#septnautical side story

[septnautical]

Could I request a story? Something cute with Jamie playing with some fishy friends?

(Y’all should know by now- I can’t do pure cute for too long ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ)

Jameson was swimming in the border between the safe shallows and the kelp forest- mostly because it was sooo much fun to hide in the wavering, towering weeds. He poked his head out from a cluster of vines, looking back and forth warily- before a black and white blur shot into Jamie’s face. The cuddlefish mer startled backwards- then gave a shaky quiet laugh to the cuddlefish friend who had ambushed him. The tiny cuddlefish in question made a happy thrill before circling JJ’s head in a lap of triumph.

Jameson smiled fondly at the cuddlefish- it was one of his many fishy friends he had around. He got very lonely during his spilt from his brothers- and he ended up naming a lot of fish around the area. He felt like he was one of the few creatures that really understood them.

Well, that- and he could actually understand them. He heard their thoughts clearly in his head- and for the longest time he thought this was normal… He thought all his brothers could communicate with the fauna like he could- or at least understand them. Jackie seemed to be able to understand Mama Grim- and Chase could talk to the Sea Emperor! But, it wasn’t until recently that he realized they couldn’t hear their fish friends when they brushed fins against them- which seemed so strange to Jamie…. Now- it was as natural to him as breathing. And- he could also speak to them as well- but he didn’t speak a lot already so… kind of a wasted talent.

Maybe it’s because of Jack- Jack always seemed to understand the fish like Jamie could. Maybe that’s why he thought it was normal.

And maybe that’s why he kept Jack’s habit of naming the fish around them alive.

Jameson was very small before they escaped the tank- he was hardly in there 2 months… which was a long time for a new hybrid- but short in the grand scheme of things. But, he remembered being glued to Jack’s side like a tiny shadow. Seems all the new hybrids did after being introduced. Jack always had a type of magnetism to him that no one really understood. He was always so positive and happy… even in that awful place. (Or- what Jamie heard was awful from his brothers. LIke Jack- he never got hurt there- and the white suits were friendly and nice to him.) Jameson remembered being introduced to every fish in the tank that Jack had named. He knew their markings and their habits and their personalities more than any of the others. Anti used to give him a hard time for this- threatening to eat any of the fish that annoyed him. He never followed through though- lest he wanted to face Jack’s wrath.

Jameson loved that tradition… and even helped name a new friends with Jack before they left. The look of pride of his big brother’s face was one he’d always remember.

So- even with Jack gone before and asleep now, Jamie kept up their tradition of naming their fauna friends. Jamie was just like Jack- he knew how to tell them apart and knew their hearts.

For example- this playful cuddlefish was Bartholmew. Barry for short. He had the same gentleman-y air his brothers’ first saw in him. He was a fitting companion to Jameson’s adventures.

The cuddlefish mer shook himself out of his thoughts and giggled- poking Bartholomew on the nose and gesturing for him to follow. They had other friends to find!

The two swam through the reeds looking around for any more of Jamie’s friends. Sticking out from a too small pile- they found a baby stalker Jamie had named Neptune. The merman giggled and pushed on the baby’s tail and the little one nipped at him before looking embarrassed and looping around the mer’s tails. JJ flicked the stalker’s snout good-naturedly with the tip of his tail and motioned for her to follow as well.

Finny the rabbit ray was a bit too high in their blood kelp hiding place and Bartholmew thrilled and landed on his back with a bounce. Finley sang a disappointed tune but soon joined the group as well.

Nemo the peeper was the last to be found- and was one of the best hiders in their group. Jameson and his gang looked around the vines carefully- looking for hide or tail of the slippery peeper.

When suddenly- Jameson hears a distressed panicking vibrating through the air before a green and blue eye in suddenly colliding with his face. He startles back and holds his nose- blinking in confusion. It’s a peeper- but not Nemo- no… Jamie has never seen this one before. It’s big eye is green and blue compared to the normal yellow eyed peepers.

The peeper looks distressed as it swims to be back in Jamie’s face, touching it’s beak to his cheek. Jamie can hear its panicking more clearly.

“Jack! Jack! Where- where- can’t find! Look- look like Jack! Feel like Jack! Know where? Jack where???”

Jameson’s eyes widen and he holds up hands to try to calm down the panicking peeper. Once it seems to calm down, Jameson points to his chest and whispers. “Jack is my brother… you know him?”

The peeper flicks its tail and seems to nod, going to touch against Jamie’s skin again- as if he’s praticed talking to the merman before.

“Big tank- Jack kept. Sam company- Sam friend. Jack name Sam- Sam love Jack.”

Jameson’s heart fills with sympathy and warmth hearing the peeper. “Jack named you…”

They shift around and seem to start to panic again as they tell JJ, “Big tank broke! Fish everywhere- sick fish. Mad humans. come steal Jack! Sam no find- sam swim long long! No jack… want jack.”

The cuddlefish mer feels his heart clench. He knows where Jack is.. But he’s not sure Sam will like the sight. It sound like they don’t even know he’s asleep.

Jameson explains that he needs to leave to his friends though and motions for Sam to follow. The little peeper sticks to Jameson’s side- anxious but excited energy vibrating off them.

“Know jack where! Take Sam? Sam see Jack!”

Jameson tries to smile at the peeper’s excitement… but it’s hard to keep up.

Before long Jameson is leading Sam through the labyrinth of tubes that make up The Ocean’s Arms base. Sam seems used to the sight though- not nearly as scared as other fish Jamie has tried to take through these tubes.

They dive into the hidden compartment of the base and JJ leads them into the viewing tank across from the working lab where Jack lays sleeping.

Right now, the equipment has been pushed aside and cleaned up- so they filled the tank with water to better help Jack rest. Still though- he’s upright and loosely bound to an examination table. Several wires are hooked under his scales and various waterproof machines beep and flash- monitoring his vitals to make sure he’s still as healthy as they can keep him.

Already since he was found, the Sea Emperor hybrid is looking better. His skin is less pale, he’s not quite as thin. But, he doesn’t look completely healthy either. How could he be, when he’s stuck asleep and without the sun?

Jameson always felt so sad coming in here. He longed so much to see his brother open his eyes and smile at him like he did when he was small. Jamie had lived most of his life without Jack now… and was so close to being the same size as him. Which was crazy… considering Jack was always a big comforting presence in his memories. A warm embrace that could hide Jamie from his nightmares and fears. It hurt to see they both grew so much without each other.

Understandably, when Sam sees his friend so still and strapped to metal- the tiny fish freaks out and swims madly towards the window- trying to push against it to get to Jack.

“Jack! Why sleep? Why no move- why no speak Sam?? Sam here! Sam here!!”

JJ sighs and goes to scoop up Sam despite their struggling and smooths down their scales.

“Jack is sleeping… we don’t know why-” The merman explains quietly. “We’re trying to fix him… and you can visit.”

Sam seems to stop his struggling but their green and blue eye stays fixated on Jack as they slump in Jameson’s grasp.

“Miss Jack…”

Jamie feels tears in his eyes as he looks back to his brother and sinks to the tank floor.

“...I miss him too…”

[jurassicraptorcat]

Ouros’ Revenge

Huffle was typing up another Septnautical story during the day while waiting for Juri to emerge from the guest bedroom. She had mentioned earlier having a bad migraine and that she was going to lie down for a bit after taking some medicine. Huffle hadn't heard anything since.

Hisssss

A noise behind her had Huffle turning to come face to face with a very large snake. It opened its mouth to show off it's fangs and Huffle jerked back “What!?”

Juri entered the room behind the snake and stood there. Huffle yelled. “Juri get out of here!”

“Why would I leave?” Juri responded.

Huffle froze at Juri’s voice. It was lower than Huffle had ever heard it. She looked at Juri closely.

“Juri?”

Juri looked at Huffle as a second snake made its way in the room and settled at Juri’s feet. “Guess again little host.”

Her eyes were amber colored and staring straight into Huffle’s. Huffle couldn’t look away if she tried. “I suggest you make an appearance ink blot.” The snake that had originally scared Huffle had been slithering around her, now it made its move and slithered around her legs.

Huffle shrieked and went to kick out but a hiss had her standing still as the snake coiled around her body higher until its head reached her neck. Its tongue flicked out and Huffle whimpered when it touched her neck. The not Juri strode closer and quick as the two snakes had Huffle’s jaw in her hand. She pulled until Huffle was again looking her in the eye. There was something in her eyes that Huffle could barely make out, it nauseated her though to stare at it.

“Ink blot. I have very little patience in waiting for you.” Not Juri said.

Huffle got who she was asking for. “U-Unreal? She only comes out when I’m sleeping.”

Not Juri tilted her head. “I see.” And something inside Huffle twisted as Not Juri advanced on her. The snake coiled around her half opened its mouth and hissed lowly when Huffle squirmed. Not Juri placed her hand on Huffle’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “This will only hurt for a second.”

“Wha-?”

The second snake that had been slithering at Not Juri’s feet lunged and sunk its fangs into Huffle’s ankle. Her shriek only lasted for a brief few seconds before her eyes rolled up into her head and she dropped. The snake coiled around her tightened its grip.

Not Juri stood there and waited. It only took a few minutes for Huffle to begin moving but Not Juri stared at the ink that spread across her skin. “There you are.”

Unreal snapped open her eyes only to come face to face with a hissing snake.

“What is this?” She demanded. Unreal could feel how Huffle’s body was weaker than usual.

Not Juri approached. “Hello Ink blot. I am Ouros and you attacked my host.”

“What of it.” Unreal growled. She jerked her head away as both snakes flared their fangs at her.

Ouros stared down at Unreal blankly before picking a foot up and slamming it down on Unreal’s forehead making her shriek in pain and rage. “Don’t do it again.” Ouros commanded. Her voice had dropped lower than it usually was. “I don’t tolerate harm on my host.”

“I’ll break your host’s mind so badly she’ll be a gibbering mess for the rest of her life.” Unreal threatened.

Weight increased on Unreal so suddenly she didn’t have time to cry out before it disappeared. She wheezed as her lungs desperately sucked in air that had been forcefully expelled from it. When she finally blinked the spots from her eyes Unreal froze as a snake lowered its head so its fangs were centimeters away from piercing the sides of her throat.

“I don’t care for you or your host ink blot. I’d end this now if your host’s death wouldn’t upset my host.” Ouros stated. “But I am still bound by my host’s will and death would be too much of a comfort for you. After all…” Ouros bent down to lightly pat Unreal’s cheek. “...there’s worse things than death.”

Unreal glared up at Ouros. “Fine.” She spit. “I’ll leave your host alone.”

“That’s all I asked for but you had to be difficult.” Ouros stated. She waved her hand and the snakes melted into ink that flowed onto a tattoo on Ouros’s arm. After inspecting the tattoo Ouros glanced up at Unreal. “I feel we will be seeing each other from now on. I do hope you don’t hold grudges that’s so...human.”

Ouros went to exit the room but paused. “Ah yes.”

She looked back where Unreal was struggling to stand. Her body had never felt to weak before. Ouros tossed a tiny bottle that landed on the floor in front of Unreal. “Best to drink that before the poison shuts down your hosts heart.”

With an almost jaunty wave of her hand Ouros went back to the guest bedroom where she let her host finish her nap.

@huffle-dork Here’s Ouros’ revenge against Unreal!!!

[septnautical]

Anti’s First Fireball

SD-004 looked around the enclosure he was ushered into with curious eyes. It felt… strangely nostalgic. Like he’d been here before. But, that wasn’t possible. The white suits scientists had told him he was a fresh creation, just now being put into testing enclosures. And yet… the sea dragon felt a heaviness in his chest he didn’t understand, being in here. He swears when he closed his eyes… instead of these prison like walls… he saw bright blue open waters- the sun shining in large rays down on the sand. Colorful swarms of fish and… laughter- laughter and smiles that made SD-004 feel warm inside. But, whenever he thought like that- a piercing pain would spear through his temple. It made it hard to think. He’d been having way too many thoughts like that lately… 

Even then- this enclosure was familiar in a bad way. Thinking about it… he felt a sense of dread and slight fear being put in here. The walls were stark white, almost painful to look at. There was only one window to look through, unlike the tank where he was most days where he was surrounded by glass. The sea dragon anxiously picks at his scales on his arms, wondering why he was brought here. The scientists had been saying he was doing good… better than he had been. The disks lodged on the edge of his ears itched and stung- but they had seemed happy that they were ‘working properly’. Whatever that meant… 

Anti’s muscles bunched up in reaction to the mic in the tank sparking up. Someone was here. He turned back to look at the window to see a scientist smiling tightly at him. Chief Demerci… She was the head scientist in charge of him. He didn’t like her at all… not that there was anything he could do about it. 

“Hello SD-004,” Demerci greeted, “How are you feeling today?” 

The sea dragon’s fins bristled in agitation just listening to her speak. A fire that was dormant until she came back in lit up. The adolescent sea dragon bared his fangs and snarled at the scientist. 

“Don’t waste my time acting like you care. Why am I here?” 

The scientist doesn’t look surprised by his hostility- but she does look disappointed. She tsks, then reaches for a button on her control panel. A shock runs from Anti’s ear attachments and down his spine, making him go rigid and cry out. 

“Anti,” Demerci sighed. The simple mention of that name had him seizing up more as if expecting something else- “Say Goodbye.” 

The phrase has Anti’s eyes drooping- his expression going slack and body held at attention. The scientist looked bored as she addressed the tranced hybrid. 

“Punishment will come when you choose to be aggressive to your superiors, SD-004. You are to address them with respect.” 

Anti hardly blinks as he replies, “Yes, Chief Demerci.” 

“Status report,” Demerci says shortly. The hybrid shifts slightly as a yellow glow comes to his eyes. He talks a bit more robotically, his voice slightly raked with static. 

“Vitals normal. Anxiety levels at a medium. Mild headaches o-o-occurring from memory deletion. Command chip integration at 56%.” 

Demerci makes a tch sound and leans back in her chair. “That would explain the attitude. We’ll have to work on that conditioning after this experiment.” She takes down a couple of notes before addressing the static hybrid again, “Alright, Anti, see you soon.” 

Light comes back into the hybrid’s eyes quickly and he blinks sluggishly back awake, his body relaxing. Demerci studies him smugly. 

“So Anti, how are you feeling?” 

Anti goes stiff again for a second and yellow flashes in his eyes before he deflates and looks away from the scientist, picking at his scales again. 

“F-Fine I guess…” 

Demerci frowns but nods regardless. They can work on that more later. 

The scientist sighed heavily before a small sadistic smile spread across her face. She leaned over her mic and grinned at the tiny sea dragon like a lioness stalking her kill.

“Well I’m happy to hear that SD,”  she cooed with false sweetness, “Because you’ll need to be in ship shape to take on today’s test.” 

Anti’s head jerked up, color draining out of his face. “W-What?” He whispered in fear, backing away from the glass to try to curl up against the wall. He knew what that meant- it usually meant pain… lots and lots of pain.

DeMerci showed no sign of remorse as she smiled cruelly and went to press a finger against another large button on the dashboard in front of her. 

Something creaked loudly from the walls before a large creature emerged. But… it wasn’t just any creature.

It was another hybrid. 

Looming over Anti was a reaper leviathan hybrid with dark skin, covered in red markings and blue scales. It had long flowing red hair. 4 soulless black eyes with gray sclera glared down at the young hybrid as it gnashed its razor sharp teeth. It’s mandibles spring out and aim at the merman. 

Anti stared at this thing in increasing horror. His mind was screaming at him- something about this wasn't right- this was all wrong!! 

Jackie Jackie! Where was Jackie?!

The creature didn’t care for its prey’s fear. It roared so loud it rocked the tank they were in before diving down at Anti like a torpedo. 

Luckily, Anti was quick and he easily dodged. His body seemed to know how to fight this thing- knew of its weaknesses. He watched it prepare to loop around him- trying to attack his back. But. Anti kept in its path, blocking its attempts to maneuver around him. 

“No fair Anti! That’s my big move!” A young voice whined in his ear

The hybrid gets frustrated at not making headway and roars before trying to tackle Anti to the ground with its long claws. Anti dives to the sand though- watching with a smirk as the thing barrels into the tank wall and disorients itself above him.

Demerci watches with a fascinated smile. “Your instincts are benefiting you greatly SD- you are the reaper’s natural predator.” But, then she sighs dramatically while picking up a remote off her desk. “However- I specifically stated you were going to use firepower today-“ 

Without another word- she presses a button. Anti feels his body spark up painfully and he screams and convulses on the floor. The shocking lasts for a couple more torturous seconds before Demerci relents. Anti slumps for the floor and breathes through gritted teeth- trying to push himself back up as the creature prowls back and forth in front of him. 

“Use your fire breath, Anti,” Demerci hisses at the boy. “Or you’ll never be able to protect SE-002… and you don’t want that, right?” 

Anti freezes slightly at that. His eyes spark with yellow orange light and he twitches, claws digging into the sand. 

“No…” he whispers, eyes widening and looking distant. “I will protect SE-002… That’s all I was made for.” 

Demerci smirks, happy to see the brainwashing slowly but surely leaking in. “Then, that hybrid is trying to hurt SE, Anti. Don’t let it succeed. Burn it-“ 

With a wild scream, Anti launches himself from the sand and barrels into the reaper hybrid. They roar at each other, but Anti manages to bang the creature’s head against a rock and drive it to the ground. The thing wiggles and screeches at Anti, trying to get free. 

Anti pants almost feverishly, eyes glitching between yellowish and normal. He digs his claws into the creature's arms and pins it hard against the sand so it’s mandibles can’t bend. Then, he opens up his mouth and tries to summon a fireball. 

It- it doesn’t feel right. His stomach bubbles uncomfortably hot and the feeling travels up through his throat. He gags slightly on the burning feeling- hot bubbles blowing in the hybrid’s face. The hybrid shrinks away slightly, seeming to fear what’s coming for it. 

But it doesn’t come. Anti let’s go of the hybrid to grab his throat, starting to choke on the hot foreign feeling. His scar- it’s irritated and starting to leak hot water which furthers his panic. Worse of all, as the fire starts to escape the young sea dragon is suddenly bombarded by flashes of things he doesn’t understand. 

He’s bent over in the sand while two other hybrids lean over him. They both look at him with concern- a concern that feels genuine and… brotherly. 

Chase? Schneep?

Anti feels a painful pang in his chest as he coughs up hot burning liquid. Nowhere near close to a fireball. He feels hot water coming from his eyes and he reaches up to touch it, startled and confused. 

Then, he curls up gagging and sobbing from the confusing sensations in his head and body. He starts to cry out names he doesn’t know why he knows, but for once- it feels right. 

“C-Chase! H-Henny! Jack!! Help me!!” 

The last thing Anti sees is Demerci’s enraged face before a powerful shock overtakes his body- then everything goes black. 

When the sea dragon next opens up his eyes… he doesn’t recognize where he is. The lighting is eerie and dark- the walls gray and beat up. Anti tires to move only to realize he can’t- his arms and tails are chained up to the walls. He starts to panic- pulling on the chains and trying to catch his claws on them. 

“W-What is this?!” He growls, but his eyes give away his terror, “Let me go! Let me out!” 

“Now Now, Anti…” Demerci’s silky voice purrs over the intercom, but Anti can’t see her. “You’re here so we can help you…” The restraints start to tighten on his wrists, pulling his arms taut. Anti starts to pant feverishly in fear. “I told you today was the day you would shoot fireballs… so we’re gonna give you a little… ‘stimulation’ until you fulfill your full potential.” 

“W-What?! Y-You’re crazy! You can’t do that-!” Anti tries to scream and thrashes as hard as he can. But, then the shocks start to come. Sharp and painful through his restraints- lighting every one of his nerves on fire. The sea dragon hybrid screams bloody murder, trying and failing to break free. 

Demerci watches mercilessly, humming under her breath as she casually cranks up the power. Anti can’t form a single coherent thought- all he knows is awful aching pain. He feels like he’s been stripped down to his very essence. The torture seems never-ending… even during brief pauses, Anti can’t even catch his breath to think. He’s assaulted by echoing commands and threats. They echo throughout the too warm water around him and buzz in his ears. You are a monster. Zap! You were made to be a weapon. 

Zap! 

You will protect SE-002. You will protect the Altera Arms. 

ZAp!

You are a ruthless killer. 

You know no mercy. You listen only to us- Zap Zap ZAP! Let your instincts rule you SD-004. 

Become the fearsome Sea Dragon you were made to be. Serve Altera. As more and more electricity enters his veins, a bubbling flame builds up in his mouth. Bigger and bigger- brighter orange that bubbles like lava. Until finally- Anti shoots his first fireball. And after a few more rounds of shocks in between, he shoots a couple more. No hesitation, automatically as he’s told. Demerci smiles. Their weapon is finally complete. SD-004 paces the length of his tank, back and forth swiftly as he watches the hatch in front of him with hungry yellow-tinted eyes. Finally, the alarm sounds and the hatch opens. The sea dragon hybrid grins and giggles madly in his throat as his opponent barrels through the water towards him. The imperfect warper hybrid tries to pin him down with long blue-tinted claws. SD easily dodges then headbutts them in the stomach, making them fly through the water. He doesn’t give them any room to breathe though as he catches them through their arc then slams them against the rock below them. Laughing madly, Anti sinks claws deep into their arms then drags them down, watching in satisfaction as the ugly thing screams robotically. These ones weren’t nearly as fun as the pure organic ones… but prey was prey. The merman tears into the other hybrid- showing no mercy as he cuts it to ribbons. Deaf to their screams. Ignorant to who they used to remind him of. All that matters is the thrill- the need to hunt. The need to hurt. He was a monster. He was a weapon! The water flows with orange hybrid blood before SD-004 finally backs up- and sends a fireball right on top of the creature. Putting it out of its misery. He giggled and licked the blood off his hand. He looked up to see Demerci smiling down at him, nodding her approval. “Excellent work, SD-004,” She praised, writing something down on her PDA before pressing a button on her dashboard. “Ready for the next round?” SD nodded with a crazed laugh, shaking out his tails and arms, watching the hatch yet again. “Lay it on me Doc~!” --------- Anti awoke with a start, clutching at his chest. His heart was beating too wildly, his skin feeling clammy and hot in the cool water of their cove. That… that was definitely a memory… A memory he desperately wanted to forget. He could still feel the sting of the shocks- the elation of ripping into his prey. He didn’t even care back then that those hybrids were like him and his brothers. He only knew following instincts… following orders. “Anti?”  A soft voice reaches his ears and the sea dragon jumps. Then, he sees Marvin swimming over to him, green hair loose and floating around his head like a halo. His mask hung loose in his hands. He tilted his head at the older brother in concern. “You okay?” Anti finds it hard to find his voice. “...n...nightmare-” He finally croaks out, feeling a shiver go up his spine and down his tails. Marvin hums then settles in the sand next to Anti, tucking his tails under him. He offers the sea dragon a sad smile. “Do you want to talk about it?” The older boy is quick to shake his head. Marvin knits his eyebrows together in concern, “Anti… you can talk to me. I mean… if anyone knows what you went through its-” “Shut up!” Anti suddenly shouts, hitting a fist against the sand. His eyes burn as he glares at Marvin and bares his teeth. “You have no idea what I went through! The shit you went through is nothing compared to me! So stop acting like you get it! You don’t! Now leave me the fuck alone!” The warper’s face falls, his gleaming blue eyes showing his heartbreak. Then, pink flashes in his eyes as he growls back, smacking Anti slightly with his tails in his haste to get up. “Fine! Fuck me for wanting to help your sorry ass!” Marvin cries, trying to look angry, but glints of his tears leak into the moonlit water. Without another glance or word, Marvin turns tail and rockets off into the midnight ocean. Anti holds himself after he leaves, hating the feeling of timid eyes on his back. He can’t tell Marvin- he can’t tell anyone about what he saw… what he knows… what he did. They’ll hate him- hate him more than they already hate him. He can handle this… they’re just memories. They can’t hurt him anymore…

[septnautical]

Hair Tails

It always weirded Zara out… the boys’ hair was always so well kept. Did they know what scissors were? Did they have any here? What about when they were little? Did their hair just grow wildly until they couldn’t stand it? Kinda like Marvin’s when she first saw him…

One day, while hanging out with Jackie, she couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know.

“Hey, Jackie?”

The reaper merman turned on his side from where he was laying on his stomach. Zara floats off with a giggle, since she was hanging on his back. She pokes his nose, making him twitch it sillily, then settles down next to him, resting on his hip.

“I got something weird to ask you,” She hums, reaching up and running fingers through his wild green locks. “How do you boys take care of your hair? How do you cut it? What did you do before you came to the Ocean Arms?”

Jackie blinks and then puts on a thoughtful face. “Huh… well- when we were first in our tank, the white suits would come in and shave our hair to all look alike. It was easier to test us that way, if they wanted to put like… those weird sticky squares on our head.

But, when we escaped, the couple of us with claws would try to cut everyone else’s hair! So, me, Anti and Henrik.” He laughs and sinks to the ground, a faraway look in his eyes but a small smile gracing his lips.

“Henrik always tried to use white suit tools… it freaked us out so we kinda stopped asking him after a while. Anti was the best at it- but he would tug and shove us to make us sit still and he wasn’t very patient… Then, I’m one of the babies- so it was hard for me to control my claws or mandibles to help. But, i was eagar and i tried my best! There were a couple messy jobs when we were small.” Jackie laughs again and Zara joins him, the image of little jackie too cute in her head.

...when Anti got taken and Schneep started to get a bit more.. Distant. That’s when I really learned how. I’m pretty good at it now~” The reaper grins smugly, wiggling an eyebrow at Zara. The girl chuckles then pushes her hair out of the way of her mask.”

“Maybe you should do me sometime!”

The merman pales and then laughs nervously, “Uh- how would you like a short haircut?”

Zara bursts into laughter at that, “Oh c’mon Jackie, you did Marvin’s hair just fine! He’s keeping it longer now isn’t he?”

Jackie hums in thought then smiles, “Oh yeah- longer than he did before that’s for sure.. But definitely not as long as it was! When we found him he was a mess! It was all curly and matted, and chopped in weird places….”

The blue suit winces visibly, “ah- part of that might have been Zeke… he got annoyed by Marvin’s hair pretty quickly and chopped some off to see his face…” She looks at Jackie apologetically.

He shrugs, “It might have been a relief for Marv. His hair was so crazy… and he wouldn’t let us touch it for a long time after he got back too.”

Zara is quiet for a bit, tapping her fingers on her leg as she thinks. Then, she perks up and taps Jackie rapidly on his tail. “Jackie! I just had a great idea!!”

Not that Jackie gets to hear it- Zara actually swims off before telling Jackie, leaving the merboy laying in the sand with a confused head tilt.

The raven haired girl swims around for a bit, looking around the sunny spots near the base on the reef. She brightens when she seems a familiar patch of purple and she swims down. Marvin is curled up on the sand, peacefully dozing. His head is resting on his arms, his tails curl up against him. With his mask, he looks so much like a sleeping cat Zara can’t help but giggle at the sight. The merman slowly opens his eyes and looks up to Zara blearily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. He yawns and stretches and Zara has to cover her mouth to not laugh again at how cat like it is. Marvin sits up and rubs at his eyes, tilting his mask sideways on his head.

“Zara…?” He croaks, sleep thick in his throat, “What’re you doin’ here…? Whatcha want?” He narrows his eyes slightly, studying her closely. They really haven’t had much time to hang out,so he wasn’t sure how to act around her. But Jackie trusted her, and she did help save him.

Zara studies Marvin right back, watching as the currents stir Marvin’s hair. It’s a light mossy green with hints of brown peeking through. It floats just past his jawline now, in a curly messy bob of sorts. When Zara first saw him, his hair was wild and went to his shoulders, bangs so long you could hardly see his eyes. Jackie had done a really good job of cleaning him up. But, Zara knew something that would help him even more.

She sits down next to him and he scoots back slightly, looking at her with big confused eyes. Zara smiles timidly then pulls something out of her pack. It’s a nice looking piece of blue green fabric- looking like it could be used in some of the ocean’s arms suits. Marvin leans closer to it and tilts his head, before looking back to Zara, “What’s that?” He asks quietly.

“Well, Jackie was telling me about something I was curious about. I wondered how you all keep your hair so nice when you don’t have tools like us humans do… and then i remembered that you were wanting to keep your hair longer- but it’s gotta be a little annoying right?”

Marvin feels through his hair and looks up as he thinks. “Yeah… i guess- It gets in my face sometimes when i swim… or in my mouth when I’m sleeping.” He sticks his tongue out and smacks his lips like he can still taste it. Then, he starts to twiddle his fingers slightly, looking away from Zara. “i… I like having it longer now though… it’s nice to be different from the others. It… feels good too? Now that it’s not so… you know.” He gets a darker, faraway look in his eyes. “And… it’s a reminder… of what i went through. That I'm stronger now than i was then.”

He looks back to Zara and then snaps out of his daze, his ears and cheeks turning a slight magenta as he stammers, “Ah- sorry that was… probably stupid- to be so… weird about hair…”

Zara quickly shakes her head, then lightly grabs Marvin’s hand, “It’s not weird! I think your hair is lovely- and the fact that it has such a good message for you is wonderful!”

Marvin knits his eyebrows together in confusion, “Then… why bring it up? I thought you were gonna tell me to cut it like my brothers do…”

She giggles and shakes her head again. “That’s something boys dont get- but, i thought i’d give you an easier way to get your hair out of the way when you need it!” Zara stretches out the ribbon in Marvin’s face then swims around to be behind him.

The warper merman stiffens slightly and Zara hesitates, not yet touching him. “...do you mind if i try something Marv? I won’t hurt you or cut it- I swear.”

He’s quiet for a second before squeaking out, “O...okay..” He tries to force himself to relax, twirling and untwirling his tails to distract him. Zara finds that kinda cute-

Taking his hair, she softly and gently bundles it up in her hands, grabbing some of his still choppy bangs and trying to merge it with the back and smooth it out. Then she twirls the ends so it kinda resembles a bun- he doesn’t have that much hair though- so by the time she ties the fabric around, it’s more of a small ponytail than anything. But, the blue suit swims away, satisfied. She reaches into her bag then pulls out a small compact with a mirror, showing it to marvin.

“All done! What do you think?”

Marvin blinks and takes the mirror, looking at it strangely for a second. He’s only seen his reflection in pools and glass windows before. But, as he adjusts to it he straightens and tilts his head around to see.

“Wow… Zara- this looks really good.” He mumbles, then feels up the back of his head. “And… feels good.”

Zara grins, “You should be able to swim with no problems now! And you can take the tie out whenever you want it loose! In fact, want me to teach you how to do it yourself?”

The warper looks at her with sparkling eyes, before timidly asking, “...c-can you…?”

The girl smiles warmly and plops down by him, pulling out a small purple brush that shines iridescently in the ocean light. She gives it to Marvin and then babbles excitedly, “Yeah! I can teach you all sorts of things to do with your hair! We can braid it- ohh! You would look so good with a dutch braid??” She moves to his back again, then waves a hand to him, “That brush is for you by the way! It’ll help you pull your hair back better- and so it won’t get tangled! It must be hard to brush with claws!”

Marvin looks to the brush with wonder, watching the color change as he twists it around in his hands. “.. t-thank you Zara…” Braids huh- Jack knew how to do those… but he never got the chance to teach Marvin how.

…..

Later that night, Marvin is getting ready to sleep in the cave, looking at the brush. Then he smiles and removes his mask, letting his hair down and starting to brush his hair, snuggled up against the wall.

Jamie swims over with wide eyes, and points to the brush with excitement. “Pretty!”

The warper mer smiles and pats the place next to him, and Jamie eagerly swims up and curls up to his side. Marvin then takes the brush and brushes Jamie’s soft teal locks. The cuddlefish merman’s eyes flutter and he smiles wide, nuzzling up more against Marvin. This reminds Jameson of Jack… playing with all their hair as they laid in a pile together.

Marvin grins mischievously then uses his new tie to mess with Jamie’s hair, who giggled and swatted at Marvin, his hair now sticking up in a straight ponytail like a pineapple.

Chase swims over to the commotion with a low chuckle, “What are you two doing?”

Marvin slips the tie out of Jamie’s hair then bundles his own hair back with it, a sly grin on his face. “Nothing~!”

The older brother cocks an eyebrow, “Is that so?” It was good to see Marvin joking again- playing games with his siblings. It warmed Chase’s heart. He floats down to them and then picks up the brush curiously while also eyeing Marvin’s new hair tie.

“Where’d you get this stuff Marv?”

The warper merman sinks against Chase with a soft happy smile, “A friend.”

Chase smiles back then ruffles Marvin’s hair lovingly, earning quiet protests from the younger brother. “You look good, kiddo. S’like a new you!”

Marvin hums and feels up to his ponytail again, his smile getting bigger. “Yeah… it is.”

[septnautical]

Echolocation

Jackie sped through the sea, big blue eyes scanning the depths for any sign of his brothers. They weren’t gonna get away this time! He was gonna be hide and seek champion. The small reaper grinned to himself, rolling through and around obstacles, just enjoying the feeling of the sun on his scales and the push of the currents against him.

Though, the small merman wasn’t really expecting to run into any of his brothers right away- especially not at full force knocking both of them off course and crashing into the sand. Jackie spat the coarse gravel out of his mouth and shook it off his tail as he looked to see who he crashed into. He barely has a second to breathe or process before Chase is up in his face, his eyes blown wide with worry.

“Jackie!” The rabbit ray-mer cries, quickly tugging Jackie off his tail and back up further in the water, “Thank the stars I found you!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Jackie quickly blinked, rubbing sand out of his hair. Jackie may be one of the youngest, but he can tell when something was up. Chase is already dragging him behind him as he explains.

“It’s Jamie-! Anti… Anti convinced him to go hide in some of the underground caves with him… But then Anti came speeding to me saying he can’t find him!”

Jackie’s eyes widened, “What?!” The younger merman looked scared, “H-How are we supposed to find him? He can’t talk-! A-And… it’s really dark down there!”

Chase gritted his teeth, “That’s why I came to find you. We all gotta work together to find him… before something else does…”

The older brother led Jackie deep down into the underground caves, farther than Jackie had ever dared to go. Reapers weren’t known for exploring below-so underground caves really gave Jackie the heebie jeebies. And he could tell Chase was feeling the same way…. But at least Chase could glow. Jackie held on tight to his brother’s hand, afraid of the ever expanding darkness the farther down they went.

Soon, Jackie could see the huddle of the rest of his brothers, down by a hole that seemed to go even deeper. Jackie swallowed thickly and stayed close to Chase as they approached.

Anti was in his face in a second, tears pricking in the corner of his eyes. “Whatever Chase told you is wrong-!” He was quickly shouting in Jackie’s face, startling the slightly tinier predator, “I-It wasn’t my fault!” Anti gazed his big green eyes down at Jackie, as if waiting for him to confirm. Jackie nodded quickly. Chase frowned and swooped down by Anti, scooping him up in a slight hug.

“Hey… I never said this was your fault,” He encouraged gently, “Where did you get that idea?”

Anti sniffled and rubbed at his nose, pointing behind him, “Marvin said it!”

The older rabbit ray looked up to the other merman in question, who was trying to open warp gates down deeper, but he wasn't getting anything to pop up. He glared and frowned over at Anti, mumbling under his breath, “Well, it’s true!”

“No, it’s not!” Anti growled, his back fin flaring up in rage. Chase quickly thrust himself in between the two, feeling the waters stir against him.

“Enough you two! This isn’t anyone’s fault, and we’re not gonna point fingers!” He scolded, giving a pointed glance to both boys in question. Anti rubbed at his eyes dismissively while Marvin turned and tried to form a gate again. The water only barely swirled with the color of his warp gates before dissolving into bubbles. Marvin cried out in frustration, his tails glowing slightly brighter as he bared his canines together. He twirled his two tails together in a knot and crossed his arms, glaring at the cave waves.

“The important thing here,” Schneep called from where he was peering over the edge into the abyss, “Is trying to figure out a plan to find him….”

Jackie raised an eyebrow and swished his way to Henrik with a quick flick of his tail. Jackie stared at the gnawing darkness below, feeling his stomach churn.

“Have… Have you thought of anything Schneep?” The reaper asked timidly. The stalker-mer gave him a small shake of his head before he leaned back and rubbed under his goggles.

“Not yet…” He sighed, “Anti said the last place they were together was right here… but Without knowing where to go, warp gates are not going to get us much farther. And while some of us can illuminate the darkness… I dont think it will be bright enough to see this far down…” Henrik bit his lip and tapped his fingers against the rocks. Distantly, Jackie could hear the echo of his taps further down into the water. Down in the hole before them.

Jackie swam down a little, sticking his head down the rock’s face to see if he could get a better look.

“Well, have you tried calling for him? Maybe he can’t hear us!” Jackie asked, squinting at the darkness to see if he could see any of the white light from Jamie’s tail.

“There could be big predators around,” Chase warned. Jackie shrugged before bunching up his shoulders.

“Well, we ain’t gonna find him just floating around here!” The reaper-mer then drew in a huge breath before roaring out his baby brother’s name as loud as he could into the abyss.

“JAMMMMIEEEEEEE-E-E-E-e-e!!”

The rocks of the cave shook slightly at the loud blast of Jackie’s roar. He wasn’t even near full size yet, but he already had a strong grip on his roar. The other brothers all quickly covered their ears and whined against the vibrations of the roar.

“Jesus Christ!” Anti exclaimed, “Ow, Jackie-! Tone that down!”

But Jackie hardly heard him; he was feeling something else in the water. From the echo of his roar, deeper down into the water- It was like Jackie could see what the dark cavern looked like- no maybe not see. He felt it-

Without a word, Jackie burst down into the black waters below, causing his other brothers to jolt and try to catch him.

“Jackie! What are you doing?!” Chase called after him.

The tiny reaper didn’t answer, instead going farther down into the long tunnel like cavern and building up another loud roar. As the roar came back to him, he could feel the shape of the bigger space below him a little better. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t see, he could feel where to go!

Marvin's voice echoed from above him, “I don’t think screaming at the rocks is gonna find him Jackie!”

Jackie laughed slightly before grinning up at his brothers as they all peered over the edge.

“Don’t worry guys, I got this! You all stay here!”

He then plunged deeper into the dark water, following the curves of the cave as the echos reached his ears. This must be a reaper thing I didn’t know about! Jackie thought, envisioning his mother species. They didn’t have anything to see in the dark with… this must be how they found prey!

So, now Jackie was gonna use it to find his baby brother.

It took awhile for Jackie to get a decent layout of the cavern with his roars, but after a while he had a pretty good idea of where he was going. There wasn’t even much down here; save for the dozens of cave crawlers, Jackie mostly felt the soft echo of plants return to him through the dark.

Finally, Jackie’s eyes caught onto something in the distance. Tucked into the corner of the inky cavern was a small patchy field of glowing blue plants. Curiously, Jackie swam over, thankful to finally have a good source of light. As he neared the cluster he heard the thick echo of a shuffle nearby, rustling the plants. Jackie’s mandibles stood on end, posed to grab as Jackie whipped around. He… he couldn’t see anything though. Just the blue plants and more darkness.

“W-Who’s there?” Jackie ventured, calling out into the cavern. He heard another shuffle behind him and as if on instinct, he whirled on the sound and roared, hoping to scare the potential predator off.

But, as the echo reached back to his ears, it wasn’t the shape of a predator he felt, it was-

Jackie sped down to the little nook tucked behind the overgrown bramble of blue plants and poked his head in. “Jamie?!”

The cuddlefish hybrid’s head snapped up from where he had been curled up under the rock. As his eyes locked on Jackie, big thick tears appeared in the little one’s eyes and he sprang out of his hiding place and hugged Jackie tight. Oh… he was shivering something fierce.

Jackie held Jameson tight, rubbing circles into his back as the little cuddlefish-mer wrapped his tails around Jackie’s.

“Hey, it’s okay- it’s okay!” Jackie whispered to the little brother, trying to channel his inner Chase. “You’re alright, I got you…”

Jamie sniffled softly, nodding his head against Jackie’s shoulder. Jackie could tell the poor thing was scared out of his wits. The reaper merman gathered Jamie up tighter and gently began to swim them back towards the cavern entrance.

“Let’s get you back to everyone...”

Surprisingly, Jackie was able to get Jamie back up to the others in record time, and with no mishaps. All the other gasped as Jackie peeked his red hooded head out from the ledge with Jamie’s teal hair next to him.

There were choruses of Jamie’s name, but none louder than Anti’s as he barreled into Jamie and hugged him tight, getting his tails tangled up with the cuddlefish’s. Jamie giggled and patted the back Anti’s hair, a clear sign of forgiveness.

Henrik swam over to Jackie with big curious eyes, “How did you do that…?” He whispered in disbelief.

Jackie shrugged, “Guess Reapers can just do cool stuff like that. I’m like a superhero!” He grinned a big toothy grin and Henrik snorted before ruffling up Jackie’s hair under his hood.

“You certainly are something…” He agreed with a lopsided smirk.

Marvin popped up behind them, waving his arms around in joy. “Well we found him! C-Can we go home now?”

Chase swam down, gathering up Anti and Jamie with him as he brought all his brothers back together.

“I like the sound of that…” He smiled softly, “Care to do the honors, Marv?”

Marvin grinned big before popping open a warp gate almost instantly, the inside of their cave reflected back from the other side.

“At least I’m good at making this one!” He chirped in triumph. Everyone laughed as they all headed through, Chase and Marvin taking the back.

“Okay, so, new rule, no more hiding in caves. Got it, Anti?” Chase teased.

Anti pouted but ultimately agreed, “Yeah yeah alright…”

But, Jackie knew that new rule wasn’t gonna last long. That was fine with him though- it was more chances to practice his cool new skill!

[septnautical]

"Hey I'm the older one" with Jackie and Marvin

@leafeondrawz

(Thanks you two for giving me a chance to finally get a way to write this one out! Also this is the only prompt I’ll be doing with this sentence- I’ve gotten sooo many and idk how else to write it! Sorry!)

Zara had given the boys a new tool to play with and Marvin and Jackie were a little too eager to try it out. Their, “completely willing”, test subjects, Jamie and Chase, watched warily from across the tanks as the two brothers fought back and forth over the cannon.

“Come on, Marvin!” Jackie whined as he pulled the tool out of the warper-mer’s hands,”You always get to try out the new thingys! Let me try this time!”

Marvin scoffed and rolled his eyes before yanking the cannon back,”You get to build them, I get to test them! It’s only fair!”

Jackie’s fins bristled and he bared his canines as he swims back up and grabbed the cannon again but Marvin held on firm this time. “Well, Zara can teach you to build one too! But i wanna test this one! Cmonnnn!”

“Hey!” Marvin snapped, tugging the weapon close to his chest, “I’m the older one, I call the shots!”

That caught Jackie’s attention. He blinked before a big shit-eating grin broke out on his face. He let go of the item of interest and slowly floated up so he could lean his hands on top of it and be in Marvin’s face. Marvin looked at him with a confused expression.

“You know~”Jackie sang, “Funny you should mention that, brother! Because just the other day, me and Zara found the most interesting little tidbit!”

“What the hell are you going on about-” Marvin deadpanned, giving Jackie a look. Jackie grinned wolfishly before he dived to the bottom of the tank, nearly slapping Marvin in the face with his tail.

The reaper merman spurred down to the tank floor and dug through his bag for a good second before swimming back up to the warper with a well worn PDA. Marvin watched him with a raised eyebrow, confused on what this had to do with anything. But, Jackie was grinning from ear to ear as he pulled up a tab on the monitor, labelled with a little cake icon. Marvin leaned in closer as the PDA started to read off the information. (The boys were getting better at reading but they still needed a little help!)

Saved data for fauna-humanoid hybrids created by Alterra cooperation on Planet 4546B…

Dates of creation…

RR-001… April 11th 23XX

SE-002… Febuaray 7th 23XX

SH-003...September 15th 23XX

SD-004...October 10th 23XX

…

RL-005… July 10th 23XX…. Due to complications and safety concerns RL-005 is to be held back from tank introduction…

WH-005… August 11th 23XX...

RL-005 renamed to RL-006 for tank introduction...Se-

“WHAT?!” Marvin interrupts the PDA, ripping it out of Jackie’s hands and yelling at the screen as if this could change the results. Holding, the cannon under his armpit, He stammers incoherently for a minute before he looks up and glares at Jackie’s smug face.”This… this can’t be right. They must lying-white suits always lie!”

“Not about this stuff!” Jackie counters, “At least Zara says so-”

Marvin shook his head and shoved the PDA into Jackie's chest,”No No NO! I refuse to believe that you’re older than me! That’s not possible!”

“Well believeeeee it, little brother!” Jackie taunted with a sharp toothed grin as he leaned in close to the warper-merman,”You can’t argue with white suit data!”

“Nope, nuh-uh,I’m not listening-!” Marvin cried, as he spun away from the reaper. Jackie was hot on his tail though, singing wildly off key as he circled around Marvin.

“You’re younger than meee~! I’m older than youuu~! You’re younger than meee~! I’m older than youuu~!!!”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about! You can’t be older than me, you immature little brat!” Marvin screeched, tackling Jackie to the tank floor. The cannon clacked loudly against the floor, discarded easily as if it wasn’t just the source of their fight just mere minutes ago. Soon, the two of them were just wrestling and screeching, their arguments nothing but noise.

Chase and Jamie exchange wary glances at each other before they carefully swim over the screaming tangle of blue tails that were their brothers.

“Uh, let’s let them figure this out on their own…” Chase muttered to Jamie as he opened the hatch that lead to the tubes. “You want a snack? I hear Zara has more sweets to try!”

Jamie beamed and flicked his tails happily. “I like sweets!” He whispers sunnily as he swims through. Chase smiles and eyes Marvin and Jackie before shaking his head and chuckling. He disappears after Jamie, leaving the two younger brothers to fight over who was the better “older” brother. Wonder how long it would take for them to notice they had left...

[septnautical]

The boys go through about a day of recovery in the infirmary of the Ocean’s Arms base before they can finally take Anti home. Danan wanted to make sure there were no side effects of the toxins and Anti was given the all clear after a good night’s rest.

The sea dragon was still encouraged to take it easy for a couple more days as his body was still recovering from everything. Anti wanted to argue but he still felt like he had been run over by a seamoth so resting actually sounded nice.

His brothers actually made everything a little too easy. Getting food for him, helping make him an extra comfy nest to rest in, making sure he got plenty of sun through the cave’s spotlight. He wanted to be annoyed by all the coddling, but some part of him deep down really missed this. When was the last time someone actually really took care of him? He had been alone for so long….

The boys that weren’t rushing to a fro getting stuff for Anti stayed around and started telling stories to the sea dragon to help jog his memories. It brought a tense smile to his face, to see how much his brothers had grown without him.

But soon the sun began to dim and all the boys started to prepare for sleep. Henrik headed out for the night, wanting to go check on his scrap pile after all the madness and the boys waved him away with big smiles. Anti found that odd but didn’t really know how to ask about it.

The other brothers piled into their signature guppy pile, Jamie claiming the bottom with Chase landing on him with a big thump, causing Jamie to let out a wheezy laugh. Chase grinned and ruffled his hair before turning to his side. Marvin yawned and sleepily headbutted Jamie’s stomach and curled up to the cuddlefish’s side and Jamie smiled and brought the older brother into a big bear hug. Marvin giggled and snuggled in and Chase turned and draped his tail over the both of them, causing them both to laugh. Jackie looked up tensely at the ocean through the skylight, an uneasy expression on his face. He shook it off with a smile that turned to a mischievous grin as he speeds towards the pile and flopped on the very top, causing the others to all exclaim in surprise. They all erupt into laughter as Jackie grins and makes himself comfortable.

Anti watches from a little ways away, feeling a hole in his chest. Some distant part of him yearns to be apart of the pile, while another part wants to be left alone. He’s left very confused as he lays his head down on the sand and tries to focus on sleeping.

Anti is awoken by a sound that sends terror through his very core. It echoes throughout the cave and shakes the rocks and above him, Anti can see a trail of light as it dances across the surface of the water. Anti fears the worse and he starts to panic, scuttling backward into the cave wall, his whole body shaking.

“No. no… no no no.. nononono!” He covers his ears, fingers digging into his hair as he tries to control his shaking but he can’t. He tenses as the strange sound booms again, cracking throughout the sea, lighting up the cave in weird yellow light. Anti’s tails light up in response and his blood goes cold.

“Fuck-fuck no!” He cries, shutting his eyes and folding up on himself, “T-they found me… they found me fuck no no no no…”

Jackie springs awake from the second boom of thunder, his muscles tense and alert like he’s ready to fight. But as soon as his eyes laid on Anti, he loosens up some, his face screwing up in concern. “Anti?” He whispers.

It doesn’t seem like Anti can hear him though. Jackie quietly pushes away from his still soundly sleeping brothers and cautiously approaches the panicking sea dragon.

“Anti?” Jackie calls again as he gently places a hand on Anti’s arm. Anti flinches but quickly jerks his head up to the reaper merman, blinking panicked tears out of his eyes.

His voice is thick in his throat as he chokes out a response. “j-Jackie,” Anti rasps. He holds back a terrified squeak as another boom shakes the cave and Jackie tries not to tense up with him. He hates storms just as much as the next guy, but Anti… Anti looks like a scared little kid again.

Anti desperately grabs onto Jackie’s tail, his eyes wide with fear. “j-Jackie, they found me. They’re g-going to take me again!”

“Who?” Jackie asks, blinking rapidly in confusion.

“The white suits” Anti cries, as his tails light up in response to another crack of lightning. He whimpers and tries to hide his tails, “T-They’re s-still c-controlling m-me…! L-look!”

Jackie’s heart feels heavy as he floats down and scoops Anti into a big hug. “Your memory must still be fuzzy Anti… this is just a storm. You’re safe.”

Anti doesn’t look convinced as he grits his teeth and shivers in Jackie’s arms. Jackie sighs, already exhausted and tense from keeping his own fear at bay. But he thinks he has an idea.

“Anti, follow me,” Jackie says as he grabs Anti’s hand and starts leading them out of the cave. Anti resists, digging his tails into the sand to try to stop them.

“What are you doing?!” He screeches, his eyes big as saucers. Jackie turns back and gives Anti a soft smile.

“Just trust me.”

Anti’s expression falls slightly but eventually, he nods and lets Jackie take him where he wants them to go. Jackie spurs them upwards to the surface. Somewhere Anti had never dared to go. The sea dragon’s muscles are tense with fear of the unknown, ready to fight off white suits and whatever could be waiting above the water.

The two mermen breech the surface of the water and Anti blinks as he’s pelted in the face by more. He stares up at the endless abyss of the sky and is met with grey swirling clouds. Small droplets of water drip on his face at random. Anti stares confused. The grey of the clouds light up with yellow light and a crack of thunder is heard, almost sending Anti diving back into the water. But Jackie holds him gently in place so Anti can watch the pattern. A flash, a beat, then a boom. His tail would light up in response to the flash every time.

No ships. No flying white suits machines. No white suits at all.

Anti struggles to sigh a breath of relief. The foreign sounds of the sky still leave him tensing up every time they echo across the surface. After a while, Anti notices Jackie tenses up with him.

“....Why are you doing this Jackie…?” Anti eventually asks.

“To show you there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Jackie replies.

“...you’re tense too. Are you scared?” Anti prods with a raised eyebrow.

Jackie is quiet for a second before he responds, his shoulders shaking slightly, “...t-terrified…”

Anti turns and stares at Jackie. And for the first time in a while, Anti sees him as his scared yet overly cocky little brother from so long ago, always heading headlong into danger, trying not to be afraid of anything. Now here he was, braving something he was scared of to make Anti feel better.

Tears prick at the corners of Anti’s eyes as he pulls Jackie into a fierce tight hug.

“You’re an idiot…” He whispers, holding his baby brother close. Jackie stiffens for a second then returns the hug, smothering Anti. Anti balks slightly, when did he get so much bigger than him?

“Yer a dummy too, Anti,” Jackie grins back. A huge crack of thunder sends both the boys jumping in the air, clinging to each other with their hearts in their throats. They exchange glances before Anti coughs and whispers, “Um, can we go home now?”

The two mermen hurry back down to the cave. But this time instead of going back to the bigger pile Jackie curls up in Anti’s nest, giving Anti someone to lay with. It’s awkward at first, but soon Anti is curling up next to Jackie and his shivers die down as they both drift off to the sounds of the waves cresting against the rocks. The sounds of their heartbeats drown out the noise of the storm.

[septnautical]

I cant decide if I want to punch you or kiss you. Zarkie!!

“Zara. Zara!” A knocking on Zara’s window woke her and she blearily peared out from her bed to see Jackie pressed against the glass and enthusiastic waving at her.

Zara squinted just to make sure she was seeing him before flopping over to her other side and ignoring the squawk Jackie released and the rapid knocks on her window. It was to early for her to be up but it seemed like Jackie had other plans. Zara held a hand up and wearily picked herself up out of her bed.

Outside her window Jackie swum in eager circles as Zara pulled on her body suit and got ready to go out and see what Jackie wanted. Zara shoved her helmet on her head and opened the hatch where a hyper Jackie was racing from side to side waiting for her to emerge.

“Zara!” Jackie shouted at the sleep deprived Zara who merely blinked as her brain worked to wake up.

“Yes Jackie what did you need?” Zara asked while fighting a losing battle with a yawn.

Jackie grabbed Zara’s hand and started tugging her, “I found a cave that I’ve never seen before!” His eyes sparkled as he told Zara and she had the slightest thought of how he looked adorable when he was excited. Jackie began Zara along, “Come on it’s this way!”

“Wait Jacki-” Zara yelped as she was pulled along. Jackie held her hand all the way to the safe shallows where he pulled into her a cave and down into the cave system. “Jackie where are we going?” Zara questioned.

Jackie glanced back and held a finger up to his lips with a mischievous look. There was a purple glow coming up from ahead the deeper they descended until they shot through a opening into a cave filled with purple glowing flora. Zara looked around in astonishment as Jackie looked smug at his find.

“What do you think?” Jackie asked.

Zara smiled at him, “It’s beautiful Jackie.” She floated down towards the purple shrooms to investigate them while Jackie swam next to her. As Zara pulled out her scanner Jackie felt a shiver go down his spine and he looked around but didn’t see anything.

Turning back Jackie shouted as a pink creature shot out of a nearby shroom towards Zara. “Zara!” Jackie screamed as he rushed forward and slammed into her. Pain shot up his side as the pink snake creature bit into his side before Jackie’s mandibles shot out and dug into the creature forcing it to let Jackie go.

Jackie didn’t wait to see where the creature went he darted at Zara and began pulling her out of the cave quickly. “Jackie slow down you’re hurt!” Zara shouted but Jackie didn’t slow down until they shout out of the cave system and back into the Safe Shallows.

“Jackie!” Zara was pulling a small amount of cloth from her storage and holding it over Jackie’s side as he shivered. Jackie began drifting to the seafloor and Zara tried to gently pull him up but Jackie seemed to have lost all strength.

Jackie clutched at Zara’s arm, “Hurts Zara.”

Zara carefully didn’t look at the wound as she pressed on it harder to try and stem the bleeding, “I know Jackie but we need to go to Ocean’s Arms to fix this.”

Jackie weakly flapped his tail a few times but only ended up scotting himself along the ocean floor and sucking in a pained breath. “Ok ok we can deal with this,” Zara said as she began internally panicking. A familiar song started up and Zara looked up as Greyson swum into view. “Greyson here!” Zara called and the Rabbit Ray swum over to them. It crooned in worry at Jackie and Zara patted him, “I need you to go get your father Greyson.”

Greyson sung at Zara before swimming off quickly back into the Shallows. Zara stared off after him before turning her attention back to Jackie, “Fuck I can’t decide if I want to punch you or kiss you for doing this to me.”

Jackie grinned weakly at Zara, “Both always sounds good?”

Zara laughed a little hysterically before a shout made her head snap up as Chase and Marvin swum into view. They both swum over before Zara could shout.“What happened?!” Chase asked even as he gathered Jackie into his arms.

Zara grabbed a hold of Marvin, “I’ll explain later let’s just get him back to Ocean’s Arms first.”

Chase nodded and the four swam swiftly back to Ocean’s Arms.

[septnautical]

(Thanks to @storm337 for the idea for this one shot! If yall have more whumpy ideas send them our way! I’m feeling it lately lol) 

Schneep swam past the shallows with a smile on his face. It felt good to really stretch out his tail. Don’t get him wrong, he really loved the research he was doing with the Ocean’s Arms and Dr. Danan but it had been so long since he had been out on his own to explore. He felt like a kid again.

It was time to find some more medical supplies spread about the long-abandoned wrecks around the shallows edge. The base could always use spares. There was even rumors of a certain wreck around here with a formula that Danan had wanted to search for but never had the time to, nor the resources. Henrik was happy to help out now that the base was becoming more stable.

Of course, his brothers wanted to come to, but Schneep could handle himself. He might play the doctor at times but he was still a fierce predator. And it was nice to just have some alone time, just the calm ocean waves, his thoughts, and adventure.

He took out his tracker from Danan and stared at the dot marking the spot where the wreck should be. He was closing in on it. Henrik smirked and spurred faster, noticing now that the water was dimming darker and darker as he dove farther away from the light.

It was now that Schneep wished he had a bioluminescent tail like most of his brothers, but he could see well enough in the dark. He pushed forward, following the guide on his tracker until he saw a strange sight in the distance.

He had heard this base would have been long since abandoned. All its power should have been dead. And yet light was leaking through cracks in the rusty hull and through broken glass windows. Henrik could also see sparks of electricity crackling from various cracks and he swallowed. So much for an easy mission.

He swam up to the windows farthest away from danger and wiped away dust and clinging creatures to look inside. After a couple windows, he finally sees what looks like a lab. He sees the tables littered with medical equipment. Bottles filled with various substances he can’t name. The formula Danan wanted must be in there. He tries to peek in further only to see the entrances to either side of the lab filled with fields of sparking wires. He’d have to find some way to shut off the electricity.

Henrik holds back a deep sigh as he swerves around and tries to find a way inside. He eventually finds a crack big enough for him to squeeze through and almost has a heart attack when a wire sparks way too close to his face. He ducks down and backs up against a wall only to realize the room is filled with more and more wires.

“Mein stars- did they really need this many wires?” Schneep mumbles to himself as he tries to chart out the best path. Henrik swallows and quickly army crawls under most of the wires, carefully trying to maneuver his tail to not catch any as he makes his way to the next free space.

The stalker sighs a breath of relief when the next space in the ship seems to be an empty hallway. He swims quickly through the space, trying to get his bearings, trying to find the power source. It had to be around here somewhere….

A sight in a window catches Henrik’s eyes as he passes and he backpedals to look back through. In the distance, he sees what looks like a power panel. But of course, it’s surrounded by thick sparking cables. Henrik bites back a tried growl. He pushes through the door and down the corridor moving so slowly through the obstacles. One hit could mean certain doom. Henrik’s heart in his throat whenever a spark gets too big, whenever he feels the heat too close on his arm or on his tail. But eventually, he makes it the power panel and shuts off the power.

The lights in the ship power down with an audible whoosh and Henrik sighs relieved. He takes in his surroundings and notices a hole leading to the upper levels. Henrik quickly swims through and exclaims in joy realizing it’s the lab! He twirls in the water and starts grabbing as much supplies as he can carry. Colorful test tubes, weird beakers, first aid kids, bandages, equipment, anything they could use. Once he’s satisfied Henrik nods to himself and hurries to head back down the hole to find a way out when he accidentally turns too fast into a heavy metal shelf. He curses as he rubs his nose. The metal bookshelf creaks, its hinges rusted by time and now tearing away from the hull. Henrik has just enough time to swim away before the metal shelf crashes over the hole with a loud clang. Henrik hears glass crack and another heavy thud as the lights of the ship flicker back to life. And with it, the two paths out of the ship start sparking back up with electricity.

Henrik screams in frustration, “Brilliant! Fucking Brilliant!” He tries to move the bookshelf away from the hole but its too heavy and it won’t budge.

Henrik swims back and sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Okay, Henrik,” he says to himself calmly, “This is fine… you.. You got through the wires before… you can do it again…” He swallows and takes a shaky breath before he turns back around and starts to head down one of the corridors he knows will take him back outside.

It started off fine. Henrik keeps the supplies tucked close to his side as he carefully maneuvered around the sparks. But there were so much more in this chamber than before. It only took one small slip up. After keeping up with such careful movements for so long, Schneep was tiring, his movements getting sloppy.

His tail accidentally brushes against a too close wire and Henrik’s whole body is filled with fire. He screeches and is blind to where the others are and soon his back hits another. His entire body jolts, over and over. He can’t control his muscles, he can’t feel anything except the intense vibrating of his body from the electricity. His nerves are on fire. His skin is burning. He’s pretty sure he’s screaming but he can’t tell. He knows he’s falling. He hits another wire and another. Each time he thinks maybe it’ll stop it starts again. He can’t even stop to try to get away his body is twitching too much. Everything starts to blur together into the bright blue of the electricity around him. Until his heart feels like it’ll pop right of his chest and everything fades to black with a sudden jerk.

It’s been hours since Henrik left. Chase worriedly swims laps around the viewing room across from Jack’s room.

“He… he should be back by now... Right, Jack?” Chase mumbles to himself. “He… he usually comes to see you by now. He would make time to see you.. He would…” Chase bites his lip and stares down at the ground, wringing his hands together in worry.

Henrik wasn’t like this. He was quick and prompt with his missions. In and out. He didn’t doddle. He wasn’t late.

Except for the one time he was…

Chase pales slightly remembering the last time Schneep was late from an adventure. With a broken arm and slashed up face.

Chase forces out a quick goodbye to Jack before he rockets out into the tubes to try to find Marvin.

The rabbit ray merman bursts out of the base and quickly searches the landscape, hoping to see a familiar purple dotting the seabed. He sees a curled up figure in purple armor not too far away, resting in the sunlight.

“Marvin!” Chase shouts as he approaches, rousing the warper slowly from his sleep. Marvin rises up and rubs his eyes, blinking tiredly at Chase.

“What?” He grumbles, stifling a huge yawn.

“Henrik still isn’t back,” Chase wastes no time in saying, causing Marvin to perk up faster.

“What?! He’s still gone??” Marvin looks upwards at the surface, at the quickly dimming sunlight, “Didn’t he leave like early this morning?”

“Yes!” Chase exclaims, worry coloring his whole face. “Something is wrong, Marvin we have to find him.”

Marvin nods seriously and hurriedly spurs upwards, “Let’s see if Danan has an extra tracker with his location.”

After a quick chat with Danan the two boys rocket off to the shallow’s edge, following the tracker’s guide with laser focus. Almost as if willing it to reveal what was keeping Henrik. The boys tense slightly as they enter the dark parts of the edge but their tails help light the way.

They see the ship in the distance, the telltale sign of blue electricity sparking noticeably. The brothers exchange worried glances at each other as they speed down to the wreckage.

“Okay Chase,” Marvin cautions, “You check that side, I’ll check this side. Just… yell if you see anything.” Chase nods and hurries off to the tail end of the boat to look for signs of Schneep.

The ship gives Chase the heeby-jeebies with the way the wires and such hang and sway in the currents, the lights on the inside flickering on and off. Like someone could still be in there after all these years. Chase shivers at the thought. Then something catches his eyes in the distance. Something foreign caught on the ragged edges of a torn part of the hull, dancing in the current. Upon closer inspection, Chase realizes its one of their bags, stuffed to the top with supplies. Henrik’s.

Chase’s blood runs cold.

“Henrik!” Chase shouts, “Henrik, where are you?!” Chase flies around the torn edge only to be greeted by a dense field of wires, sparking like electric eels. They all seem to be flowing from a long corridor that leads further into the ship.

And hanging from some dead wires, suspended like a twisted, tangled puppet, is Henrik.

Chase screams and tries to find a way to get to him but the way it blocked by so many sparking wires. Henrik’s skin looks charred and patchy in places. Chase can’t tell if he’s breathing. Chase can’t tell if he’s even alive.

“HENRIK!!”

Marvin comes barreling in as soon as he hears Chase scream and gasps as he sees what Chase sees.

“Marvin! Find a way to warp to him! HURRY!” Chase pleads and Marvin panics trying to find some space. The corridor is so tightly packed.

“I-i can’t Chase! There’s no room to make a gate!” Marvin counters, sounding tearful.

“We have to do something!” Chase cries, looking ready to barrel through the wires himself. “He could be-! He could be…”

“D-don’t panic Chase! I-I’ll look to see if maybe there’s a way to shut the electricity off! That’s probably how Henrik got in!” Marvin leaves no time for argument as he speeds away to look. Chase can feel himself hyperventilating, staring at the sight of his baby brother just helpless hanging there. Chase feels faint. He wants to do something, anything! But he can’t. He can only wait.

Marvin swims as fast as he can down the side of the rusted ship looking for any sign of a power room, a generator, anything. Thank the stars the ocean’s arms had been teaching them more of this stuff. Finally, halfway down the ship, Marvin sees it, a small white room with what looks like a metal object has crashed into it. But he sees the generator, so he quickly concentrates and warps inside.

A metal bookshelf of some kind had half fallen through the ceiling, it's heavier contents breaking through the glass and cracking against the levers operating the generator, breaking it in two. Marvin swallows, seeing that the level was broken to stay in the on position. The warprer mermen swam underneath the lever and pushed as hard as he could to shift the lever back the other way to shut it off.  For a scary moment, it seemed like it wouldn’t budge. Then suddenly it clicked and everything powered down, plunging the ship into darkness.

“Yes!!” Marvin cried, quickly opening another warp gate to get him back to Chase.

The second the lights flicker off and the electricity dies down Chase is swimming as fast as he can to detangle Henrik. His movements are clumsy with how much he’s panicking, he just needs to get Henrik free. This was one of the moments where Chase wished he was a predator that had sharp claws like Jackie or Anti.

Marvin appears next to him in a flash, panting heavily. He growls to himself, concentrating on his hand until his sharp blue claws grow from his fingers. He quickly starts to slash through the thick wires until Henrik eventually falls limp and into Chase’s arms. Chase nearly cries with relief when he feels the stalker just barely breathing.

“H-he’s okay…”Chase whimpers to Marvin, tears threatening to spill, “h-he’s breathing!”

“Thank the stars…” Marvin sighs as he tugs Chase away from the wreck, focusing on opening one more warp gate, sweat dripping from his forehead from the effort, “Let’s get him to Danan quickly.”

Chase nearly jumps out of his skin when Henrik stirs slightly, his whole body spazzing for a second as he coughs hoarsely. His eyelids flutter open but his eyes are unfocused.

“C-Cha...se…?” Schneep mumbles weakly, blinking slowly. He shudders, shying away from Chase’s touch and Chase realizes he was holding him on one of his burns. Chase tries to find some other way to hold him but… is there any part of him that’s not burned?

“Just... Just hang on Hen… we’re taking you to Danan…” Chase quietly assures, giving his little brother a tired smile.

Henrik frowns and shakily reaches out, trying to grab onto Chase, “t-the formula-!... i-i where is it? I..i.. D-danan will be s-sad if i-”

Chase quietly shushes Schneep, “It’s okay, bro, we found it. Everything is okay.”

Schneep slowly calms down, his eyelids drooping slightly. His breathing hitches as the boys head through the warp gate, causing him to shiver from the differing pressure.

“C-Chase…”Henrik whimpers, “D-don...t… dont touch… the….the..wire… wires…” His eyes drift shut and his head falls against Chase’s chest as he starts to slip back into unconsciousness, “h..hurts…”

The older brother swallows a lump in his throat as he watches Henrik with a heavy heart. He should have never let him go alone.

[septnautical]

The situation was not looking good. It was supposed to be a simple scrap pick up mission. Find the base, find some materials, warp back. How were Jackie and Marvin supposed to know they had traveled into some primitive precursor anti-warp zone? How were they supposed to know there was a very hostile ghost leviathan out here out for blood?  

It had come out of nowhere. Marvin was concentrating, trying to figure out where this invisible anti-warp field ended but it was impossible to tell. Jackie’s arms were getting tired from holding both their bags of scraps but he could tell Marvin was beyond frustrated and he didn’t want to add to that. Then he saw a flash of lavender light. He saw a ghostly face. His blood ran cold.

“Marvin!”

Jackie tries to charge to his brother’s side but he’s too slow with the weight he’s carrying. Marvin turns and is greeted by the torn face of a giant ghost leviathan that roars at him before chomping down on his arm. Marvin screams and tries to pry himself out but the creature shakes the merman in its jaw before tossing Marvin away. The warper soars through the water before crashing into the abandoned metal hull of a long forgotten base and plummets to the seabed.

Jackie is filled with rage as he springs out his mandibles and roars as loud as possible at the ghost leviathan. The Goliath does not look phased and roars back in challenge. Jackie pales, not sure he can take this thing in a fight alone. The battle scars on its face are warning enough.

Jackie swallows and quickly hightails it back to where he saw Marvin fall. Marvin is struggling to get back up with one arm out of commission, tears streaming down his face from the effort. His arm is a ruined mess. It’s dripping blood, the water around him a thick red cloud. It’s bent at an unnatural angle and Jackie tries not to vomit when he thinks he sees bone popping out.

Jackie dumps the scrap and picks Marvin up, careful not to jostle his arm. Marvin whimpers out anyways, not knowing how to hold on to Jackie.

“Don’t panic Marv, we’ll.. We’ll get out of here okay?” Jackie quietly assures the older brother as he moves the two to hide behind some of the taller coral. They can hear the ghost leviathan roaring above, searching for them. Marvin shakes with fear against Jackie, or it could be from rapid blood loss. Jackie sets Marvin against the coral and whips off his hood. He apologizes before covering Marvin’s mouth and pushing the fabric against his wound. Marvin screams against the cloth and bites back tears but otherwise stays still. Jackie quietly apologizes over and over as he tries to stop the bleeding. After a while, he tries to wrap the wound up as gently as possible so hopefully, it’ll slow down until they can get help.

By the time Jackie is done the cries of the ghost leviathan seem to have quieted. Jackie peeks his head out from their hiding place and sighs in relief when he sees no sign of the giant beast. He heads back to find Marvin fighting to keep his eyes open, tears still flowing through the water. Jackie lightly taps on his cheek.

“Hey buddy, stay with me okay? You gotta stay awake so we can warp outta here.”

Marvin slowly nods and tries to sit up and winces. Jackie quickly gathers him up in his arms, princess style, and starts to speed outta the area before the ghost bitch can find them again.

Jackie’s heart is in his throat with how much he’s panicking. Marvin’s arm… would Danan even be able to fix it? God, he hoped so. What would happen if Marvin fainted? Would he…? Jackie swallowed. He couldn’t think like that.

The merman sped through the ruins as fast as his tail could take him. Marvin’s head wavered and fell against Jackie’s chest as he struggled to stay awake.

“Don’t pass out on me now, we’re almost there,” Jackie urged, even though he wasn’t sure. “You gotta let me know the second you feel like you can warp again okay Marv?”

“O-Okay…” Marvin whimpered, his eyes starting to look glassy.

Jackie bit his lip spurring his tail to go even faster, not liking how pale Marvin was looking. They were leaving a huge trail of blood through the water as Jackie tried to remember how they even got down here.

Then suddenly a blue and green creature popped up in front of them, its wings flaring out and warping the water into beautiful colors.

“Shit-!” Jackie exclaimed, trying to back away but he could already hear the little pest of a mesmer worming its way into his head.

Come closer little ones, come closer… I can take care of your little injury… just trust me… come closer…

Marvin’s eyes started to echo the color of the mesmer’s wings as he slowly tried to float out of Jackie’s arms. Jackie cried out and tried to grab Marvin, almost grabbing his injured arm. Stopping himself was a bad decision though because then another mesmer swam in front of him, trying to capture Jackie now in its trance. They must have been drawn here by the trail of Marvin’s blood. A whole swarm of mesmers started to surround the boys.

“Shit-Shit-!” Jackie whispered, trying to fight the pull. He couldn’t let Marvin suffer any more injuries from these fuckers, but it was hard enough fighting off the influence of one of them. Jackie could feel himself slipping. The reaper mermen tries to swim backward, tries to get away, tries to find Marvin in the quickly fading space around him but soon all he can hear is the mesmers’ call.

Jackie feels the sting of one of them biting into his flesh, but another keeps him entranced. Another bite, two more. Jackie tries to whimper out Marvin’s name but he can’t. His mouth won’t form the words. He can only think about the beautiful colors of the mesmers. He can feel himself sinking through the water.

Marvin makes his way to the original mesmer as his brother is surrounded by the others. Not that he notices. The mesmer draws him close, way to close and Marvin is happy to follow after it. But instead of biting at his face, it goes for his injured arm. The pain is so intense, Marvin is broken out of the trance with a painful scream. He shakes off the shock and grabs the little menace and throws it into a nearby rock with his good arm, satisfied with hearing the sickly crunch. Then he hears the other drones behind him and sees Jackie falling through a swarm of almost a dozen mesmers.

“Jackie!!” Marvin gasps, adrenaline masking the pain as he dives through the swarm and swats away as many mesmers as he can to grab Jackie. They try to get Marvin back under the trance again and Jackie is too far gone to hear him. Marvin grits his teeth and concentrates, knowing he can’t fight them off like this. He almost cries with relief when he feels the familiar pull of his warp powers in his gut and soon him and Jackie are whisked away back to the shallows.

The boys fall into the sand is a clumsy heap after warping away so suddenly. A couple mesmers got dragged with them but the shift spooked them enough that they hightailed it out of there. Marvin blinks stars out his eyes, the fall jostling his injured arm. He felt like throwing up but he knew he had to keep going. He quickly turns over and tries to get back to Jackie.

Jackie is laying face up on his back, the effect of the mesmers still lingering. His eyes still reflect the colors of their wings as they gaze out at nothing. Marvin swallows, shaking off the feeling of deja vu having seen this before with Schneep. He drags himself over to Jackie and quickly slaps his tail against his face, trying to wake him up.

For a scary moment, nothing happens. Jackie’s head merely just jerks to the side and stays there. Marvin fears the effect of that many mesmers at once might have really screwed Jackie over. But then Jackie blinks and slowly the colors start to fade from his eyes.

“What…” Jackie slowly slurs, before he jerks up and panics, “Marvin!” As soon as he sees his brother he relaxes, tears springing to his eyes. “Oh my god…”

Marvin forces back tears too as he grips his injured arm and gives Jackie a shaky smile, “Don’t scare me like that…”

Jackie springs to Marvin and wraps him in a tight yet careful hug, burying his face in Marvin’s shoulder. Marvin gives him a one-armed hug back in return. Marvin almost cries again as he sees up close the chunks the mesmers had taken out of Jackie.

“Let’s never go down to that horrible place again,” Jackie mumbles and Marvin can’t help but laugh.

“Agreed, hopefully, these injuries will be argument enough for Danan.”

Marvin suddenly feels everything shift around him and he swallows the urge to throw up again.

“Um… speaking of which… Can we hurry back to the base before I pass out…?” He asks with a shaky laugh. Jackie quickly lets go and apologizes, grabbing Marvin in his arm again and speeding them back off to the base. Marvin smiles and closes his eyes, letting himself rest against Jackie’s chest.

Yeah… never going to that place again.

But hey, maybe these would make some badass scars. 

[septnautical]

Zarkie Part 2

((Recommended you read this while listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvVQE1tfYk ))

Danan led Zara to a room that didn’t show the ocean outside and that the water tunnels weren’t connect to.

“You can rest here for a bit,” Danan told her gently. Zara sat on the bed towards the middle and put her face in her hands.

Danan put a hand on her shoulder for comfort, “If it helps then you should know Bunny is recovering well and can be let go in the next day.”

Zara lifts her head to give a tiny smile, “That does make me feel better.”

“I will leave you to yourself unless you wish to have someone to speak to about what happened,” Danan inquired.

Zara shook her head, “I’d rather be alone right now. Maybe...maybe later?”

Danan gave her a gentle smile, “I will be here if you ever need to talk Zara.” Danan gave her a nod and then left the room.

Immediately tears welled up in Zara’s eyes and she couldn’t hold down the sob anymore. It was painful to be attacked by someone you loved and trusted. She had loved Jackie, trusted him, had hoped he would understand where she was coming from. Turns out love wasn’t so great either.

More sobs worked their way out of Zara and she let her grief pour out. Eventually the tears stopped and Zara dug the palm of her hands into her eyes until she saw stars. She felt drained both physically and emotionally.

“A shower,” Zara decided, “a shower and then a nap.”

The shower helped loosen Zara’s muscles and she left it feeling slightly more refreshed. It was the promise of a nap that was calling Zara now and she slumped into the bed. Through the walls she began hearing singing and Zara smiled as she drifted off to Greyson’s lullaby.

Schneep was doing rounds around the base when he caught sight of Danan approaching the underwater sections used to treat creatures. “Danan!” He called out and she paused.

“Henrik,” Danan says with a slight smile. Schneep feels a giddy rush in him before Danan motions for him to come around into the flooded room she was about to enter. He rushed over only to pause when entering the room. There was Rabbit Ray, not yet fully grown, drifting through the room with burn marks down it’s side and a familiar little hop to its swimming pattern.

“Bunny?”

“Anti got her while she and her brother were protecting Zara,” Danan said from next to him, “she will live but the burns may have made her swimming more difficult.”

It did look like she was struggling to swim as easily as she did before. It was still to early to tell if it was from the burns and it would get better once they healed or not.

“Chase!” Schneep blurted out, “I must tell him!”

Danan nodded, “I know. You should go. Chase would want to be here with his daughter.”

Schneep stayed long enough to say a heartfelt thank you to Danan and he was rushing out the hatch. He knew all the fastest ways to the safe shallows with how much he did this trip. He heard the familiar roars of his kind as he passed the creepvines before he entered the safe shallows.

“Chase!” Schneep yelled, “Chase come here.” He was approaching their cave quickly when Chase’s head popped out.

“Schneep? Schneep what’s the matter?”

Schneep felt his gills working overtime to take in oxygen from the water, “It’s Bunny Chase. She got hurt by Anti and had to be taken to the base to be healed. She’s fine now but I had to tell you.”

Chase had gone paler the longer Schneep had spoken until the end where he stayed silent and pale. Schneep backed off right in time as Chase exploded in anger, “He did WHAT!?”

Schneep wasn’t given time to answer before Chase was swimming past him swiftly in the direction of the base. He would continue after Chase once he could breathe properly.

Jackie roared as drifted along the edge of the safe shallows. He was itching for a fight but there was nothing around him that wasn’t afraid of dying.

There was a blur in the distance of something approaching Jackie fast and he puffed in preparation until he made out Chase.

“Chase! Where are you going?” Jackie called out.

Chase actually bared his teeth at Jackie and for a brief second Jackie recoiled as his brother had never done that before. “Anti attacked Bunny and now she’s being looked after by white suits at the base. I’m going to be with her,” Chase growled.

“You can’t go back there,” Jackie commanded, “the white suits will just end up locking Anti up! They’re as bad as the ones down in the lava zone!”

“Maybe Anti should be locked up!” Chase shouted back.

Jackie froze.

Chase continued, “He hurt Bunny. Bunny who is basically my child. What does he care about us us at this point. That-that thing is not our brother. If things continue like this someone will get hurt worse and...and he either needs to get locked up then or put down.”

Chase had barely finished his rant before he was taking off towards the base and leaving Jackie in horrified silence.

“You do not appear to be having a good day,” Danan said from behind Jackie. He yelped and whipped around to find her sitting on the seafloor on a rock bed. She patted the ground next to her, “But then Zara also appears to be having a bad day to.”

Jackie winced and looked away but went down to lay next to Danan. They both sat in silence before Jackie hesitantly spoke up, “I did something I shouldn’t have. Something I regret. I was angry and afterwords I was angry that I got angry at her and hurt her.”

Danan stayed silent and this prompted Jackie to continue, “I-I might have taken her words wrong. I don’t know. I didn’t give her a chance to explain. I just….I just get so angry!”

Jackie wipes at his eyes as they burn, “Now I just feel guilty. I hate this.”

“How are you going to fix this,” Danan asked.

Jackie looked at her and looked away quickly, “I don’t know..she probably hates me.”

“Or she could be feeling hurt, and lonely, and worthless. Left all alone and wondering if she still has a relationship with you,” Danan replied.

“She does!” Jackie burst out, “I-I-I mean if she still wants one after what I did.”

“Why don’t you go ask her,” Danan said.

Jackie shook his head, “She won’t want to see me after what I-.”

“Go see her Jackie.”

There was something steely in Danan’s voice that had Jackie straightening out of fear. Danan made waving motions at him and hesitantly he swam towards the base. He looked back once to see Danan gone.

The entire way to the base Jackie practiced his apology in his head. He entered the hatch carefully but no one stopped him so Jackie swam through the tunnels looking for Zara. Her room was empty and she wasn’t in any of her usual spots.

“Zara?” Jackie called. He swam through a few more tunnels before an aggressive musical tone came from below him and a body knocked into his.

Greyson sang at him angrily while flaring himself up.

“Greyson I’m sorry,” Jackie started and yelped as Greyson dived at him. He couldn’t hurt Chase’s kid, this was practically his nephew.

“Greyson I’m not here to hurt Zara!” Jackie cried as Greyson went after him again. Jackie zoomed off with Greyson chased him.

Zara wasn’t in any of the rooms but he knew she was here somewhere. There was only one place she could be and that was in the rooms not connected to the tubes. Jackie shot toward a hatch and crawled out it right as Greyson came around a corner. The air hit him all at once before gravity did and dragged him down to the floor.

Laying on the ground Jackie took deep gulps of air and tried to ignore how uncomfortable it felt being out of water. Dragging himself up onto his elbows Jackie looked down the hallway where he knew there were rooms not connected to the tunnel. His tailed flopped uselessly behind him and Jackie sighed.

Using his arms he began to crawl forward down the hallway until he reached the first doorway. He peeked in but saw nothing. Jackie kept crawling until he reached the second doorway where he then heard something.

“-nd I should be finished with this beauty. It’ll be perfect for the boys in case of emergencies.”

It was Zara and Jackie happily perked up.

“Zara!” Jackie cried as he hauled himself in through the doorway.

Zara looked up in surprise, “Jackie?” Then horror overcame her features and Jackie felt his heart drop until, “Jackie what are you doing out of the water!?”

“It’s ok Zar-,” Jackie started before Zara started screaming.

“YOU ARE A FISH YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT OF WATER NO MATTER HOW FUNNY THAT STATEMENT IS!” Zara grabbed a device that she had been holding and began running over.

“Zara wha-”

“DON’T MOVE I’M SAVING YOUR ASS!” Zara shrieked as she skidded onto her knees next to Jackie.

“Zara I’m fin-,” Jackie tried explaining but Zara clamped the device on either side of Jackie’s neck and the next instant he was breathing better than before as water filter into his gills, “Zara?”

“It’s a aqua breather. It pumps oxygen into the water that cycles through your gills and cleans it to,” Zara happily said as she pulled up the blueprints on her PDA eager to show Jackie until she froze.

Jackie’s voice quivered as he spoke,” Zara I-”

With a huge sigh Zara put her PDA down, “I know Jackie, you get angry easy it’s ok.”

“But it’s not!” Jackie yells then flinches as he realizes he got angry again, “it’s really not Zara. I-I shouldn’t get angry at loved ones. That’s not who I want to be. So I’m going to get better.”

There’s a long silence from Zara that has Jackie slowly wilting until Zara speaks up, “So you’re going to get better.”

“I am. I’m going to get better,” Jackie declares.

Zara grins at Jackie, “You better.”

“Zara…”

Zara leans over to grab Jackie into her arms and Jackie wishes he had the ability to curl around her like he can in water but he settles for burying his face into her shoulder. They stay like that for a while until Zara mumbles and Jackie blinks the drowsiness from his eyes.

“What was that,” Jackie asks.

Zara pulls her face out of Jackie’s hair and says, “I forgive you Jackie.”

This time Jackie uses his weight to perform a somewhat tackle onto Zara who collapses onto the ground laughing. Jackie laughs to as he places his hands on her face to bring her forehead to his.

“Together,” Jackie asks.

Zara grins back at him, “For as long as we can be.”

[septnautical]

Part 1

((Recommended you read this while listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvVQE1tfYk ))

Zara put down her PDA with a sigh filled with blueprints on gear for the boys. They were trying to create things for them to make life easier and Zara was thrilled with helping but certain aspects were outside what she understood. She was great at coding and creating but fitting it to work with biology was difficult.

Zara saved her progress and sent the file to Danan to look over the biology components before shutting the PDA off. She stood and stretched out all the kinks in her back before hurrying to get into her suit. It had been a while since she had seen Jackie and hang out with everything going on.

The sun was still high in the sky when Zara exited the base and began swimming towards the shallows. She reached the edges to find two Rabbit Rays playing, one with a noticeable limp to it’s swim. They swam closer when they noticed Zara and she noted how they were nearly full grown.

“You must be Greyson,” Zara commented to the Ray swimming around her aggressively and then she pet the the Ray who had swum right up to her, “and you must be Bunny.”

Bunny swam right up to Zara’s neck and rubbed up against her before swimming off with Greyson. “Cute,” Zara smiled after them.

Zara swam on towards where she knew the boys would hang out. Already she could hear shouts and laughter in the distance.

“Jackie!” Zara shouted through her mask hoping this worked. She had calibrated the modulator in her mask to help project her voice underwater better.

The laughter cut out abruptly and in a second there was red and blue blur darting towards Zara. Laughing she held out her arms as Jackie swept her up into a rolling hug.

“Zara!”

“Jackie!”

Jackie let go of her briefly and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“We haven’t had a lot of time together so I figured we could go hang for a little bit, I have some things to show you too,” Zara smiled in excitement.

“Of course!” Jackie exclaimed. His entire face lit up and Zara couldn’t hold back the muttered, “Adorable,” which prompted Jackie to begin blushing.

He hid his face in Zara’s neck, “You’re more adorable.”

Zara laughed and hugged Jackie as tight as she could. She had missed him so much with everything that had been going on.

“Let me just go tell everyone I’ll be gone for a while,” Jackie smiled. Zara reluctantly let him go and he swam off back towards the cave.

She watched him go before swimming back towards the edge of the shallows but not far enough away Jackie couldn’t find her. With Anti being there it wasn’t safe for her to be there long without risking confrontation.

A haunting cry reached Zara and she paused at Greyson rushed up to her side and zipped around her. “What’s the matter?” Zara asked only for Greyson to run into her and force her to move forward and into a nearby cave. “Greyson!?”

There was a terrifying roar from outside nearby and Zara froze. It was Anti and either he saw her or he guessed when Jackie said he was going out. Zara pressed herself further back into the cave with Greyson practically covering her trying to shield her.

Zara could feel herself trembling as she heard Anti release a growl that seemed to vibrate through the water and into her bones. She hadn’t felt fear like this before.

A brief hiss of a fireball and then silence. She stayed where she was until she heard Anti roar far away and Greyson let her get up. Her hands were shaking so bad she pulled them in close to her chest.

Greyson left the cave and began another higher pitched and haunting song prompting Zara to peek out. With a gasp she scrambled out and over to where Bunny was trying to swim while her non-scared side was badly singed. “Bunny no,” Zara gasped.

She brought out her sea glide and paused, “How am I going to get you to the base.”

She opened her bag and began digging through wildly until she found some straps that she wrapped carefully around Bunny and to the sea glide. Greyson was swimming frantically around them and followed as Zara began swimming as quickly as she could towards the base.

When they arrived at the base Zara unstrapped Bunny and began helping the Ray into the creature room. Zara turned her communications on, “Dr. Danan I need you!”

Greyson was still swimming around but Zara had left him outside so he wouldn’t get in the way. Poor Bunny was making little noises like she was trying to sing her kinds melody was cut off after the first note. Zara ran a hand down the uninjured parts of Bunny, “Iknow, Dr. Danan is on the way and she will help.”

The hatch from the base opened and Dr. Danan came rushing in and directly over to Bunny along with two of their medical staff. Zara backs off and leaves them to help Bunny while she goes out and lets Greyson into the tubes connected to the base so he could be closer to Bunny. Instead he followed her through the network of tubes as she stumbled down hallways and into her room where she collapsed on her bed. Greyson crooned lowly from nearby where he floated in the glass tank connected to her room.

Something tapped on her glass wall to the outside and Zara jumped before she saw a worried Jackie floating outside. Zara hesitated for the briefest second with not wanting to go out and Jackie must have seen it as he swam away. In a minute he was floating down the tubes towards her and Zara rushed to the nearest hatch and climbed through. Jackie almost crushed her with the force of his hug and Zara clung just as tightly.

Greyson peeked his head over Jackie but backed off to give them some space.

“Are you ok!?” Jackie asked. Zara nodded her head, “I am, it was close but Greyson and Bunny warned me in time.” Zara paused before continuing, “He-he got Bunny though. Dr. Danan is with her right now.”

Jackie hung his head, “Oh Anti.”

Zara opened her mouth and closed it before glancing at Greyson and steeling herself, “Something needs to be done Jackie.”

“Needs to be done?” Jackie asked.

“Yes,” She admitted, “With Anti.”

Jackie let her go and there was something conflicted in his gaze, “What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s going to hurt a lot more people before he gets better,” Zara held her hands out trying to placate Jackie.

“And? What are we gonna do?” There was something hostile in Jackie’s voice that had Zara almost stopping but she plunged on.

“Anything Jackie. He’s gonna hurt someone again, he might even be a danger to himself at this point,” She tried explaining.

Jackie bared his teeth at her, “And you’re just gonna lock him up and strap him down aren’t ya? Screw with his head some more until he’s better? He’s fine with us and I won’t let anyone lock him up again and torture him again.”

“Jackie no that’s not what I mean-”

“How could you,”Jackie hissed as he advanced on her with mandibles extended and his eyes almost black, “you know what they did to us. But I guess you were one and just never really stopped.”

Zara jerked back at that and she felt tears prick the corners of her eyes, “Jackie.”

He likely would have advanced on her further until Greyson came up behind Jackie quickly and bit down on one of his mandibles. Jackie screeched and Zara kicked away from him and opened the hatch to the outside. With a shove Greyson sent Jackie tumbling out and Zara slammed the hatch shut.

Zara began sobbing as soon as the hatch was firmly closed.

[septnautical]

21. Marvin and Chase

“You don’t understand what this feels like!” 

Marvin swims with as much energy as he can muster. But in between his nightmares and not eating and everything else, he’s feeling very weak. He swims with his vision blurring and nearly faceplants into the surrounding coral. His shoulder hits the hard rock and he lurches to the side, losing height in the water. He blinks spots out of his eyes and growls under his breath in frustration. He’s too weak to warp very far.

He needs to get away from his brothers. All he can feel is bursting rage in his stomach. They left him, he knew they left him. Nothing they said otherwise would change that.

But he can hear them shouting in the distance, crying out his name in desperation. Something like guilt settles in his chest and he looks behind him for a second. But he quietly scoffs and takes off faster in the deeper blue water outside the shallows.

After swimming for what felt like forever, Marvin slows down, his chest heaving. He lets himself float down into the sand, his body sagging like a huge weight is on top of him.  The warper merman squeezes his eyes shut and tries to get all his poisonous thoughts out of his head. But they’re stuck in place, every word striking and piercing his mind.  

The dreaded ringing starts up slow in Marvin’s ears, so faint at first that Marvin doesn’t realize. But it begins to build and build until Marvin in on his face in the sand, crying out and trying to make it go away. He grips his nails into the cuts on his face, trying to do anything to keep him himself as he heaves in breath after shaky breath.

Marvin faintly feels the presence of the others through the horrible drone of the ringing and he hears his name being called through the static. He flinches back when one of them tries to touch him and he’s not sure who it is.

“Don’t touch me!” He’s shouting, his whole body shaking. He unsteadily falls over into the sand, gritting his teeth against the noise.

“Marvin, please!” He hears Jackie plead, “Talk to us! Just tell us what’s wrong!”

“No!” Marvin screams, gripping his head, “I can’t! You wouldn't’ get it! None of you understand how this feels!”

His final words seem to echo throughout the still ocean as Marvin sucks in a shaky breath.

“You don’t know what it’s like…” He adds softly, his voice breaking, “What it’s like to battle against this part of yourself you hate… a part that won’t let go.”

There’s more silence as the ringing seems to die down some before a bitter laugh causes Marvin to look up. Jackie stares down at him with fire in his eyes.

“We don’t know what that’s like? I’m the dumbass that can’t control my instincts and my anger that got us all spilt-up in the first place!” Jackie laughs again but tears peek out the corners of his eyes as he nearly whispers, “I blame myself every day for that….”

Henrik lightly slaps Jackie’s shoulder and the Reaper’s tail flicks in annoyance before he’s brought into a quick hug by the older brother, “That was not your fault Jackie…” Schneep let's go and stares at the sand, ”I understand too Marvin… i-i hate my stalker instincts so much… it keeps me away and distant from the people i love.” The stalker merman lifts his goggles to wipe at his eyes as Jackie lightly takes his hand.

Marvin sees out of the corner of his eye as Jamie taps the ground to get his attention. The littlest brother seems to have trouble finding what he wants to say so he just simply closes his eyes with a sad expression and ghosts his fingers over his throat. Marvin gets the message. Jamie hates that he can’t voice what he wants to say all the time.

Chase cautiously approaches Marvin’s side and lays a hand gently on his before he speaks, “I.. I hate when my sadness makes me into a person who can’t take care of you all….” Chase can’t meet Marvin’s eyes but he squeezes the warper’s hand tighter. “We all have a part of ourselves we wish we could change… but change is hard to come by. All we can do is try and lean on the people who love us when things get hard.” Finally, the older boy meets Marvin’s eyes and offers him a gentle smile.

A small bump on his back causes Marvin to turn around. He seems Jamie sheepishly offer him his cat mask and Marvin stares down at it.

“I know it’s hard to admit you need help to be normal Marvin…” Chase quietly encourages, “But it’s what you need to do to get better. To overcome what you hate.”

Marvin shakily takes the mask and takes a second before he slips it over his head. The ringing stops almost instantly and Marvin’s eyes start to water.

“I’m sorry-” He starts but he’s cut off with a yelp as he bombarded by a giant hug from all his brothers.

“Shut up Marvin,” Jackie mumbles, “We don’t need to hear that crap.”

Marvin laughs wetly as his tears leak out into the water and he lets his head rest on his brother’s shoulder. That aching loneliness and betrayal he’s felt all this time evaporates as his brother’s warmth surrounds him.

It’s good to know he’s not the only one battling himself.

[septnautical]

Happy birthday to our favorite fishy hero! Even if you can’t celebrate it with the whole family (Yeah I know they don’t know what birthdays are but I still gotta say it)

Zara is hanging out in the lounge with Jackie one day. Zara is reading a PDA and working on some new blueprints while Jackie lays on her lap quietly snoozing away. They sit together in comfortable silence. Until eventually, Zara notices the date on her PDA and hums out loud in thought. Jackie stirs slightly and lifts his head from her lap, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

“Hey Jackie…” Zara starts. Jackie gives a mhm in response as he rubs at his eyes and yawns.

“Do… do you guys know what a birthday is?”

Jackie lifts up his head more and cocks it to the side, “Birth...day?”

Zara laughs slightly, “I’m guessing not…”

“What is it?” Jackie asks with a spark in his eyes. “It’s a special human thing right??”

Another laugh escapes from Zara as she tries to think on how best to explain it.

“Well humans usually keep track of the day they’re born. Then once a year we celebrate it! Usually with presents or special food… or just spending time with people you love!” Zara smiles gently at Jackie. Jackie thinks for a second.

“So couldn’t any day be a birthday? As long as you have gifts and food and stuff! I already get to spend every day with the people i love!” Zara’s heart flutters at Jackie’s statement.

“I mean… i guess. But the whole point of a birthday is for it to be on the day you’re born. Otherwise, it’s not special.”

Jackie leans back and thinks.”Huh, well… i don’t know the day i was made… I was sorta plopped into the main tank after i was made. In fact, the only way me and my brothers know days pass it cuz of the water changing colors. So we… don’t know that sorta stuff…” Jackie almost looks disappointed.

Zara frowns to herself, clicking her fingernails on her PDA and hums in thought again.

“Well… i guess it’s just a silly human thing Jackie. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” She lifts her mask up very quickly to give a quick peck on the cheek and gives him and warm smile before she floats off. “Also… i gotta get some work done. But i’ll see you soon okay?”

“Okay,” Jackie smiles and waves her off.

A couple days later Jackie is swimming around the base, trying to beat a new record. When suddenly he stops and hears a high pitched sound that just gets louder and louder and then-

“JACKIEEEE!!!”

Jackie is tackled by a black and blue blur and they both flip through the water until Jackie can right himself. Zara is clinging to Jackie in a tight hug and grinning super wide.

“Woah Z, what’s gotten you so excited?” Jackie laughs as he ruffles Zara’s hair. Zara springs up and holds Jackie’s shoulders out with stars in her eyes.

“I found it Jackie! All your birthdays!!” She cries out excitedly. “I found the old data from the white suits base! And scientists always keep track on the dates on their experiments!!”

Jackie blinks and smiles gently at her, raising an eyebrow, “Yeah? There’s something else isn’t here?”

Zara squeals and bounces up slightly, “Your birthday is today!!”

Jackie’s eyes grow wide. “What? Really?”

Zara nods excitedly and pulls out her PDA, quickly scrolling through the records she found. She stops at a file that has a picture of tiny Jackie just after he was created. There’s some scientific mumbo jumbo scrolled underneath followed by a date. July 10th.

Zara excitedly points to the top of the screen where another date is displayed. But only the year is different. The day is still the same.

Jackie blinks, unsure on what to say. “I was made… today.”

Zara giggles, “And apparently, you’re only 4 years old….”

Jackie cocks his head, “How old are you then?”

The girl blushes slightly and hides her face behind her PDA, “Um… like 24….”

The merman scratches his head, “Huh…”

Zara quickly shakes her head, “That doesn’t matter though Jackie! We should celebrate!! We can get all your brothers together and throw a huge party! With your favorite food!”

Jackie blinks and glances away slightly, a pit in his stomach. Thinking of Anti and Jack missing this… He takes a deep breath and tries to think positively. Once they got them all back together, they would all be able to celebrate birthdays together.

Jackie turns and gives Zara a wide grin, “Okay, i like that sound of that!”

[septnautical]

Another Nightmare Jackie Oneshot

(But this time with MORE ZARKIE!)

It’s just approaching night time as Zara sneaks out of the base and heads towards the cove. The sea around her dims into dusky oranges and reds from the setting sun and Zara smiles slightly at the way the colors shift and change through the waves. She waves happily at a school of peepers as they scramble by.

She hadn’t seen Jackie all day. Maybe he went on his own little adventure because she saw most of the brothers working around the base today. She actually spent a good amount of time with Jamie, trying to show him how to work the habitat builder. That kid was adorable. But she missed Jackie.

Zara soars over another cove and nearly gets knocked off course by a fleeting swarm of various other types of fish. She pushes her hair out of her face and turns around to watch them swim away in confusion. What the hell was going on?

An angry roar seems to answer her and shiver runs down her spine as she thinks she recognizes it. She whips her head around and peers down into the cove. There she sees two figures roaring and clawing at each other as they tear through the sand. One of the figures has a red and blue tail.

A squeal of pain causes Zara to rocket down towards the tussle as she sees Jackie circle around a wounded stalker and skewer the creature’s tail into the sand. The wounded cry of the stalker tears at Zara’s heartstrings and she spurs forward and knocks into Jackie, causing the Reaper to go whirling back through the water.

“Stop it Jackie!” Zara cries, trying to lift up the stalker’s tail to encourage it to flee. The stalker looks grateful for a second before it speeds away.

A low threatening growl causes Zara to turn back around and she meets Jackie’s eyes. They’re pitch back. Blood is splattered on his face and coats his arms up to his elbows. He breathes heavily as he glares at Zara in rage. He’s littered with cuts and bruises and one of his eyes looks like it’s threatening to swell shut. Zara swallows. She’s never seen Jackie this way, but she’s heard stories.

“Jackie…” She tries to say gently, but her voice wobbles, “It’s okay, it’s just me. It’s Zara.”

She tries to approach but as she does Jackie lashes his tail and snaps his jaw at her, growling louder. HIs madibles spring out as if ready to strike.

Zara’s heart pounds faster and faster as she realizes the clearing is littered with slaughtered fish bodies, their yellow blood floating out like sick looking clouds into the reddening water.

“Jackie please!” Zara pleads, “T-this isn’t you… please snap out of this and we can go home!” She reaches out a hand and tries to get close to him again but one of his mandibles lashes out and slices across her wrist. She draws back with a cry and cradles her arm to her chest.

Jackie sucks in water before building up a roar. Zara feels the water stir and start to push her away as her ears burn from the sound. She tumbles backwards, unsure of what way is up and what is down. She sees a flash of blue and red and knows Jackie is trying to circle her and get to her back. She fumbles for her knife and slashing out wildly as she hears a growl from her side. The knife hits the side of Jackie’s nose and he gets thrown back howling in pain

An apology dies on the girl’s lip as the reaper shakes off the pain and drives her into the sand. She screams as two mandibles strike her in the shoulders but quickly she slams both her knees into his stomach and Jackie’s breath leaves him as Zara quickly rolls out from under him.

But not fast enough for him not to grab her oxygen supply and tear through the tube that connects her mask to the tank. She gasps and quickly swallows as much air as she can before she whirls around and grabs Jackie’s arms before he can claw at her. Jackie looks shocked for a second but quickly uses his strength to drive her against a nearby rock face. Zara instinctively opens her mouth to gasp and the air is already thinning inside her mask. Zara kicks wildly at Jackie as spots start to appear in her vision. Jackie’s claws dig into Zara’s wrists and she feels close to blacking out.

“J-Jackie…!” She chokes weakly, trying to fight but Jackie’s too strong and she feels her eyelids growing heavy from the lack of air.

But through the din, she sees Jackie shake his head and sees a hint of his bright blue eyes. He’s shouting something but Zara can’t hear what it is as her whole body grows heavy. Then suddenly she feels everything lurge and she’s being rushed somewhere but she can’t tell where as her head lulls forward.

There’s a large splash as they crash through the surface of the water, and Zara’s body inhales air as fast as she can, causing her to cough heavily. She blinks the darkness away from her eyes as she struggles to suck in oxygen. Shaky hands fly up to her face and pulls her ruined mask away from her mouth and pushes her soaking bangs from her eyes. Then they cup her face frantically.

“Zara,” Jackie breathes, his voice breaking as he constantly pushes Zara’s hair back, holds tightly onto her or cups her face, “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Well, of course, you’re fucking hurt- fuck-!” Tears spring into his eyes, even through his swollen one as she watches Zara try to breathe.

Zara coughs hoarsely and reaches out to cling onto Jackie’s shoulders so she doesn’t dip back into the water. She struggles to choke out to Jackie through her coughs, “I-i”m okay.. I’m f-fine…”

“You’re not fine, i-i could have!” Jackie chokes, his shoulders shaking, “I-i almost- oh stars Zara i’m so sorry…” He bows his head and draws Zara in close, hiding his face in her shoulder. Zara wheezes but wraps her arms around Jackie’s neck and curls her fingers through his hair.

“It’s okay Jackie, I knew you’d come through,” She whispers, closing her eyes as her body

begins to register the pain. Jackie lets go and notices the spots of red on her shoulders and arms and how Zara wavers slightly. Panic seizes his heart again and he looks around quickly. He spots a rock not to far from them and grabs Zara completely in his arms and carries her over there. He gently helps her cling to the rock and gives her a shaky kiss on her cheek as he pulls her hair back.

“I’ll be back soon okay? I’m gonna get you a new oxygen thingy and bandages and everything will be okay,” Jackie assures nervously and Zara gives a weak smile and a nod. Jackie swallows before he dives back under the water. Zara closes her eyes and tries to focus on breathing normally as the wind from the quickly setting sun begins to chill her to the bone.

Zara isn’t sure how much time passes as she struggles not to fall asleep. The sun set a while ago and Zara’s eyes wander around trying to find something to focus on. Her shivering keeps her body awake but she’s so exhausted from this whole ordeal. Just as her eyes threaten to close again she hears a splash and Jackie’s face shoots up in front of her. She hardly even reacts except reaching out and tracing her fingers along Jackie’s cut on his face as he tries to wake her up.

“‘M sorry…” She slurs sadly and Jackie quickly shakes his head and shushes her gently. He moves to hook up a new connection to Zara’s oxygen tank before he carefully slips another mask over her face. He gathers her up in his arms again and plunges them back under the water. Zara wraps her arms around his neck and closes her eyes, trying to control her shivering even as the water began to warm her back up. She can feel Jackie tensing up in worry.

Jackie quickly gets them back into the base and tries to give Zara away to one of the medical staff but she refuses to let go of Jackie. Jackie tries to quietly encourage her but she just shakes her head. He sighs and takes her to go see Schneep.

Henrik asks very little questions as he bandages up Zara’s arms and checks on her vitals. He can already guess what might have happened, though he’s not quite sure he understands how Zara managed to find Jackie in such a state. He quietly wishes Zara well after she’s all patched up and gives Jackie a small pat on his shoulder before he leaves the two alone.

There’s tense silence for a second as Zara and Jackie struggle to think of what they want to say to each other. Then a harsh sob escapes from Jackie’s mouth and he slips down to the floor, holding a hand against his face.

“Jackie!” Zara gasps as she makes her way over and tries to gather up Jackie in her arms. Jackie lightly grabs onto the fabric of Zara’s suit as he shakes with sadness.

“Jackie…” Zara whispers gently, pushing back his hair, “It’s okay really, i’m fine, everything’s okay.”

Jackie sniffles and refuses to look at her as he sobs, “I-i always do this! I lose control of myself and h-hurt the people i… i hurt everyone i care about!” He bunches his hands into fists as he struggles to stop his shaking. His voice grows almost too quiet to hear, “I don’t want to keep hurting anyone! But i c-can’t control my instincts...I try and i try but i can’t!”

Zara pulls Jackie’s head against her chest and gently pets his hair to try to calm him down, “But you came through in the end Jackie… you managed to fight it and saved me. I’m sure one day it’ll get easier…”

The reaper merman pulls his head away and grabs onto Zara’s hands before finally lifting his face to look back at her. Zara’s chest tightens at the sight of the slash on his face and his black eye. His eyes are red and puffy but he looks at Zara with determination.

“I promise… I will never ever hurt you again,” He vows seriously and Zara feels her heart flutter. He rests his forehead against hers and closes his eyes and he grips her hands tighter, “Never again…”

Zara smiles gently and closes her eyes with him as she whispers, “Even you do, i won't ever leave you… that’s my promise.”

She hears Jackie’s breath hitch at her statement and before he can reply she quietly interjects, “Can we just forget about all this and get some sleep? I’m exhausted.”

Jackie’s mouth snaps shut and slowly he sighs and withdraws his head with a quiet, “yeah…” He gets up, ready to head back out the tubes to open water but Zara grabs his tail to stop him.

“Where are you going?” She questions with a tilt of her head, “Stay here with me...please.”

Jackie looks conflicted. “You don’t want to spend all night in the water Z… you have a warm bed-”

“Don’t speak for me Jackie,” Zara scolds, “I would much rather spend the night here with you then alone in some bed.” Jackie’s shoulders fall slightly but a soft smile comes across his face as he makes his way back and smothers Zara in a hug.

“Okay… if you’re sure.”

Zara smiles brightly, “I’m sure.”

“Do you have enough oxygen to stay in here for the night?” Jackie asks worriedly. Zara laughs slightly.

“I think so! And if i don’t at least we’ll have an alarm to wake us up!”

“Please don’t joke about that Z…”

[septnautical]

So what sort of repercussions are Jack's actions going to have? They've gotta at least baby proof the tank (no more sharp or otherwise possibly harmful objects allowed anymore). Security and surveillance has to increase ten-fold. Are creatures still allowed in the same tank with him? And what about the other boys? Bc some of them had to have been burned, not to mention Chase’s other injury. And they're obviously a bigger threat than the white suits once thought. (1/2)

And what with all the white suits’ data gone now, what lengths will they go to to get that information back again? AHHHHHHH I’m sorry I’m just hurt and excited and have alot of questions. (2/2)

Jack is awakened as he’s roughly shoved into a shockingly small tank in some kind of white suit office. The top and sides are quickly shut behind him and Jack looks around warily, feeling claustrophobic. He presses his hands against the glass and tries to figure out where he was now. He’s never been in a tank this small, there’s barely even room to fit all his tails.

The sea emperor hybrid is shocked out of his thoughts as the doors to the office whoosh open and Xander angrily stalks inside. There’s a tense beat of silence as the pair glare at each other.

Xander finally breaks the silence, “That was quite the show you put on, Jackaboy.”

Jack laughs bitterly and gives him a smirk, “You should be thanking me, Xander. Things were getting too boring around here, don’t you think?”

Jack stumbles backwards as the scientist angrily pounds his fist against Jack’s tank, eyes alight with fury. Jack swallows before he bites back, “What’s the matter, boss? Finally feeling threatened by my brothers?”

Xander shakes his head as bitter laughter shakes his shoulders. “I couldn’t care less about those failures you call brothers,” Xander spits as he pushes his way from the tank and hangs his head slightly, “The only thing that matters is that we almost lost you.”

“Aw, Xander, I’m almost touched,” Jack drones sarcastically.

Xander ignores him as he begins to pace around the room, seemingly mumbling to himself but acting like he’s still talking to Jack. “It’s all coming undone… We’ve done so much and yet you still yield nothing! We thought having you conscious would produce the best results but clearly, that won’t work anymore… we can’t delay this any longer.”

Xander’s head snaps up and he locks eyes with Jack. Jack’s body goes cold with dread. The glow from his tank casts Xander in an eerie blue light and jack shivers at the terrifying look in his eyes.

“We have to take drastic measures,” Xander continues, “We’re out of time.”

The lead white suit walks over to his desk and waves his hand to open a panel up. He quickly keys in a couple commands and presses a couple of buttons. Spouts previously hidden in the walls of the tank spring out as metal bindings lash out and latch onto Jack’s wrists.

Jack begins to panic and he fights against the restraints, but they’re too strong.

“What do you mean?!” Jack cries out, “Out of time for what?!”

Xander doesn’t answer as he stares Jack dead in the eyes, completely emotionless. The spouts in the tank begin to spray a red sickly looking liquid into the water and Jack’s eyes widen in fear as the water turns scarlet.

Jack coughs as the liquid burns his gills and eyes. He blinks as tears run down his face, looking like blood in the foul red cloud. Jack struggles and fights but it doesn’t take long for the liquid to start taking its effect. Jack’s eyes glaze over before they slip shut. His head falls forward, seemingly lifeless as his body stills. Xander nods and turns back to the panel. Slowly, more devices spring from the walls and attach themselves to Jack.

As Xander works, the door to his office slips open and another man enters the room. He coughs timidly as he walks up to the scientist.

“Are you sure about this sir?” The man asks quietly, “Putting the subject in a coma… “

“I didn’t ask for your opinion!” Xander snaps as he waves his hand over the screen, the panel returning to the desk.

“This all because of your pathetic failure of a daughter,” Xander bites in the face of the taller man. The other scientist looks away, swallowing his rage.

“She’s doomed the whole base now. This is the only way.”

Xander brushes past the man as he stalks out of the room.

“Prepare the tests. Either we get this enzyme soon… or we….” Xander can’t seem to find a way to finish his sentence.

“What about the lost information?” 

Xander grits his teeth and tugs on his sleeve, as if he’s trying to hide something.

“Just.. find what you can.” He turns and leaves other man alone, the room dimmed in red. He stares at the comatose form of Jack before he too leaves the room to prepare what needs to be done.