#mermates

[highqueenofelfhame]

a/n: happy mermay!! this wasn't supposed to be multiple parts but it started getting a little long. it won't be a full length fic but it will have a few parts for it just to keep it from being one insanely long one shot. i hope you enjoy. pls be kind, i haven't written fantasy in a long time or fantasy like this ever. ok bye <3 PS: IF YOUR TAG IS BOLD IT WOULDN'T LET ME TAG YOU!

masterlist // rowaelin // 5.3k words

Of everything that Rowan Whitethorn had ever been called, stupid was never one of them.

Always at the top of his class, he graduated valedictorian in both high school and college. He worked tirelessly to graduate with a double major in oceanography and marine biology. A decade later, he had a doctorate in the former and worked for the most well respected ocean research institute in the world. Rowan himself was said to be one to watch in their community with his passion and tireless research. 

Right now, however, the only word blasting through his brain was stupid stupid stupid while alarms in his submarine wailed for about fifteen different reasons. Frantic fingers flew across the keyboard to access troubleshooting. Everything was going off. His oxygen inside the craft was plummeting, air pressure was rising, something in the back was hissing,  communication with the surface was down, and he had no fucking idea why. 

Five minutes ago he approached the ruins far beneath the waves and was studying animal activity in the middle of the night. It was by the far the dumbest thing he had ever done, going down at night without telling anyone. The submarine was built for two bodies and there was always a team on land surveying everything about the machine in case something went wrong. He knew better, yet something had been calling to him until he found himself pulling on his clothes and boarding alone. Rowan hadn’t even woken anyone up to ask for assistance. It was a trip he had made so many times over the last few months and he didn’t see the harm in going. 

And now the multi-million dollar submarine had managed to hit something incredibly hard while not moving. Nothing had shown up in the radar. One minute he was scribbling notes on lined paper and the next he was launched out of his seat and into the wall. His body was screaming as he pulled himself into the seat to figure out what the hell happened, but he couldn’t see anything. Rowan wondered what kind of chaos was happening above the water. Everyone would be awake by now and realize that both he and the submarine were gone. 

Still panicked, he kept trying and failing to get the back-up oxygen running. He was down to three percent which should have been fucking impossible for how long he had been below. 

At least he was going to die in the ocean. He had loved it so thoroughly since he was a boy, always feeling drawn to the water. At least there was this. 

“Burning hell,” he heard, but it wasn’t his voice. Rowan quickly surveyed the submarine and came to the conclusion that he was alone. But where did that voice come from? The accent was unlike anything he had ever heard but it was so lovely. All rolling letters and curved syllables,  it nearly entranced him. Whoever she was, her voice was the most gorgeous song he had ever heard and there was a tug—

Metal groaned and cracked, popped and exploded to nothing and suddenly he was launched through the water. By the grace of the gods, he managed to get one gulp of air into his lungs before being swept out into the iciest cold he had ever felt. It was pointless. He was going to die. How he hadn’t burst into a billion pieces at exposure to such high water pressure was absolutely beyond him. That one quick breath wouldn’t save him. 

Maybe he was already dead. 

With his body going into shock and the submarine sinking in pieces and chunks to the ocean floor, there was no way he wasn’t one hundred percent a dead man. It didn’t make sense that he hadn’t blown to bits, that he had seemingly stopped flipping and hurtling through the water. Everything around him suddenly felt warm like the ocean was wrapping him in a loving embrace. 

Definitely dead, then. 

If he was still alive against all odds, he didn’t have much time left. Despite being an excellent swimmer with lungs that could sustain him under water for several minutes, he didn’t have the time to get a proper breath. Still, he opened his eyes, rapidly blinking as the salt burned, invisible tears escaping into nothing. He shouldn’t be able to see anything this deep without the lights, and yet… 

Something was glowing. It was a radiant golden light floating closer and closer to where he waded. Which also shouldn’t be possible, but he supposed all bets were off when you were dead. Perhaps this was all a dream and he would wake up soon, haunted by that lovely, lilting voice he didn’t want to forget. 

“I can’t do this for very long,” Gods, that voice. His panic seemed to cease at the sound of it. A sense of calm washed over him and the sudden sensation of air whooshing up his nose had him exhaling the breath he was holding. Rowan blinked again, that blurry orb of bright light turning into a woman. 

Mala burn him alive, he had never seen anyone so beautiful in all his life. Her hair seemed to defy the laws of oceanic gravity, cascading over her shoulders and well below her breasts. With pale skin and a smattering of freckles across her nose, she swam until they were close enough to touch. 

Despite his blurry vision, he could tell her eyes were the color of the purest seas. So vibrantly turquoise there was no way she was human. Light seemed to radiate from within her turning the golden ring in her eyes into molten flame as she appraised him. Her skin cast a dim light around them, those brilliant eyes scanning the area. 

Something deep within him tugged, like a taut piece of string pulling against his ribs, his heart. This is what he had been looking for. This angel was the reason he was so drawn to the ocean and all that dwelled within. 

“I can’t keep giving you oxygen for long,” she told him, concern furrowing her brow. Rowan opened his mouth to ask if she was an angel, to tell her how beautiful she was and that it felt like he’d been pulled toward her his entire life, but water rushed in and forced all of his words back down his throat. “Don’t try to speak. I don’t have long.” 

Dumbly, he nodded his head. He would do anything she asked of him. 

“You have two options and you must decide quickly.” Her pretty words were rushed like she was the one panicking. “You can die and I can return your body to the surface, or I can save you. But if I save you, you’ll be like me. And you will dwell here forever.” 

He was already dead. There was no other explanation. But he cocked his head slightly in a silent question. What did she mean like her?

Thus far in their interaction he hadn’t been able to pull his eyes from her perfect face. His eyes had dipped down to her neck, but no further than that. Something in his mind told him to look, to see, so he took one of their dwindling moments to fully take her in. If he wasn’t dead, he probably would have been surprised. Perhaps he would have yelped and tried to get away, or maybe his brain would have made something up to make him believe what he was seeing. 

Her hair seemed to move from her neck, coiling around to the other side to display what could only be gills just behind her delicately pointed ear. Some sort of shining fabric was wrapped around her breasts. Like her eyes, it was a stunning shade of turquoise that he was convinced had no name and seemed to be fused to her somehow, like scales. Her body was finely sculpted by the gods, all the way down to her navel. There, her skin reflected bits of gold, and lower she—

Where her legs should be was a vibrant, shimmering gold tail. It looked like golden starlight had been melted and wrapped tightly around her body. The fins of her tail swayed idly in the water like molten ore. Similar to some jellyfish, the edges of the main fin had a slightly ruffled quality to them yet looked like the finest gossamer. He couldn’t be sure with his blurry eyes, but it seemed to have a glimmering effect. At her hips she had fins on each side that looked much like the one where her feet might have been if she was human. She was a mermaid. And she was fucking exquisite. 

“I can save you, or take your body home. What do you wish?” 

The answer seemed obvious. Die and let his friends and colleagues find his body, or live forever in heaven with an angel. One that it felt like he’d been looking for his whole life. Maybe that was the death talking. 

Still, he nodded, gesturing toward her. He wanted to ask how she was going to save him, but the words didn’t leave his mouth. Instead, she smiled, pink lips spreading to reveal surprisingly normal teeth. 

“A kiss,” she whispered, her voice a sultry purr as she leaned closer. “Are you sure?”

Rowan nodded as the airflow through his nose grew weaker. How could he say anything but yes to her? To the creature with the voice of a song his heart had been singing forever. As he took his last inhale of the air she gifted him, his nod grew more eager. 

“This is going to hurt, and I am so sorry.” Before he could process her words,  cool lips were pressed against his. 

Something pulled at his insides, but he couldn’t name the feeling. His lips parted when her tongue brushed his lips and she exhaled what could only be liquid flame into his core. Rowan began to thrash about, lightning striking every nerve ending in his body. Aches rumbled deep in his bones and barreled through every pore, that white-hot pain lancing across his skin, his lips, his eyes. Even his hair seemed to hurt as she burned him from the inside out. The pain was so fierce he couldn’t muster the strength to even attempt to restrain her, to shove her away and make her stop. 

Through the pain his body bowed, back in a tight arch that felt like his spine would splinter into thousands of pieces. Color exploded behind his eyes as whatever fire she breathed into his lungs took root. Paralyzation took over and he couldn’t move, the only solace to the heat being the frigid water surrounding them. 

Rowan might have been screaming to no one and nothing, and she might have been devouring his very soul. Even when the pain became so blinding that consciousness was no longer an option, her poisoned mouth stayed glued to his. 

He had always heard that beautiful things were deadly. It couldn’t be more true about the creature stealing his soul. All he knew was pure agony when the freezing darkness of the ocean swept in, claiming another life to her mysterious depths.

~*~ 

When Aelin awoke she was nestled on a bed of kelp and seagrass. The sickly-white bioluminescence told her enough about where she was without having to really look around: the infirmary. It wasn’t the first time she had woken up here with twinges of pain throughout her body and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. It was, however, the first time she couldn’t place why she was there. 

In true Aedion fashion, he was lounging on a rock with a solemn glare aimed at her. Aelin winced as she sat up and adjusted her weight. One of her fins had been caught beneath her for what felt like entirely took long. She frowned at the wrinkle, at the thing that seemed different about herself that she couldn’t place before looking at her cousin. 

“What the hell happened?”

“You don’t remember?” 

“Not particularly, no. Some grand adventure of mine turned a little sour, I suppose.” They often did much to her family’s eternal dismay. It wasn’t that she went looking for trouble, she just had a penchant for finding it. 

“The submarine? The explosion? The man? Your kiss? Any of that ringing any bells, sweetheart?” Bright memories clanged through her at his words and she started, twisting and turning to find the man from the vessel. 

Her heart both soared and sank at the sight of him several beds over. Considering that he was already finished with his transformation and sleeping soundly, it meant that she, too, had been unconscious for at least two days. Maybe three. 

What a glorious transformation it was, though. Her aching body pushed her through the water to his side, her fingers weaving into the seagrass as she came to a stop. Gills fluttered gently as he breathed, his long silver hair fanned out around his head like a halo. The clothes he had been wearing when she found him were gone. A bronze sculpted chest expanded with every breath and occasionally his eyes and fingers twitched. The tattoo he had as a human remained, but where the ink had once been a flat black, it now flashed with blues and greens beneath the lights. It had expanded to crawl up his neck and feathered along his jaw, the edges of it wrapped around his ears like tiny tentacles. Fascinating. The gauntlet of scales that started at his wrist and crawled up his forearms were of the same coloring as his tale, all vibrant shades of silver, gold, green and bright blue. 

Then there was his tail. While hers was all golden with turquoise throughout, his was primarily her favorite shade of green. About halfway down it faded to a darker emerald with sparkling silver and gold shooting throughout. Aelin’s scales were flatter, more silken to the touch. The ones of his fin were thicker and more defined, similar to how Aedion’s were.  He had very defined boning through his bottoms fins, the webbing between iridescent hues of pine, starlight, and the purest ocean water. In short, he was beautiful, and she was positive she could write an essay about him if she tried. 

“Has he woken up at all?”

“Not yet, but his vitals are steady and healthy. He should wake up soon, though. Probably good that you woke up first.” Aelin nodded in agreement, curling her hands into fists to keep herself from touching him. “Are you going to tell me what the hell happened to make you give him your kiss?” 

“I know what it looks like, and it’s not that,” she blurted, perching on the edge of the man’s bed. It looked like she lured him out of the submarine to seal his fate below the waves. While she had spent the last several months enthralled by him and the work he did, she didn’t kiss him lightly. It wasn’t a simple decision to make, and it was one that few mer ever risked. 

Aedion arched an eyebrow, his fins moving in a way that told her she was impatient. Aelin sighed heavily, running her fingers through permanently silky strands. 

“He got too close to the city. The defenses went off and when I tried to shove them out of the way, it was too late. It rocked the back half to the vessel and sent all the mechanics into a tizzy. He was going to die.” 

“He’s doing work that could kill us all,” Aedion reminded her. It was a harsh truth she wanted to ignore. Something about this man was different from all the others that had ever studied their kingdom. Humans saw it as a cluster of ruins. In reality it was one of the seven thriving kingdoms that dwelled at the bottom of the ocean. A kingdom that she was the princess of. 

While many oceanographers tried, and failed, to get too close to document the ruins, this man had always made his team stay far enough back that no damage would be caused. Even on the night that the world went to hell, he was a respectable distance away until a current pushed him a little too close. Aelin had been watching all these months, though. The man was incredibly intelligent and cared greatly about the ocean and her creatures. She spent hours watching him while he scanned what he believed he saw, scribbling notes in a little book. Most often he had a golden or onyx-haired companion with him. It was always this one that was most cautious and respectful about the marine life, though. 

The lost Kingdom of Terrasen was only a myth because it had never existed on land to begin with. Legend says a thousand different things about how it wound up on the bottom of the ocean, leading generations of scientists to dive deep below to try and find the forgotten city. Most of the time, the defenses of the kingdom would wipe memories and send people far away. Some of them forgot what they were doing in the water to begin with, some forgot who they were entirely. Their wards were temperamental and it all depended on the heart of the person hunting them. 

For the first time ever, when this man was on board the submarine, they were allowed to see the ruins of what might have been. It confused everyone, her father included. Even the king didn’t have control over what the wards permitted people to see or what knowledge they might walk away with. This man and his team had been chosen for the smallest amount of exposure. The only catch, it seemed, was that they couldn’t nail down exact coordinates and there were days between visits because they got lost. 

The night he appeared entirely alone, however, it was like he knew exactly where to go. Like the magic of the lands were whispering to him, guiding him almost to their doorstep. It was the first time he had ever gotten much too close and it almost cost him his life. That wasn’t entirely his fault, there truly had been a current that moved the ship just enough that it triggered major defense systems. If Aelin hadn’t tried to knock the blast out of the way, he would have been dead before she could intervene. 

She looked back down at his handsome, sleeping face and held in a sigh before looking back at Aedion. “You know that the magic sings to him.”

“Is it the magic, or has it been you?” 

Aelin scowled. Sirens were relatives of the mer, and liked to lure men to tragic deaths. Somewhere in their shared Ashryver bloodline were siren powers. They never really used them. Speaking to this man to save his life was the first time she had ever put the full force of it in her voice, and it had only been to calm him down. 

“You know it wasn’t me,” she said, twisting to look back down at him.

“You gave him your kiss.”

“I gave him the option of death or life, and he chose life. So of course I gave it to him.” A mer’s kiss was as much of a legend as the merfolk themselves. Most of the stories were watered down versions of the truth. None of them were exactly correct, yet they weren’t wholly wrong. 

Many of them claimed you would be given magic of your own or healing powers. Most implied it could be done over and over, and that to take a kiss from a mer was to sell your soul. The last part was kind of true. To take a kiss was to become a mer, but it was a little more complicated than that. 

Each mer only had one true kiss to give. Typically it was given to humans, though some had been known to give it to other creatures of the deep. It was a heavy decision on the mer because of the repercussions. That other life would be immortally bound to theirs, half of any magic the possessed transferring to the other being in the process. The elders said it was because the magic was the only way most could survive the transformation, and after witnessing it with her own eyes, she understood why.

Aelin had always known that it would be painful on both parts. For the man she saved, it seemed to ring true. She had never seen that kind of blind terror on anyone’s face, had never been able to feel such raw, visceral pain coming from another being as clearly as if it were her own. The few mer that she knew were Made had once said it was like having every part of you ripped out and made new, but it depended on what magic the other possessed. Among a few smaller healing gifts, Aelin had liquid flame that nobody could really explain. It had to have been agony. 

For her, she felt parts of herself she didn’t know existed splintering apart. The tangible feeling of her magic being torn from her body was painful enough, and she wouldn’t have been able to pull away from him if she tried. Her bones still ached like she’d been slammed into the sandy floor over and over. Maybe she had. At some point she lost consciousness and then woke up in the infirmary with her glaring cousin at her side. 

And then there was that other thing she had felt. Like a harp string between their bodies shining golden in the dark, plucking a song she swore she had heard her entire existence. Most merfolk didn’t risk giving their kiss away. The costs were simply too high for them unless they found their true mate. Looking down at the handsome face beside her, feeling that vibrant bond between them, she couldn’t help but wonder if the wards had been so forgiving of the man because his heart sang their princess’s song. 

“Aedion, I think…” Words were tangled in knots that she couldn’t speak.

“I know. We all knew. Look at his tail and yours.” Aelin swished her lower fin up, gasping at the brilliant shades of green that shimmered in the bioluminescence of the infirmary. Where her tail used to be just gold and blue like her eyes, green was now infused effortlessly. Near her bottom tail, the gold speckled then blended into turquoise. Now green made the fade all the more seamless and complete. The delicate webbing that layered upon itself in a ruffled-like display had vibrant bands of green melted effortlessly with her natural coloring. As fuzzy as her mind had been when she woke, it was insane to think she had missed the green and silver scales speckled through what had once been solid gold. Even the fins at her hips and her forearms matched the lower one. 

When she looked back down at his tail she felt silly for not seeing it before. Those blue hues were exactly the color of her eyes, of her scales and webbing. Even the gold was identical to hers and that was rare. Not even Aedion’s or her parent’s shades of gold were a perfect match. 

The sleeping man was her mate. It was wholly undeniable. 

Hours passed, her mother and father coming to check on her not long after her revelation. Neither were angry with her, though she wouldn’t have blamed them if they were. Both were just relieved that she was okay and still breathing, and promised they would figure out the next steps together. 

“Let us know when your prince wakes,” her mother said, a knowing look twinkling in her eyes. Prince. Because he was now a prince of the most powerful kingdom in the ocean. Gods above. 

Aelin stayed perched on his bedside, tail swishing anxiously while she waited for him to rouse from sleep. She had just finished a seaweed snack when she heard a deep inhale beside her. When she looked over, she was gazing into bewildered but bright green eyes. 

“Hello,” she said, pushing off the bed to give him his space. Hints of fear were speckled in his eyes, the smell of his heart rate spiking beneath his skin heady in its own way. Her fins swayed idly to keep her in place, the ribbon-like tendrils at her hips reaching for him. It was almost like her magic and her body recognized him as belonging to her. 

The man was quiet, bleary eyes blinking up at her. One of his hands waved in front of his face as though realizing he was underwater, breathing, and alive. Wonder and amazement crossed over his features before he looked back at her. 

“Am I dead?” His voice was prettier without machinery warping his words. Aelin bit down on her lip and glanced away, trying to bite back a smile. 

“No. You are quite alive, but not the same as you were. Are you in pain?” Those green eyes didn’t stray from her face as if he couldn’t look away. 

“I’m sore.” Aelin nodded, parting her lips to respond when he asked, “Where am I?”

“In one of the infirmary towers of the palace.”

“Underwater?” Bewildered, his eyes flew around the room. He probably expected ruins, and was instead greeted by pristine walls made of seashells and rows of beds. Beyond the doorway behind them was an extensive supply of medicinal plants and herbs. 

“We were never lost, just never wanted to be found. You are the first human to ever see it as ruins. I’m afraid that your research won’t reflect that. The magic only seemed to like you and I can’t imagine your colleagues will remember what they saw down here.” Aelin’s smile was sad and her heart ached for what he lost. From his human life to the career and research that he seemed to love so much.

“I think I died. And that you might be an angel of death,” he said slowly, the memories seeping from his mind down that new bond they shared. Aelin could feel his fear of her, even as she shook her head.

“I know it felt like I was trying to kill you, but believe me when I say it was the only way to save you. My powers.. I have great strengths, but I also have weaknesses. My healing magic is few and far between and I only have so much to give. I wouldn’t have been able to sustain your oxygen levels for the ascent despite how fast I can swim. You would have been dead before we broke the surface.” She hated the dread on his face. Hated how much he wanted to believe none of this was true. Still, he hadn’t looked away from her to see what he had become. Aelin wondered if he could feel it, if he knew, or if he still felt the phantom of his human limbs. 

“Are you an angel?” His eyes dipped to her throat then back to her face. The Adam’s apple in his throat bobbed and she wondered if it was the gills that got that reaction from him. 

“I think you know what I am,” she said, swishing her tail hard enough that he had to view it in all its glory, not just out of his periphery. “Just like I think you know what you now are.”

His eyes were roving over every scale, every shimmering, shiny inch of her body. She held still while he drank every piece of her in, his mouth parted in surprise. One hard swallow later and he was gaping down at his lower half like he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. 

Some mer chose to take this part away after the kiss. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought about it too much, but was now wishing that she had. So many emotions were flying across his face entirely unfiltered, so quickly she couldn’t make sense of them all. 

“What’s your name?” Her hands toyed with the ends of her hair just to have something to do. 

“I— Rowan. Rowan Whitethorn.” His eyes darted to her body and back to his. 

“Rowan,” she whispered, two syllables turning over sweetly in her mouth. “My name is Aelin. I’m the princess of what you call the Lost Kingdom of Terrasen.”

“Bullshit,” he blurted, shooting upright and looking around the room. His hands were braced on the bed, the kelp and seagrass trapped beneath his fingers. 

“When you’re feeling better I’ll show you everything. Anything you want to see or do, it’s yours. But I would rather wait until the residual pain has faded because swimming long distances—”

“What did you do to me?” 

“I saved your life the only way that I could. I told you it would make you like me.” She hated that her tears, thicker than water and shining in her eyes like oyster shells, were burning her eyes. Soon they would be falling down her cheeks like lost pearls. 

“I thought I was dead,” he argued, the beautiful lines of his face hard and unforgiving. 

“You would have been if I didn’t shield your human body from the pressure, the cold, and your submarine exploding into pieces,” she fought back, hands in fists and voice on edge. Aelin was known for having quite the temper when the right buttons were pushed.

“Maybe you should have let me die. Everything I loved is above the surface.” It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. It felt like the spindly thorns of a lionfish pricking venom into her skin. Her jaw clenched, sharper teeth sliding out from her gums. The sharp tang of blood filled her mouth as she bit the tip of her tongue. They were a defense mechanism, sometimes used for certain meals, but in moments like this she had little control over their appearance. Her body and magic thought she was in danger so they were giving her the tools to protect herself. 

“I gave you the choice. It was your choice. I—” Aelin turned and fixed her eyes on one of the bioluminescent lanterns on the wall. She didn’t need him seeing those shark-like teeth and becoming more fearful than he already was. “Do you want me to take it away?”

“What?” 

“The memory, the pain, all of it. I can take it away. But I want that to be your choice. You can hate me if you wish, or I can take it away and you won’t remember your life before.”

Technically he could do it himself, too, but informing him that he now had different kinds of magic flowing through his veins right now didn’t seem like the best idea. Rowan was quiet, fingers tracing over his brand new scales where his knees used to be. Aelin keenly watched him out of the corner of her eye until those teeth sunk back into her gums and she felt his eyes turn back on her.

“No,” he finally said. “No, I don’t want to forget.”

“I know there is going to be a lot of adjustment for you. I want to make it as easy as possible. Your rooms will be next to mine and I’m at your disposal. Should you need me, just call for me and I’ll come. For now, I’m going to find something to eat for the both of us. If you’ll excuse me.” Before he could even open his mouth to object, she used a blast of her power to propel her through the open archway that led into the hall.

While she was going to find him food, those tears were getting a little too close to falling from the tension. It had been a long few days, an even longer few hours of being awake. Not only was she feeling all of her own emotions, but his were thrown into the mix, too. A moment to breathe in the salty water would be enough to ground her. 

Her pace only slowed when she was far enough away that it felt safe to sink onto the sandy floor and cry until the frustration began to drift away on a slow current. 

@fancysludgeshoelamp @kritical24 @readandlisten @icantfindmychashma @westofmoon @helwanderer @latenighthazymusings @lululululululuop @rowanaelinn @drywhiskers @constant-disappointment-and-gay @throneofus7 @princess-rumi-blog1 @the-regal-warrior @holdthefrickup @baby-babayaga @althelkingshorses @empress-ofbloodshed-writing @earthtolinds @lunadorned @adrianaslv @lunarwitch25 @superspiritfestivall @larisssss @renxzs  @1islessthan3books @darknessofoceans @autumnbabylon @backtobl4ck @aelinchocolatelover @besiber24 @s-uppertime @livingmylifeforme @tothestarsandwhateverend @kritical24 @sleeping-and-books @carranam-mates @fireheart-violet @aelinchocolatelover   @basicbittywitty  @goddess-aelin @shyvioletcat @punkassbookjockey26

[fineapplequeen]

I'm SO proud of this

Story drabble of them under cut

"I wish you'd stay when the water rises."

"If I did, I'd drown; hightide fills the cave."

"My offer is still open."

"You know I can't leave them... besides, I don't even know how to swim."

"There'd be time to learn, you know how happy I'd be to hold you in the meantime."

"You're ridiculous."

"Water you talking about? You love me~"

That was the problem, wasn't it? Killer stared at Outer, watching the salt water stick to his otherworldly bones, the moonpool shimmering and glistening like starlight in a vast void around him. It wasn't just Outer's beauty that captivated him, it was so much more, Killer feared. It was those doe eyes and subtle little smirk, it was that quick tongue and bellowing laughter that made his knees weak, it was the gentle hold Outer had on him when Killer rested on top of him, floating above the world it felt like at times. With Outer, he felt safe, letting his guard down so sincerely- and that at times made him afraid of his mer, afraid that he was caught in a sirens pretty little spell ever since Outer brought up wanting to court him- he refused, it'd be heartache for them both, but Outer dangled a pretty little opportunity in his grasp that had Killer rethinking and spiraling down a chain of thoughts. Could he leave everyone he knew and loved just to live in the sea with Outer? His soul dipped and wavered as Outer curled the end of his tail closer to Killer, resting its wet scales against his hip.

The landwalker sighed, pressing a hand to it, watching the tail sparkle a multitude of blues and violets in the faint moonlight that seeped into the cavern they often met each other in.

He didn't want to lose Outer's friendship, he didn't want his mer to slip through his fingers or be dissapointed with him.

"Give it some more thought? There's no rush." Outer whispered, soft as he pressed his head to Killer’s, nuzzling with a bubbly call that made the butterflies and nausea grow within Killer.

How could he ever tell Outer no?

[fizzigigsimmer]

WIP: All The Kings Men

I dusted off my WIP folder this weekend and realized that this draft has been sitting for over a year to the day and that's a shame. I really love this story. It was really nice to get back to this world and I want to keep at it. I am hoping to stay inspired.

Background: Prince!Steve X Pirate!Billy also, Prince!Steve x Siren!Billy because I absolutely will have my cake and eat it too.

Basically this is a dom/sub au in a fantasy world. Steve and Billy fell in love when they were kids, only to be separated. Years later Billy decided to come back and get his man and ran off with him. Now a war for the crown is brewing on the exterior while Steve and Billy fight an interior battle for dominance - and to the victor the spoils.

~*~

The sky was still a dark blanket hanging over the city of Ashae when two spots of light appeared, like stars burning bright. 

Within moments a deep groaning, like those of bullfrogs, filled the air as the eyes upon the watchtowers blew their conches to warn the city of the oncoming danger.  

“Min Primena!” the frantic voice of her serving woman called through the doors of the bedchamber in the old tongue, and then once more in the imperial standard. “My princess, you must wake!” 

But despite the earliness of the hour Princess Ingrid was already awake, dressed, and marching through the doors of her bedchamber before the shouting of her personal servant could even finish echoing down the stone corridor.   

She’d woken at the first blast of the warning shells. Their throbbing notes had vibrated in the stone beneath her feet as she leaped from her bed and reached for her dressing gown. Their sound filling her heart with dread. 

The bone men had come.  

It had been many years since anyone from the empire had been to the castle. Ships came from distant ports for trade but only as far as Korallö, the first of the northern islands. To maintain peace, delegates and diplomats had been sent to Teru as necessary, but neither the Bone King or any of his emissaries had set foot on Ashae or its citadel in going on a decade. And that was by design. 

Ingrid’s father the king was not well. 

“What has happened Nadia?” Ingrid asked her serving woman, tightening the ties on her dressing gown as she strode down the empty hall towards the center of the castle. Whether their unexpected guests had been brought to the throne room or the dungeon, the center of the castle was where they’d be. 

Nadia scurried to keep up with Ingrid’s purposeful stride, her large chest heaving under her gossamer top. She had not seen her stoic serving woman Nadia so ruffled, even on the day Ingrid’s father had collapsed. If not for the warning shells she would have feared it meant the Prime was dead. 

 “Primena, two airmen from the badlands have come.”  

“Ah, that explains how they had made it to the castle without being stopped.” Ingrid mused, frowning. 

There was no one who could challenge Noreda in battle by sea, but they were vulnerable by air. However, it did not explain entirely why they hadn’t had prior warning.  

The princess had made good use of her time as a captive in Teru. Her friends in Sereni were few but they were well placed, and loyal to her. Or more aptly they were loyal to the peace that was promised and the order of Divinas from whence the prophecy of the promised prince had come two hundred years before. Loyal enough even to risk their lives divulging court secrets to the enemy.  

Their silence now was troubling, but Ingrid pushed aside her lingering questions and focused her mind on the more important task at hand. She must protect her own secrets now. 

“Where is my father?” 

“The prime is secure below, min primena.” Nadia answered and Ingrid released a quiet breath of relief, some of the tension in her chest loosening. Thank The Father for small mercies. 

“Send word to Tal-Munson.” she instructed. “No one is to enter the southern gate until he hears it from me.” 

The serving woman bowed her head once in submission before hurrying off to do her mistress’s bidding. For she knew as well as Ingrid, that it would spell their ruin if the Bone King were to discover the truth behind their king’s ill health. Her father was more than ill he was depleted, robbed of the ancient power that had been at the heart of her family’s power since the day they’d risen from the sea. 

Without the power that had been passed down from prime to prime for thousands of years, Noreda was crippled and would not be able to withstand attack from their enemy in the south. 

But there was no evidence of weakness on Ingrid as the doors of the castle opened and she descended the great white steps, down to where the castle guard waited with the intruders: two men, sat atop giant feathered beasts with wicked yellow eyes. 

The airmen hailed from Egnill, home of the fyre lords, and were clothed in the distinctive dress of their people – long tunics with the symbol of the phoenix embroidered upon the chest. It was no doubt made from the flame resistant leathers that their ancestors had crafted for centuries and exported to other nations at a hefty cost. But it was to the green and gold bands around their throats that Ingrid’s eyes went, bands that established them as part of the Terun empire and under the Bone King’s heel.  

Her lips curled in a sneer. She would not be intimidated by a pair of collared dogs. 

The two men sat on the back of their fyrebirds surrounded by a circle of her father’s warriors, their deadly cortans drawn and open at their sides ready to slice through flesh and bone at the first provocation.  

The riders wisely refused to give up their only exit of escape by leaving their mounts. On their taloned feet their beasts stood nearly fifteen hands high. Although the massive plume of brightly colored feathers atop their heads made them appear taller.  

Piercing eyes tracked Ingrid like prey as she approached. The breeze tossed her golden hair and the gossamer robe fastened between her breasts until it floated around her pale legs as if she were in water. The pearls in her diadem glinted in the firelight from where they rested against her brow.  

Armored only with the power in her blood Ingrid strode to meet them and the alphas surrounding the airmen parted for her, lowering their eyes in submission. 

“Milady.” The braver of the two riders, a man with hair as russet as his beast’s tail feathers, cleared his throat and spoke a greeting in imperial standard. “I am Nathanial Cunningham, Captain of the wing-guard and I would see your king.” 

Ingrid smiled at the impertinence, showing her fangs. 

“You are nothing.” She corrected softly. “And I would see you dead for trespassing on these lands.”  

She enjoyed watching the way the foreigners faces paled, the scent of their fear souring the air. The brave one’s eyes narrowed speculatively on her however, before turning and sharing a meaningful look with his partner. He had drawn all the correct conclusions from her presence there and the absence of her father she was sure. There would have been no reason for the king to bother with them or for her to show her face at all, had he still had the full power of poseidon behind him. 

Ingrid sought out the highest ranking of the guard and locked eyes with him, giving the alpha a subtle nod.  

“Are you Lady Harg-” Captain Cunningham’s companion did not get a chance to finish before the sharp end of an arrow grazed across his cheek, slicing through the flesh before embedding itself into the sandstone a few paces beyond. 

The captain drew his sword as his second let out a cry – more from shock than pain. The feathered beasts they rode puffed out their breast and flared their wings, the captain’s mount opening its large slightly curved beak to screech a furious warning.  

Ingrid tensed, painfully aware of her own vulnerability, but no flame appeared from the creature’s mouth. More arrows rained down from the open arches of the castle, and the captain leaned over in his saddle to reach across and grab the reins of his companion’s mount delivering firm commands for it to settle. 

When the beast had calmed and its rider had regained control, Captain Cunningham turned burning eyes toward Ingrid, full of fury and hatred. Ingrid’s smile stayed exactly as it was. She raised her hand and the volley of arrows ceased.  

“I am Princess Ingrid, daughter of The Tuninri.” She corrected the man again, lifting her head with pride. “And you bore me. Deliver your message and be gone.” 

“You speak of trespassing when you have invaded our capital and made off with the king’s blood?” Captain Cunningham seethed, all pretenses at civility abandoned. He resembled his feather pet as his eyes pierced her. It was a struggle for Ingrid to keep her face still, at the revelation that the capital had been invaded, though she was sure a practiced eye would have noticed the twitch of shock she quickly suppressed.  

To hear that Sereni had been attacked was shock enough. That anyone would dare risk harming one of the kings own blood was almost unfathomable.  

“Is the Bone King dead?” she asked the only thing she cared to know and watched the captain’s face as he answered. 

“He is secure and in good health.” The young captain’s face betrayed nothing but his scent was bitter. He was lying. But about which part? 

“We are glad to hear it. But why do you blame Noreda for this?” 

His lips curling in a snarl, Captain Cunningham reached inside the satchel hanging at his side and tossed something swaddled in stained rags down onto the ground. As the object rolled to a stop near Ingrid’s bare feet it came unraveled, revealing the severed head of a Gorgan warrior. An icy fear speared Ingrids chest at the sight of it.  

“I see.”  

This was Creel’s doing, but she could not say so and risk revealing to the enemy the extent to which her father had lost control over the Gorgan tribes. She raised her eyes from the bloodied head and back to Captain Cunningham.  

“My Father knows nothing of this attack. We shall have it investigated.” 

“Of course. And I suppose it was merely a coincidence that on the very same day, Billy the bastard betrayed his liege and disappeared with the king’s ship?” the captain sneered in reply and Ingrid’s breath shook. 

Billy. 

Her heart squeezed in her chest, thinking of the child she’d left behind in Teru. The Divinas had promised her he was on his way home to his people at long last. She’d believed, but to hear it echoed so plainly from her enemy’s lips made it suddenly more real.   

“I have not seen William since he was a boy. Are you searching for him?” she asked calmly.  

She would not let them leave if they were. Two fyrebirds could bring down a ship in a matter of minutes. 

“Our search is for Prince Steven, and the message from our king is this: we will find him.” Captain Cunningham warned darkly. “And when we do, we will build our homes upon their ruined halls, and drink the blood of those who dared to test the strength of Teru.” 

A terrifying promise to be sure, but Ingrid did not wince. Little terrified her after the years she’d spent shackled to her terun husband, a brute of a man and far from the worst of his kind. Her suffering had only hardened her resolve. There was no pain she couldn’t weather and no indignity she couldn’t face when she knew that all of it would be to the glory of Noreda. 

“You will not find your prince here. Begone now.” Ingrid smirked, before she turned her back to them, confident in the strength of her father’s men. She spoke over her shoulder as she walked away, making a promise of her own. 

 “If you return uninvited as you did today, we will drag you into the sea and it shall be our children who suck succor from your bones.” 

~*~*~*~ 

‘I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls…’ 

Steve glanced back at the mouth of the cave where a ring of daylight illuminated the sand disappearing beneath the encroaching waves. The tide was coming in and Jonathan was not a strong swimmer. The butcher’s apprentice hung back, pacing at the opening, his fretful calls nearly becoming lost within the cavernous space as his voice bounced along the walls. Steve did not need to hear Jon clearly to know what he was saying. Come back. The tide is rising. It isn’t safe. 

But Steve pressed on into the darkness, away from the light, venturing into the back of the cave. He was not afraid of the dark, or of the strange music only he could seem to hear. It swelled louder with each step he took as if to assure him he was taking the right path. Even if the cave had not been discovered by anyone else for a hundred years or more, they were still in Hawks Landing. This was his home. 

‘I had riches all too great to count.’ 

He kept a hand pressed to the wall to guide his steps as the carven narrowed into a tunnel, the ground beneath his feet slanting downward. He paused when the rock beneath his hand became less rough edged, smoothing out until it felt polished. He ran his hand along the cool surface, wondering at it, pausing again when his fingers encountered something protruding from the wall. As his fingers grazed it, he felt a subtle vibration - a gentle hum. The shell, for Steve could see it now where it was embedded in the wall, began to give off a soft light bathing Steve and the walls around it in a golden glow. 

The light glimmered upon the surface of a wide pool of water resting just a few steps from where he stood. Had he kept going in the dark he would have fallen right into it. It was here the cave ended in a rounded chamber, not caused by the passage of time and erosion but chiseled with tools. Tiny colorful shells like the one he’d accidentally touched were embedded into the walls along with polished stones of differing sizes. They formed a mosaic he realized, as more of the shells began to pulse with light until the rendering of waves spanning the curvature of the chamber appeared to move. 

The music was all around him now. He could hear the plucking of a harp strings and the low throbbing notes of a fluted instrument for which he had no name for, and there were voices too. They rose up from the water as he drew closer. 

The pool was deep and black. He could not see a bottom to it, and yet it seemed to beckon him. Those voices were so beautiful, singing in a language he’d never heard spoken outside of his own mind, but that he knew was real. And ancient. 

‘But what I dreamt which pleased me most, twas that you loved me still the same.’ 

Steve wanted to follow those voices. They understood what no one else could. They would make the pain go away… 

“Steve!” 

Steve woke gently to the sound of his name. Unlike the frantic way Jonathan had called him all those summers ago, Billy’s voice was calm and steady as it drew him from sleep. He blinked his eyes open. It was growing dark within the cabin. The sun outside the open window already sunk halfway bellow the horizon. It bathed the room in hues of bronze. How long had he slept?  

“Murray will be ringing the bell for supper,” Billy answered, reading the question in his expression. Steve turned his head slightly to look over at him, his breath catching as his gaze wandered over miles of golden skin and the firm wall of Billy’s chest. In the dappled glow that filled the cabin he made Steve think of the marble statues of past kings that decorated Sereni. He used to look up at them when he was a boy and marvel at their greatness: the size of their arms and legs, the breadth of their shoulders, the superior way with which they held their heads, frozen in poses of dominance. 

I will prove my blood. I will be great, and all of Teru will know it. He used to vow whenever he looked upon the likenesses of his ancestors, doubling down on his efforts to rise above his royal cousins. And after he’d earned his sword and had been knighted, bent inside from an invisible injury but not broken, he had added: One day, he shall beg for mercy at my feet. 

Steve smiled to himself before masking it with a tired groan.  

“Never did I think I would come to dread supper.” 

Billy huffed in his ear, more amused than annoyed. 

“I forgot what a princess you are. You of all people, has no right to complain.” He reminded Steve with an arched eyebrow. His frown was stern, but there was a certain glint in his eye that Steve knew. Loved, if he were being honest. 

“I am the king’s blood. I define what is right.” he replied as haughtily as he could manage without having to laugh at himself. “And what of you? You move heaven and earth to get a prince in your bed and then act surprised when he believes himself faultless.”  

He’d hoped to draw a laugh from Billy with his teasing, but Hargrove only continued to stare at him, his expression growing more pensive.  

“Billy, what’s wrong?” Steve finally questioned, beginning to worry a little. 

“What were you dreaming about?” 

Instead of answering, Billy asked a question of his own. Steve hesitated, wondering why Billy was suddenly interested in his dreams. Not that he minded - it gave Steve a thrill, not knowing what pieces were on the board and what Billy’s next move might be. He’d missed this. Nobody ever played the game the same way or gave him the challenge that Billy did.  

He was happy, feeling the evidence of Hargrove’s strength pressed against his body, knowing it wouldn’t save him. Steve would be his undoing, and there was no more powerful feeling than that. 

“If I said I was dreaming of hearing you beg for mercy, what would you say?” Steve asked, his eyes searching out the bite he’d left on Billy’s shoulder. His heart quickened just at he sight of it, a spark of heat lighting deep in his belly. There was an answering spark of desire in Billy’s eyes before he answered. 

“I’d say that’s an admirable dream.” Billy’s lashes lowered as his own eyes found the bite he’d left on Steve’s throat. “But unless you forget, it was you who begged for my cock only hours ago. Intend to hear that sound every day for the rest of my life. ” 

“Strange. I remember you swearing to fulfill my every want only hours ago. But if you’ve decided not to keep your vow…” Steve huffed and began turning his body away, but Billy grabbed him around the middle before he could complete the motion and hauled him back in until they were chest to chest. Steve glared, but Billy just smiled. 

“You don’t want me dead. And you don’t want to test my patience either, omega.” He warned. 

Steve’s chest filled with warmth at hearing Billy call him his omega again, a quiet sound of pleasure chittering in his throat. It felt right. Their bond was stronger, and Steve felt stronger for it, and yet he was unalarmed by it. He ran his tongue over his teeth and wondered if it had something to do with the bites they’d exchanged.  

“I was dreaming of home,” Steve answered truthfully this time. “The time I explored the coast with my friend Jonathan. Why do you ask?” 

Instead of answering Billy lifted a hand to Steve’s cheek and rubbed the pads of his fingers over the surface. An achingly soft touch that sang through Steve’s starved skin like a reward. He leaned into it, curling into Billy’s body until his warmth was pressed all along his skin and Steve could feel the rise and fall of every breath he took. The itch and ache of yearning that he’d lived with while Billy had been avoiding him, refusing to touch him, might feel like a distant memory in the afterglow of sex and sub care, but it wasn’t. Not to either of them. 

“There were scales on your skin. You were glowing, here...” Billy’s hand  drifted down to Steve’s neck  and pressed gently against the side of his throat. “And here.” 

His voice was steady but Steve clocked the tension in him through his tightly controlled breaths.  

Steve considered it slowly, shivering a little. It wasn’t the first time he’d dreamed about finding the cave, but it couldn’t be coincidence that he’d been dreaming about that when he grew scales and started to glow.  

“My teeth grew sharp earlier, like yours do.” Steve admitted though it would have been hard for Billy not to notice when he’d bitten into him like a flesh eating eel. What he really wanted to know was, “Billy, do you ever hear voices?” 

“Voices?” Billy’s had gone tight. He had his answer but Steve pressed on for more detail. 

“The ones in the water.” Steve nodded his head toward the open window, confessing. “My room at home faced the sea. At night I could hear them singing in a language I’d never heard, but I understood every word.”  

He waited, unsure how Billy would answer. He could not be sure that Billy would be truthful when that truth made him vulnerable, but it was not just himself anymore that Billy had to worry about. Steve was tangled up in the secrets locked within Billy’s blood. 

‘There is no weakness like loving someone. Never forget that’. Steve’s father used to say, but it was Billy who had taught him the lesson. 

“Now and again.” The admission was gruff and quiet. Steve laid his head on Billy’s shoulder, smiling to himself as the alpha’s arms tightened around him. “And when I do I have the helmsman change course.” 

“Why?” Billy looked at him askance and Steve grinned. “I understand why you would fear for your men, but when you are alone, why not go to meet them?” 

“They are sirens Steve. They lure sailors to their death.” 

“But you are no ordinary sailor. Perhaps they only want to greet their prince.” 

Billy’s face darkened, predictably, his scent souring. 

“I am no prince. And I don’t care what it is they want.”  

“Bollocks. You’re scared.” Billy’s glare turned sharp and Steve tilted his chin up in defiance. 

“Are you calling me a coward Harrington?” 

The red glow around his pupils was warning enough, how stupid Steve would be to say another word that wasn’t a denial. 

“A fortnight ago, definitely. Tonight?” Steve paused, bringing his hand up to graze Billy’s bared shoulder, just above the mark his teeth had left. Billy’s gaze followed the movement of his hand, his throat moved as he swallowed, before he lifted his gaze back to Steve’s, penetrating. 

 “Tonight, I find myself feeling very human.” Steve continued, hushed. “Despite all indications that I am not. You cannot hide from who you are Billy, any more than I can hide from who you’ve made me.”  

It was silent for a long drawn-out moment with neither of them speaking. Billy breathed in tandem with the slapping of waves against the sides of the ship.  

When he finally spoke, his grip around Steve changed with the command that entered his tone. “If you hear them again Steve, you’re to tell me. And you are never to answer their call.” 

This was as far as Steve could safely push Billy tonight, Steve knew it even though he could tell that Billy was expecting resistance. Which was good because if he had expected anything else Steve would have been insulted.  

“I would not want to follow them anyway.” Steve answered with an easy shrug and took private delight in the wary confusion that furrowed Billy’s expression. “I am no prince of the sea or child of the gods. I like my chances better on land.” 

Slowly the confusion cleared from Billy’s face, replaced by a small hopeful smile. 

“That is a very petulant way to say yes alpha.” 

“That’s not what I said at all.” 

“Isn’t it?” 

Steve heaved a great put upon sigh and began talking to himself, not bothering to lower his voice. 

“He’s got a magnificent cock, yes, but if he’s a mad man is the fare really worth the price of – Ah!” Steve laughed as Billy growled and rolled on top of him, driving the breath from him as he wedged his thigh between Steve’s legs. Laughter melted into a moan as the pressure against his cock made Steve stiffen. 

He grabbed onto both Billy’s shoulders holding on, but Billy held himself still. He stared down at Steve with such a smirk, Steve wanted to smack it off him. And then kiss him. Suck those soft lips between his teeth until he whimpered and moaned. I hate him so much. Steve tightened his grip on Billy’s shoulders. 

Billy laughed, smug as he rocked into Steve too slow and infuriatingly easy. Bastard. I love him so much. 

I obviously haven't updated in a while but you can read up to this part on AO3

[theguest2]

we're fucking MARRIED!!!!!

[allfortheslay25]

i have a question about mermating if u don't mind

i saw that u explained the tail wrapping and such but how do they.. like where?? are their pieces??

Do you know how Dolphins mate?

Mermaids are a lot like dolphins and are physically separated by their reproductive organs (doesn’t mean a mermaid can’t identify as another gender)

Mermen (I’m so lazy with that term) basically have retractable parts. During mating (or ar0usal) those parts decide to say hi to the world 👋

Mermaids have that incision and the rest is history 👍✨

As for SIRENS, they have similar features however they have hidden parts if they wish to use it AND they have the pocket if they wish to use that

Although sirens have both parts, they aren’t able to use them until puberty. Unfortunately for both sirens and mermaids, they too get periods (one time thing) and that’ll indicate that they’re able to breed. This is because their pocket basically opens itself which rips lots of old and no longer needed protective flesh. Gross, I know🙂‍↕️

So, when two fishies want to bump the bellies, they’ll press chest to chest, hook their tails, and press the hidden surprise into the pocket☝️

Unfortunate or fortunate but TMI fact: they’re partially human so of course they’ll have fun and some couples don’t just use their hidden friend to have fun, they’ll use other bodily parts to rummage through the pocket if you’re unlucky enough to catch my drift🙌

[yandere-sins]

How would Nerrocan respond to the reader refusing to be his mate? Would he try to understand their point of view and try to win them over, or would he believe that he's "earned" them through all of the suffering and torture he's endured and get more forceful?

Well, that is actually what would be happening if we continued the story ('cause, you know, yandere story lol)! So reader definitely doesn't want to be his mate, but they don't really have a choice since the company they work for now, demands the caretakers keep their mermates happy at all cost. If they were to disobey, they'd be made obedient since they are only useful if they are able to fulfill their role.

However, Nerrocan wouldn't really give them the choice as his patience is already wearing thin and his pool is quite deep. It's just a matter of time until he snaps and just drags them under, keeping them barely alive with air as he claims them, the reader not really having a chance to escape out of his domain. And if it keeps him happy the company will be glad to return the reader to him if they avoid him afterwards. It isn't easy not to be a proper mate when everyone and their boss is trying to get you to accept it and you don't really have a choice.

Or well, they have a choice. It's the same one that they get when they want to leave:

Death.

And yes, they have a way to keep Nerrocan happy even without his original mate, no worries. Reader, unfortunately, doesn't matter much if they aren't of use to Nerrocan.

To answer your questions: It's neither really. His mate is not a reward to him, they are just his mate. It's a very factual view on their relationship and he'll take them when he has enough of them being avoidant of his needs. It's their job to take care of him and his needs after all, like it's his to protect and satisfy them. So yeah, he leans more towards being forceful but out of conviction rather than entitlement, and he definitely would not understand them trying to tell him they aren't his mate.

[lazyapperence9754]

all current existing AUs I’ve made

if curiosity gets to you, just ask about any of them.

Dark (gore, suicide, body horror, blood, violent themes, etc.) :❗️

Mild (Mixed) : 🌀

Happy (no dark themes) : 🔅

1 SillyKel!au ❗️

2 Supernatural!au ❗️

3 VeryBadEnding!au ❗️

4 TheTwoBirdsWhoFell!au ❗️

5 DogFight!au ❗️

6 SelfInsert!au 🌀

7 BurningStar!au ❗️

8 TheTwoOfUs!au ❗️

9 Drowner!au 🌀

10 Nuclear!au 🌀

11 Flower!au ❗️

12 Hikikio!au 🌀

13 Aquatic!au 🔅

14 OMORI’SPIZZA!au ❗️

15 HollowKnight!au 🌀

16 Mermate!au 🌀

17 Unidentified!au ❗️

18 Storybook!au ❗️

19 Disfigured!au ❗️

20 God!au 🌀

21 Apocalypse!au ❗️

22 TheStakesThatSpearHim!au ❗️

23 MagicalGirl!au ❗️

24 Religion!au ❗️

25 KelVerse!au ❗️

26 Omoverse!au ❗️

27 Hellmori!au ❗️

28 Alleyways!au ❗️

29 FaceStealer!au ❗️

30 Watcher!au ❗️

31 Runaway!au ❗️

32 MentalFacility!au ❗️

33 Pidgin!au 🌀

34 SomethingChanged!au 🌀

35 Caretaker!au ❗️

36 Ballistic!au ❗️

37 Winged!au 🔅

38 Animal!au 🔅

39 TheCursedLake!au ❗️

40 Doll!au ❗️

41 BlackSpaceTakeover!au ❗️

42 Experiment!au ❗️

43 Nymph!au 🌀

44 Cellar!au ❗️

45 Home!au ❗️

46 ColorTheory!au 🔅

47 BadHero!au ❗️

[lady-of-ladies]

8th day of the 12th month, 129 AC

with.— @theprincessofd0rne

Sabitha arrived back at King's Landing for the Royal Wedding. Her second visit was easier, calmer and quiet than before. Theo stayed home, under the care of his uncles and aunts. His health was too delicate and Sabitha worried the journey would be too difficult for him this time. Her second pregnancy wasn't taxing on her body, but her mind could definitely use some distraction. Talking with the Queen or her sister wasn't enough anymore, she couldn't turn to her favorite hobby; riding wasn't comfortable while, apparently, carrying twins.

So she improvised, Sabitha walked across the Red Keep's hallways, the path now intuitive for her; she found the training yard empty. Thankfully, she didn't want any witness around. To be judged for her tastes was one thing, to be judged for doing archery while pregnant was another. She had brought her own bow with her; the dark oak made a nice contrast with her light blue silks.

Sabitha prepared her arrow, the familiar motion appease her mind. Mermatize with her own actions. She was ready to shoot when someone else's arrow hit the target. « Impeccable shot, it must be Alysanne. » Her friend was the only archer that had ever bested Sabitha. She turned around searching for her but instead found a different woman next to her.

—Princess Aliandra —Sabithe bowed in instinct, a small smile formed on her lips.— A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I didn't know Dorne was lead by such impressive archer.

[revenant-coining]

Altumen Terminology

[ pt: Altumen Terminology ]

optional altumen terminology 4 anyother who wants 2 use it ^^

Aunt / Uncle / Auntcle: Merior

Parent: Merma

Grandparent: Podfolk and Folk

Child: Pup and Pupling

Nephew / Niece / Nibling: Podling

Sibling: Pod Member and Pod

Spouse: Mermate, Maremate, and Podmate

Datemate: Merfriend and Pupfriend

Etymology:

‘merior’ from ‘mer’ and ‘maior’, latin for ‘older’

‘merma’ from ‘mer’ and ‘maior’, latin for ‘older’

@radiomogai , @rescanwriter

[aveenoaveeno]

mermation

[highqueenofelfhame]

a/n: happy mermay!! this wasn't supposed to be multiple parts but it started getting a little long. it won't be a full length fic but it will have a few parts for it just to keep it from being one insanely long one shot. i hope you enjoy. pls be kind, i haven't written fantasy in a long time or fantasy like this ever. ok bye <3 PS: IF YOUR TAG IS BOLD IT WOULDN'T LET ME TAG YOU!

masterlist // rowaelin // 5.3k words

Of everything that Rowan Whitethorn had ever been called, stupid was never one of them.

Always at the top of his class, he graduated valedictorian in both high school and college. He worked tirelessly to graduate with a double major in oceanography and marine biology. A decade later, he had a doctorate in the former and worked for the most well respected ocean research institute in the world. Rowan himself was said to be one to watch in their community with his passion and tireless research. 

Right now, however, the only word blasting through his brain was stupid stupid stupid while alarms in his submarine wailed for about fifteen different reasons. Frantic fingers flew across the keyboard to access troubleshooting. Everything was going off. His oxygen inside the craft was plummeting, air pressure was rising, something in the back was hissing,  communication with the surface was down, and he had no fucking idea why. 

Five minutes ago he approached the ruins far beneath the waves and was studying animal activity in the middle of the night. It was by the far the dumbest thing he had ever done, going down at night without telling anyone. The submarine was built for two bodies and there was always a team on land surveying everything about the machine in case something went wrong. He knew better, yet something had been calling to him until he found himself pulling on his clothes and boarding alone. Rowan hadn’t even woken anyone up to ask for assistance. It was a trip he had made so many times over the last few months and he didn’t see the harm in going. 

And now the multi-million dollar submarine had managed to hit something incredibly hard while not moving. Nothing had shown up in the radar. One minute he was scribbling notes on lined paper and the next he was launched out of his seat and into the wall. His body was screaming as he pulled himself into the seat to figure out what the hell happened, but he couldn’t see anything. Rowan wondered what kind of chaos was happening above the water. Everyone would be awake by now and realize that both he and the submarine were gone. 

Still panicked, he kept trying and failing to get the back-up oxygen running. He was down to three percent which should have been fucking impossible for how long he had been below. 

At least he was going to die in the ocean. He had loved it so thoroughly since he was a boy, always feeling drawn to the water. At least there was this. 

“Burning hell,” he heard, but it wasn’t his voice. Rowan quickly surveyed the submarine and came to the conclusion that he was alone. But where did that voice come from? The accent was unlike anything he had ever heard but it was so lovely. All rolling letters and curved syllables,  it nearly entranced him. Whoever she was, her voice was the most gorgeous song he had ever heard and there was a tug—

Metal groaned and cracked, popped and exploded to nothing and suddenly he was launched through the water. By the grace of the gods, he managed to get one gulp of air into his lungs before being swept out into the iciest cold he had ever felt. It was pointless. He was going to die. How he hadn’t burst into a billion pieces at exposure to such high water pressure was absolutely beyond him. That one quick breath wouldn’t save him. 

Maybe he was already dead. 

With his body going into shock and the submarine sinking in pieces and chunks to the ocean floor, there was no way he wasn’t one hundred percent a dead man. It didn’t make sense that he hadn’t blown to bits, that he had seemingly stopped flipping and hurtling through the water. Everything around him suddenly felt warm like the ocean was wrapping him in a loving embrace. 

Definitely dead, then. 

If he was still alive against all odds, he didn’t have much time left. Despite being an excellent swimmer with lungs that could sustain him under water for several minutes, he didn’t have the time to get a proper breath. Still, he opened his eyes, rapidly blinking as the salt burned, invisible tears escaping into nothing. He shouldn’t be able to see anything this deep without the lights, and yet… 

Something was glowing. It was a radiant golden light floating closer and closer to where he waded. Which also shouldn’t be possible, but he supposed all bets were off when you were dead. Perhaps this was all a dream and he would wake up soon, haunted by that lovely, lilting voice he didn’t want to forget. 

“I can’t do this for very long,” Gods, that voice. His panic seemed to cease at the sound of it. A sense of calm washed over him and the sudden sensation of air whooshing up his nose had him exhaling the breath he was holding. Rowan blinked again, that blurry orb of bright light turning into a woman. 

Mala burn him alive, he had never seen anyone so beautiful in all his life. Her hair seemed to defy the laws of oceanic gravity, cascading over her shoulders and well below her breasts. With pale skin and a smattering of freckles across her nose, she swam until they were close enough to touch. 

Despite his blurry vision, he could tell her eyes were the color of the purest seas. So vibrantly turquoise there was no way she was human. Light seemed to radiate from within her turning the golden ring in her eyes into molten flame as she appraised him. Her skin cast a dim light around them, those brilliant eyes scanning the area. 

Something deep within him tugged, like a taut piece of string pulling against his ribs, his heart. This is what he had been looking for. This angel was the reason he was so drawn to the ocean and all that dwelled within. 

“I can’t keep giving you oxygen for long,” she told him, concern furrowing her brow. Rowan opened his mouth to ask if she was an angel, to tell her how beautiful she was and that it felt like he’d been pulled toward her his entire life, but water rushed in and forced all of his words back down his throat. “Don’t try to speak. I don’t have long.” 

Dumbly, he nodded his head. He would do anything she asked of him. 

“You have two options and you must decide quickly.” Her pretty words were rushed like she was the one panicking. “You can die and I can return your body to the surface, or I can save you. But if I save you, you’ll be like me. And you will dwell here forever.” 

He was already dead. There was no other explanation. But he cocked his head slightly in a silent question. What did she mean like her?

Thus far in their interaction he hadn’t been able to pull his eyes from her perfect face. His eyes had dipped down to her neck, but no further than that. Something in his mind told him to look, to see, so he took one of their dwindling moments to fully take her in. If he wasn’t dead, he probably would have been surprised. Perhaps he would have yelped and tried to get away, or maybe his brain would have made something up to make him believe what he was seeing. 

Her hair seemed to move from her neck, coiling around to the other side to display what could only be gills just behind her delicately pointed ear. Some sort of shining fabric was wrapped around her breasts. Like her eyes, it was a stunning shade of turquoise that he was convinced had no name and seemed to be fused to her somehow, like scales. Her body was finely sculpted by the gods, all the way down to her navel. There, her skin reflected bits of gold, and lower she—

Where her legs should be was a vibrant, shimmering gold tail. It looked like golden starlight had been melted and wrapped tightly around her body. The fins of her tail swayed idly in the water like molten ore. Similar to some jellyfish, the edges of the main fin had a slightly ruffled quality to them yet looked like the finest gossamer. He couldn’t be sure with his blurry eyes, but it seemed to have a glimmering effect. At her hips she had fins on each side that looked much like the one where her feet might have been if she was human. She was a mermaid. And she was fucking exquisite. 

“I can save you, or take your body home. What do you wish?” 

The answer seemed obvious. Die and let his friends and colleagues find his body, or live forever in heaven with an angel. One that it felt like he’d been looking for his whole life. Maybe that was the death talking. 

Still, he nodded, gesturing toward her. He wanted to ask how she was going to save him, but the words didn’t leave his mouth. Instead, she smiled, pink lips spreading to reveal surprisingly normal teeth. 

“A kiss,” she whispered, her voice a sultry purr as she leaned closer. “Are you sure?”

Rowan nodded as the airflow through his nose grew weaker. How could he say anything but yes to her? To the creature with the voice of a song his heart had been singing forever. As he took his last inhale of the air she gifted him, his nod grew more eager. 

“This is going to hurt, and I am so sorry.” Before he could process her words,  cool lips were pressed against his. 

Something pulled at his insides, but he couldn’t name the feeling. His lips parted when her tongue brushed his lips and she exhaled what could only be liquid flame into his core. Rowan began to thrash about, lightning striking every nerve ending in his body. Aches rumbled deep in his bones and barreled through every pore, that white-hot pain lancing across his skin, his lips, his eyes. Even his hair seemed to hurt as she burned him from the inside out. The pain was so fierce he couldn’t muster the strength to even attempt to restrain her, to shove her away and make her stop. 

Through the pain his body bowed, back in a tight arch that felt like his spine would splinter into thousands of pieces. Color exploded behind his eyes as whatever fire she breathed into his lungs took root. Paralyzation took over and he couldn’t move, the only solace to the heat being the frigid water surrounding them. 

Rowan might have been screaming to no one and nothing, and she might have been devouring his very soul. Even when the pain became so blinding that consciousness was no longer an option, her poisoned mouth stayed glued to his. 

He had always heard that beautiful things were deadly. It couldn’t be more true about the creature stealing his soul. All he knew was pure agony when the freezing darkness of the ocean swept in, claiming another life to her mysterious depths.

~*~ 

When Aelin awoke she was nestled on a bed of kelp and seagrass. The sickly-white bioluminescence told her enough about where she was without having to really look around: the infirmary. It wasn’t the first time she had woken up here with twinges of pain throughout her body and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. It was, however, the first time she couldn’t place why she was there. 

In true Aedion fashion, he was lounging on a rock with a solemn glare aimed at her. Aelin winced as she sat up and adjusted her weight. One of her fins had been caught beneath her for what felt like entirely took long. She frowned at the wrinkle, at the thing that seemed different about herself that she couldn’t place before looking at her cousin. 

“What the hell happened?”

“You don’t remember?” 

“Not particularly, no. Some grand adventure of mine turned a little sour, I suppose.” They often did much to her family’s eternal dismay. It wasn’t that she went looking for trouble, she just had a penchant for finding it. 

“The submarine? The explosion? The man? Your kiss? Any of that ringing any bells, sweetheart?” Bright memories clanged through her at his words and she started, twisting and turning to find the man from the vessel. 

Her heart both soared and sank at the sight of him several beds over. Considering that he was already finished with his transformation and sleeping soundly, it meant that she, too, had been unconscious for at least two days. Maybe three. 

What a glorious transformation it was, though. Her aching body pushed her through the water to his side, her fingers weaving into the seagrass as she came to a stop. Gills fluttered gently as he breathed, his long silver hair fanned out around his head like a halo. The clothes he had been wearing when she found him were gone. A bronze sculpted chest expanded with every breath and occasionally his eyes and fingers twitched. The tattoo he had as a human remained, but where the ink had once been a flat black, it now flashed with blues and greens beneath the lights. It had expanded to crawl up his neck and feathered along his jaw, the edges of it wrapped around his ears like tiny tentacles. Fascinating. The gauntlet of scales that started at his wrist and crawled up his forearms were of the same coloring as his tale, all vibrant shades of silver, gold, green and bright blue. 

Then there was his tail. While hers was all golden with turquoise throughout, his was primarily her favorite shade of green. About halfway down it faded to a darker emerald with sparkling silver and gold shooting throughout. Aelin’s scales were flatter, more silken to the touch. The ones of his fin were thicker and more defined, similar to how Aedion’s were.  He had very defined boning through his bottoms fins, the webbing between iridescent hues of pine, starlight, and the purest ocean water. In short, he was beautiful, and she was positive she could write an essay about him if she tried. 

“Has he woken up at all?”

“Not yet, but his vitals are steady and healthy. He should wake up soon, though. Probably good that you woke up first.” Aelin nodded in agreement, curling her hands into fists to keep herself from touching him. “Are you going to tell me what the hell happened to make you give him your kiss?” 

“I know what it looks like, and it’s not that,” she blurted, perching on the edge of the man’s bed. It looked like she lured him out of the submarine to seal his fate below the waves. While she had spent the last several months enthralled by him and the work he did, she didn’t kiss him lightly. It wasn’t a simple decision to make, and it was one that few mer ever risked. 

Aedion arched an eyebrow, his fins moving in a way that told her she was impatient. Aelin sighed heavily, running her fingers through permanently silky strands. 

“He got too close to the city. The defenses went off and when I tried to shove them out of the way, it was too late. It rocked the back half to the vessel and sent all the mechanics into a tizzy. He was going to die.” 

“He’s doing work that could kill us all,” Aedion reminded her. It was a harsh truth she wanted to ignore. Something about this man was different from all the others that had ever studied their kingdom. Humans saw it as a cluster of ruins. In reality it was one of the seven thriving kingdoms that dwelled at the bottom of the ocean. A kingdom that she was the princess of. 

While many oceanographers tried, and failed, to get too close to document the ruins, this man had always made his team stay far enough back that no damage would be caused. Even on the night that the world went to hell, he was a respectable distance away until a current pushed him a little too close. Aelin had been watching all these months, though. The man was incredibly intelligent and cared greatly about the ocean and her creatures. She spent hours watching him while he scanned what he believed he saw, scribbling notes in a little book. Most often he had a golden or onyx-haired companion with him. It was always this one that was most cautious and respectful about the marine life, though. 

The lost Kingdom of Terrasen was only a myth because it had never existed on land to begin with. Legend says a thousand different things about how it wound up on the bottom of the ocean, leading generations of scientists to dive deep below to try and find the forgotten city. Most of the time, the defenses of the kingdom would wipe memories and send people far away. Some of them forgot what they were doing in the water to begin with, some forgot who they were entirely. Their wards were temperamental and it all depended on the heart of the person hunting them. 

For the first time ever, when this man was on board the submarine, they were allowed to see the ruins of what might have been. It confused everyone, her father included. Even the king didn’t have control over what the wards permitted people to see or what knowledge they might walk away with. This man and his team had been chosen for the smallest amount of exposure. The only catch, it seemed, was that they couldn’t nail down exact coordinates and there were days between visits because they got lost. 

The night he appeared entirely alone, however, it was like he knew exactly where to go. Like the magic of the lands were whispering to him, guiding him almost to their doorstep. It was the first time he had ever gotten much too close and it almost cost him his life. That wasn’t entirely his fault, there truly had been a current that moved the ship just enough that it triggered major defense systems. If Aelin hadn’t tried to knock the blast out of the way, he would have been dead before she could intervene. 

She looked back down at his handsome, sleeping face and held in a sigh before looking back at Aedion. “You know that the magic sings to him.”

“Is it the magic, or has it been you?” 

Aelin scowled. Sirens were relatives of the mer, and liked to lure men to tragic deaths. Somewhere in their shared Ashryver bloodline were siren powers. They never really used them. Speaking to this man to save his life was the first time she had ever put the full force of it in her voice, and it had only been to calm him down. 

“You know it wasn’t me,” she said, twisting to look back down at him.

“You gave him your kiss.”

“I gave him the option of death or life, and he chose life. So of course I gave it to him.” A mer’s kiss was as much of a legend as the merfolk themselves. Most of the stories were watered down versions of the truth. None of them were exactly correct, yet they weren’t wholly wrong. 

Many of them claimed you would be given magic of your own or healing powers. Most implied it could be done over and over, and that to take a kiss from a mer was to sell your soul. The last part was kind of true. To take a kiss was to become a mer, but it was a little more complicated than that. 

Each mer only had one true kiss to give. Typically it was given to humans, though some had been known to give it to other creatures of the deep. It was a heavy decision on the mer because of the repercussions. That other life would be immortally bound to theirs, half of any magic the possessed transferring to the other being in the process. The elders said it was because the magic was the only way most could survive the transformation, and after witnessing it with her own eyes, she understood why.

Aelin had always known that it would be painful on both parts. For the man she saved, it seemed to ring true. She had never seen that kind of blind terror on anyone’s face, had never been able to feel such raw, visceral pain coming from another being as clearly as if it were her own. The few mer that she knew were Made had once said it was like having every part of you ripped out and made new, but it depended on what magic the other possessed. Among a few smaller healing gifts, Aelin had liquid flame that nobody could really explain. It had to have been agony. 

For her, she felt parts of herself she didn’t know existed splintering apart. The tangible feeling of her magic being torn from her body was painful enough, and she wouldn’t have been able to pull away from him if she tried. Her bones still ached like she’d been slammed into the sandy floor over and over. Maybe she had. At some point she lost consciousness and then woke up in the infirmary with her glaring cousin at her side. 

And then there was that other thing she had felt. Like a harp string between their bodies shining golden in the dark, plucking a song she swore she had heard her entire existence. Most merfolk didn’t risk giving their kiss away. The costs were simply too high for them unless they found their true mate. Looking down at the handsome face beside her, feeling that vibrant bond between them, she couldn’t help but wonder if the wards had been so forgiving of the man because his heart sang their princess’s song. 

“Aedion, I think…” Words were tangled in knots that she couldn’t speak.

“I know. We all knew. Look at his tail and yours.” Aelin swished her lower fin up, gasping at the brilliant shades of green that shimmered in the bioluminescence of the infirmary. Where her tail used to be just gold and blue like her eyes, green was now infused effortlessly. Near her bottom tail, the gold speckled then blended into turquoise. Now green made the fade all the more seamless and complete. The delicate webbing that layered upon itself in a ruffled-like display had vibrant bands of green melted effortlessly with her natural coloring. As fuzzy as her mind had been when she woke, it was insane to think she had missed the green and silver scales speckled through what had once been solid gold. Even the fins at her hips and her forearms matched the lower one. 

When she looked back down at his tail she felt silly for not seeing it before. Those blue hues were exactly the color of her eyes, of her scales and webbing. Even the gold was identical to hers and that was rare. Not even Aedion’s or her parent’s shades of gold were a perfect match. 

The sleeping man was her mate. It was wholly undeniable. 

Hours passed, her mother and father coming to check on her not long after her revelation. Neither were angry with her, though she wouldn’t have blamed them if they were. Both were just relieved that she was okay and still breathing, and promised they would figure out the next steps together. 

“Let us know when your prince wakes,” her mother said, a knowing look twinkling in her eyes. Prince. Because he was now a prince of the most powerful kingdom in the ocean. Gods above. 

Aelin stayed perched on his bedside, tail swishing anxiously while she waited for him to rouse from sleep. She had just finished a seaweed snack when she heard a deep inhale beside her. When she looked over, she was gazing into bewildered but bright green eyes. 

“Hello,” she said, pushing off the bed to give him his space. Hints of fear were speckled in his eyes, the smell of his heart rate spiking beneath his skin heady in its own way. Her fins swayed idly to keep her in place, the ribbon-like tendrils at her hips reaching for him. It was almost like her magic and her body recognized him as belonging to her. 

The man was quiet, bleary eyes blinking up at her. One of his hands waved in front of his face as though realizing he was underwater, breathing, and alive. Wonder and amazement crossed over his features before he looked back at her. 

“Am I dead?” His voice was prettier without machinery warping his words. Aelin bit down on her lip and glanced away, trying to bite back a smile. 

“No. You are quite alive, but not the same as you were. Are you in pain?” Those green eyes didn’t stray from her face as if he couldn’t look away. 

“I’m sore.” Aelin nodded, parting her lips to respond when he asked, “Where am I?”

“In one of the infirmary towers of the palace.”

“Underwater?” Bewildered, his eyes flew around the room. He probably expected ruins, and was instead greeted by pristine walls made of seashells and rows of beds. Beyond the doorway behind them was an extensive supply of medicinal plants and herbs. 

“We were never lost, just never wanted to be found. You are the first human to ever see it as ruins. I’m afraid that your research won’t reflect that. The magic only seemed to like you and I can’t imagine your colleagues will remember what they saw down here.” Aelin’s smile was sad and her heart ached for what he lost. From his human life to the career and research that he seemed to love so much.

“I think I died. And that you might be an angel of death,” he said slowly, the memories seeping from his mind down that new bond they shared. Aelin could feel his fear of her, even as she shook her head.

“I know it felt like I was trying to kill you, but believe me when I say it was the only way to save you. My powers.. I have great strengths, but I also have weaknesses. My healing magic is few and far between and I only have so much to give. I wouldn’t have been able to sustain your oxygen levels for the ascent despite how fast I can swim. You would have been dead before we broke the surface.” She hated the dread on his face. Hated how much he wanted to believe none of this was true. Still, he hadn’t looked away from her to see what he had become. Aelin wondered if he could feel it, if he knew, or if he still felt the phantom of his human limbs. 

“Are you an angel?” His eyes dipped to her throat then back to her face. The Adam’s apple in his throat bobbed and she wondered if it was the gills that got that reaction from him. 

“I think you know what I am,” she said, swishing her tail hard enough that he had to view it in all its glory, not just out of his periphery. “Just like I think you know what you now are.”

His eyes were roving over every scale, every shimmering, shiny inch of her body. She held still while he drank every piece of her in, his mouth parted in surprise. One hard swallow later and he was gaping down at his lower half like he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. 

Some mer chose to take this part away after the kiss. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought about it too much, but was now wishing that she had. So many emotions were flying across his face entirely unfiltered, so quickly she couldn’t make sense of them all. 

“What’s your name?” Her hands toyed with the ends of her hair just to have something to do. 

“I— Rowan. Rowan Whitethorn.” His eyes darted to her body and back to his. 

“Rowan,” she whispered, two syllables turning over sweetly in her mouth. “My name is Aelin. I’m the princess of what you call the Lost Kingdom of Terrasen.”

“Bullshit,” he blurted, shooting upright and looking around the room. His hands were braced on the bed, the kelp and seagrass trapped beneath his fingers. 

“When you’re feeling better I’ll show you everything. Anything you want to see or do, it’s yours. But I would rather wait until the residual pain has faded because swimming long distances—”

“What did you do to me?” 

“I saved your life the only way that I could. I told you it would make you like me.” She hated that her tears, thicker than water and shining in her eyes like oyster shells, were burning her eyes. Soon they would be falling down her cheeks like lost pearls. 

“I thought I was dead,” he argued, the beautiful lines of his face hard and unforgiving. 

“You would have been if I didn’t shield your human body from the pressure, the cold, and your submarine exploding into pieces,” she fought back, hands in fists and voice on edge. Aelin was known for having quite the temper when the right buttons were pushed.

“Maybe you should have let me die. Everything I loved is above the surface.” It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. It felt like the spindly thorns of a lionfish pricking venom into her skin. Her jaw clenched, sharper teeth sliding out from her gums. The sharp tang of blood filled her mouth as she bit the tip of her tongue. They were a defense mechanism, sometimes used for certain meals, but in moments like this she had little control over their appearance. Her body and magic thought she was in danger so they were giving her the tools to protect herself. 

“I gave you the choice. It was your choice. I—” Aelin turned and fixed her eyes on one of the bioluminescent lanterns on the wall. She didn’t need him seeing those shark-like teeth and becoming more fearful than he already was. “Do you want me to take it away?”

“What?” 

“The memory, the pain, all of it. I can take it away. But I want that to be your choice. You can hate me if you wish, or I can take it away and you won’t remember your life before.”

Technically he could do it himself, too, but informing him that he now had different kinds of magic flowing through his veins right now didn’t seem like the best idea. Rowan was quiet, fingers tracing over his brand new scales where his knees used to be. Aelin keenly watched him out of the corner of her eye until those teeth sunk back into her gums and she felt his eyes turn back on her.

“No,” he finally said. “No, I don’t want to forget.”

“I know there is going to be a lot of adjustment for you. I want to make it as easy as possible. Your rooms will be next to mine and I’m at your disposal. Should you need me, just call for me and I’ll come. For now, I’m going to find something to eat for the both of us. If you’ll excuse me.” Before he could even open his mouth to object, she used a blast of her power to propel her through the open archway that led into the hall.

While she was going to find him food, those tears were getting a little too close to falling from the tension. It had been a long few days, an even longer few hours of being awake. Not only was she feeling all of her own emotions, but his were thrown into the mix, too. A moment to breathe in the salty water would be enough to ground her. 

Her pace only slowed when she was far enough away that it felt safe to sink onto the sandy floor and cry until the frustration began to drift away on a slow current. 

@fancysludgeshoelamp @kritical24 @readandlisten @icantfindmychashma @westofmoon @helwanderer @latenighthazymusings @lululululululuop @rowanaelinn @drywhiskers @constant-disappointment-and-gay @throneofus7 @princess-rumi-blog1 @the-regal-warrior @holdthefrickup @baby-babayaga @althelkingshorses @empress-ofbloodshed-writing @earthtolinds @lunadorned @adrianaslv @lunarwitch25 @superspiritfestivall @larisssss @renxzs  @1islessthan3books @darknessofoceans @autumnbabylon @backtobl4ck @aelinchocolatelover @besiber24 @s-uppertime @livingmylifeforme @tothestarsandwhateverend @kritical24 @sleeping-and-books @carranam-mates @fireheart-violet @aelinchocolatelover   @basicbittywitty  @goddess-aelin @shyvioletcat @punkassbookjockey26

[the-unknown-fandom]

Info About This Blog (I guess; Still Under Construction till further notice)

Hello! You can call me Abyss, welcome to my blog, I'm into a lot of stuff (Ex: anime, cartoons, TV shows)

This Blog might have some multi fandom content depending on which my brain is stuck on.

Im kinda new to tumblr so I'll try my best to get use to this and I'll try and learn how to function on this platform.

Animes/TV Shows/Cartoons/Movies that I like:

One Piece

Demon Slayer: Kimestu No Yaiba

Atla (Avatar The Last Airbender)

The Owl House

LMK (Lego Monkie Kid)

Ninjago

Ever After High

Troll Hunters

Nezha (2019)

New Gods: Nezha Reborn

The Land Before Time

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (+Across the Spiderverse)

Nimona

Over The Moon

Ultraman Rising

(Note: I know that literally half of these shows are for kids, but I grew up with some of them)

Webtoons that I have seen/read:

High Class Homos

Castle Swimmer

Realta

Grand Ma

Unwritten Death

How A Goddess Wins Over Tigers

And They Were MerMates

Hooked on Chthonics

Hades: I'm the End

Hades and Persephone

Bugtopia

Cinderella Boy

Love Me To Death

Horror Movies That I have Seen

Scream (1996)

The Texas Chainsaw Masscure (2022)

Quiet Place i & ii

The Silence

Tim Burton's Movies (And Series) That I have Seen

The Corpse Bride

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Frankenweenie

Wendell and Wild

Coraline

Edward Scissorhand

Planet of the Apes

Dark Shadows

Wednesday

Alice in Wonderland & Alice Through the Looking Glass

Sci-Fi

Planet of the Apes (Rise, Dawn, and War)

Avatar i & Avatar ii: Way of the Water

Musicals

EPIC: The Musical

[mechactually]

matemate, mermate, playmate, podmate, pupmate, and soulmate word emojis

[professionallydeadinside]

Oh yeah its mermay now

MERMAY SO TRUE,,,,,Someone gimme a character to mermatize I'll mer them later

[theguest2]

even a leela coded masc and a fry pilled femme can make it in this sick sad world

[revretch]

Some people in the comments on this don't know what beautiful animals bobbit worms are so

If you can't find beauty in a majestic serpent that literally shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow, I don't think you can see beauty at all.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mermate/9197211453