body, exactly where your wound was.

Though you didn't feel any pain, you panicked, hoping that you hadn't opened the wound up if it had healed or worse than that. Pulling up the hem of your shirt, you squealed lightly as gross, green seaweed fell off your side and stomach, landing on your legs where you brushed it off quickly. It had left gooey slime where it touched, and you could barely form a coherent thought about it over your disgust.

Whatever was going on, you were sick of it.

With your hand you tried to carefully wipe away the goo, flinching whenever you felt pain from touching your wound. Now you really had no other option but go into the water. Calming yourself, you took a few deep breaths, trying to think back to the night. You had woken up to seaweed already covering your body before, and though you were sure you had taken it off then and there, maybe you had missed some of it?

Looking at the pile of underwater green next to you, you decided this was impossible. You could have not missed at least two big hands of it, no doubt. Your thoughts went out to the creature again and the more you wanted to believe it didn't exist, the more you had to admit that only something remotely human could have done that. And as much as you loved your species, if a real human had found you laying in the sand, they would have either woken you up or presumed you were dead and let you lay there for the seagulls to pick. There was no in between, and there was no wrapping a wound in freaking seaweed!

Sighing you shook your head. Whatever it was, you presumed it wasn't bad. As in, wanting to kill and eat you bad. Another deep breath went through your lungs, and you decided to gather yourself. There was no use in pondering about it now anyway. You needed to make a fire, gather more materials, food, water, and also find out what the deal with the beach you were at was. And most importantly, a bath. Aside from the goo sticking to you, you felt stinky from all the days without a conscious dipping into the water.

So you reached for your stick to help you get up. A little wonky on your legs still, you managed it much faster than yesterday and with less pain from your side. Maybe the seaweed did help with cooling the wound, though it was far from being healed. But you were working on it, you told yourself. Pulling off your shirt, you took the two pieces of clothes that you had with you as you made your way down to the water.

It was less scary now than the night before. You could clearly see your steps and the small fish swimming in it, scurrying away when your foot came down on the ground next to them. You didn't plan to go in very far, and you could faintly make out a drop, where the beach seemed to mostly end and give away to the ocean. Not a strange concept to you, but it didn't go well with your theory that this wasn't just a beach next to the mainland you were stranded on.

But you brushed off this thought, it was to be cleared later. Standing in the water up to your knees, you bent down to wash the fabric in your hand. It would be impossible to get out the stains anyway, but if they at least were a bit cleaned, you would feel better wearing them. When you were happy with their washing process, you threw them over your shoulder, taking a deep breath.

Now it was your time.

Sitting down into the water you tried to take more deep breaths, though you failed miserably right with the first one. You were not sure what you had expected, in fact, this was precisely what you had expected yesterday already. The burn was so deep going, you let out a suffocated scream, tears blubbering up in your eyes, dampening your view. It was so bad, you felt like fainting, and yet, you knew you had to get the goo off, or it had all been for nothing.

So against the better judgment of your pain, you went ahead to wash the slime off with your hands, finding it even harder to feel it against your fingers underwater than on land. Nauseous and desperate, you tried to get it off the wound, on some point even thinking it might not be too bad to leave on if only you could get up and out of the water. By now, it was hard to distinguish if it was the goo that hurt or your fingers brushing over your wound, but much to your horror you had to instead watch the water turn red to your side.

Immediately - or at least as fast as possible - you got up. The burning stayed, though from what you could see, there was no green slime remaining. At least something to be glad off, the only problem was the blood now that had been set free because of your intervention. You didn't even know anymore where your head was. Dazed, you took your pants, placing the hip part over your wound before wrapping the legs around your body once and tying a knot. It wouldn't have been enough fabric to wrap it around more, which you resented but complied to.

By now, you had no idea what to do or even, what you were doing. You just feared the pain to get worse and worse no matter what you did. It was so bad, you would have done anything you could just to get rid of this wound. Even death seemed so much more appealing than having to live with this. Stumbling out of the water and back to the shore, you pulled your shirt over your head, sinking down to your knees when you reached the land.

"No…" you muttered to yourself. "I'm not gonna die here, I can do this."

Taking some more deep breaths, you let the tears out that you had held back. You'd feel better after letting out your emotions, you knew. There was no one to judge you for crying in the situation you were in, and no one could see you anyway. After a few minutes of bailing, you finally felt the sweet salvation of relief wash over you. Yes, you did feel much better all of a sudden, and it wasn't hard for you to get a grip on your situation again. Washing, checked!

Next was the fire. With your trustworthy stick at hand, you stood up again, taking your first few steps back into the forest. Even though your body hurt still, you felt a lot better now. Your fever had gone down, and so had your general uncomfortableness. Even though your movements were still a little stiff, you could walk more freely now, and you gathered some more wooden sticks and leaves in no time.

Everything seemed to go smoothly, even the fire was starting up nicely, washing a wave of warmth over you. For a while, you sat there, feeling the heat and drying your wet skin and clothes. You hadn't had the chance or the nerves to actually wash your hair too, and running your hand through it only showed it was sandy from your night at the beach. But it was okay, you'd eventually get to do that too, you were sure.

A sudden rumble in your stomach gained your attention. Truth be told, you had dismissed the feeling of hunger for the last day, but it was starting to wear you off. Looking out at the calm ocean, you thought about the possibilities. You could go and look for fruits or berries deeper in the forest, maybe also reaching the other end of it if you were diligent today. It was less of a question of your willpower though and more of your physical condition.

Staring out into the ocean brought up another idea in you. You had seen fish in the waters before. Though the small ones seemed less suitable to eat, there might be bigger ones too if only you stepped out far enough. You could dry them or try baking them next to the fire. Not the greatest idea you ever had but probably the most useful so far, next to starting a fire.

Looking around, you tried to find something sharp, maybe a stone or a shell. You were lucky, finding a small, grey stone with a broken edge that seemed like it could work. Taking your long stick into your other hand, you turned and twisted it to find the most suitable end, deciding on one. Sure, you could have hunted fish with your hands, but you were a pirate, not a magician. Nevertheless, you had a massive wound at your side, there was no way you were going to catch one with bare hands.

Rubbing the sharp edge against the end of the stick your cut off excess wood until it formed into a sharper version of itself. A spear was exactly what you needed. Wiping some sweat from your forehead, you examined your doings. Admittedly, it was far from perfect. But it was pointy, seemed sharp and was your only reasonable hope to some food. Happy with your creation, you got up again, finding you could still use the stick perfectly fine as a walking aid when you turned the pointy end up.

Stepping back into the water you were glad you didn't wear your trousers like a normal human being. The fabric would have been soaked by the time you got to the far end, where the beach seemed to make a visible drop, and restricted your movement. Lurking over the gap, you saw nothing but black behind the edge of the sand. It was deeper than you had imagined, and you as a pirate especially, knew better than to go somewhere humans probably shouldn't go.

Instead, you tried to find a good spot, steadying yourself on the ground. Shifting with the water you supposed would seem natural to fish, that much movement you gave yourself. Otherwise, you persevered and waited for something to pass you. Luckily, you didn't have to be patient for too long, a few groups of fish coming up, inspecting your skin before slowly moving. You waited, and waited some more, trying to find the perfect spot and angle to hit the fish.

Even if it was 'just a fish', you felt bad about maybe just grazing it and punishing it to keep on living in pain… Like you. Your eyes fell at a beautiful shimmering one, the water reflecting its scales. For a moment you were awestruck by its beauty, but then you remembered your purpose. "Survival of the fittest," you mouthed to yourself, before bringing down your spear, hoping to catch it.

It needed a second until you could see through the splash again, tugging at your spear, only to find resistance. You pulled a little harder, only for you to lose your footing, tumbling to keep standing. You did absolutely not want to take another bath. Once you had rammed your heels into the ground, you obtained your stand again, quickly holding up the spear to look at it.

There was nothing. A miss.

You couldn't help but groan, feeling disappointed in yourself for losing the opportunity, but you gave yourself some motivational talk, retaking your pose from before and trying again. You had come far, you couldn't possibly give up now.

But it happened again.

And again.

And every time you lost a little bit of hope in yourself.

"Shit!" you hissed, throwing the spear into the direction of the beach in your frustration. "Damnit, why can't I hit a stupid fish?!" Though your yelling was futile, it felt good letting out the anger that had built up in you. "Nothing I do works! What am I supposed to do, huh?!" you screamed at the sky as if someone was listening in on you from there. "FUCK!"

Huffing, you finally calmed down, leaning forward slowly. Though it hurt your wound, you had to reach down, shoveling some water in your face. Standing right above the edge now, you splashed the cold wet over your cheeks and arms, even running it through your hair. You couldn't have cared less about your looks, but when you were finished and looked into your reflection on the water, you deemed yourself pathetic.

You were nothing of your former self. You looked dirty and unkempt. There were deep wrinkles on your forehead, your clothes were stained, and you didn't even need to see it to know that your body was dehydrated. Even your eyes looked like they had lost their color, changing into a dark grey tone, unlike their usual brighter color.

They almost looked unreal.

Since when did you have red hair.

Where those… fins?

You could barely stumble back as the creature emerged, it's head popping up right above the water that you had just stared down. Hardly, you made any progress in taking a step back in the thigh-high water, while it seemed to come closer and closer quickly. "Stay away…" you muttered, eyes wide opened and staring in shock at the almost human-like features. All color had left your face, and only now you realized your mistake in throwing away the spear.

It was real, you had not imagined it. Though its eyes didn't seem to glitter without the sunlight - the sun still covered by clouds - they were the same that had stared at you when you had woken up after the shipwreck. Its hair still seemed like red velvet, though now that you were so much closer and sure you weren't hallucinating you figured it was just the water that gave them their consistency.

Before you really knew what was going on, it had caught up to you. It was not the creature's fault that you slipped on a rock while trying to pace backwards, ultimately falling back into the water. Luckily it wasn't the really deep spot where you landed, so your head was still out of the water, but you let out a pained cry as your wound got soaked again too. You pinched your eyes together for a second, partly out of pain, partly just because you couldn't possibly look if the creature was going to do anything to you.

And you were right, it was doing something to you, though not what you expected.

Two hands slipped under your arms, tugging and pushing you out of the water and up towards the shore. Admittedly, it wasn't a graceful coming down, as you were technically thrown into the sand. In shock you looked up again, seeing the creature wiggling closer still, dragging an enormous, scaled tail behind it. Now that the water thinned out, it seemed to have a harder time moving than before.

Maybe you shouldn't have, but your eyes twitched nervously to its hands. Where its other features were relatively close to that of a human male - except for the missing half below his loins - its hands were elongated claws. And for human measurements it was big. You thought yourself to be average for your species, but it was not only long, it was just so much bigger than the average human male. Or maybe you had just not seen another human in a while, and your mind was playing tricks on you, who knew.

"Oh god…" you whispered as it finally reached you, its body hovering over you, with its arms on both of your sides. Your gaze was met with its, strong and steady reciprocating the eye contact. Deep gray orbs that seemed to pierce right through you, putting your whole body into a state of motionlessness.

"What are you?"

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