#they have servants who are other merfolk yes

[rxttenfish]

What species are Miranda's serfs? I assume that they are from the merkingdom and live underwater just like her, so they can't be land-based species.

:)

well you see.

the serfs aren't a species.

[valiantstarlights]

(Sorta Kinda) Little Mermaid AU

Dream is the king of Atlantis, Orpheus is his only son who is all about that land stuff, and Hob is a (human) thief being transported with other convicts to a penal colony.

Orpheus likes to stalk all the ships that enter Dream's territory. He's always looking for new land stuff merch to add to his growing collection: human apparel, shiny trinkets, barrels of rum, sentient beings to adopt...

He really likes it when it storms because stuff falls overboard! And when the entire ship sinks? It's like the local mall just announced a 100% off sale of every item ever. Blood is to a shark as land stuff is to Orpheus. He goes fucking nuts about it.

And it just so happens that the ship carrying Hob is passing through Dream's territory.

So as Orpheus stalks this one ship, the Karmic Justice Or Something Like That, he sees Hob looking dirty and miserable on deck. But like, come on, he's still Ferdinand Kingsley so of course he's still handsome. And Orpheus is like, 'If anything falls overboard, I hope it's that one.'

His wish is granted. One night, a violent (non-magical) storm hits the ship, and Orpheus swims straight to Hob, who was one of the humans thrown overboard. Then, through some merfolk magic, he gives Hob the ability to breathe underwater and withstand oceanic pressure.

And then he cheerfully drags the very confused two-legged human back to Atlantis.

(RIP to the other humans who weren't as pretty as Hob.)

Hob is understandably going ????. Is he dead? Is this hell? Oh lord there is a kingdom under the sea, and merfolk are just like humans but instead of legs they have fish tails.

Freaky.

But! Before Orpheus could have his wicked way with him (because of course he'd want to), the TSA guards of Atlantis spot them, and they do their jobs and bring the prince and his illegal cargo to the throne room (for the 4th time this month), where Dream is of course fucking livid that Orpheus dragged not just another illegal upperworlder stuff, but an actual human back to Atlantis.

Orpheus does the whole 'But Daddy I love him!' speech while Hob is floating on the side being like, "We literally just met and you kidnapped me."

"I kidnapped you from certain death!" Orpheus says.

Dream has no time for this. He may have been lenient on Orpheus adopting drowning sentient upperworlders in the past, but after he stole Dream's symbol of power in order to turn Aristaeus the goat into a mergoat and failed (because he's not powerful or focused enough), Dream is going to have to intervene.

"You love this human?" Dream asks his son.

"Yes, Father," Orpheus answers promptly.

"You want him to be a part of this family?"

"Yes, Father."

"Then give him to me," Dream says. "I'm going to have him for a year, and if at the end you still love him, I will turn him into a merman."

"Don't I have a say in this?" Hob asks.

"Of course you have," Dream says. He even inclines his head like an asshole nobleman. "Decide whether you want to agree to this deal or die right now of drowning and oceanic pressure."

Hob looks around at all the shiny things and decides, fuck it. He's gonna live and he's gonna steal from these half-fish bastards and escape back to civilization and live a rich man's life. So he agrees to the deal.

Orpheus sulkily agrees as well. A contract is drawn. It looks less ominous than Ursula's contract with Ariel, being in bullet list form in very readable dyslexic-friendly font.

Hob has to spend an entire year with Dream and be whatever he wishes him to be (like a servant or chauffeur or whatever, which Hob is fine with as long as they shelter him and feed and clothe him well),

Orpheus has to spend an entire year away from Atlantis and vacation in the other Endless siblings' territories ("Because distance makes the heart grow fonder!" Orpheus claims), and

Dream has to spend an entire year with Hob, test his loyalty, intelligence, wine pouring skills(?), etc. (If he's joining the family, Dream needs to know what exactly he's going to be dealing with for eternity.)

...and at the end of the year, if Orpheus still 'loves' Hob, then Dream is going to turn Hob into a merman and he's gonna live the rest of his life as Orpheus's human-turned-merfolk companion.

If Orpheus doesn't 'love' him anymore, then Hob is free to go. He can return to the human world with some compensation in the form of precious jewels, or if he decides he likes it here in Atlantis, then he's free to stay as a companion-free merman.

All three of them sign. Orpheus swims away accompanied by some bodyguards to his uncle-aunt Desire's territory, determined to 'love' Hob until the year is over.

Hob is left behind with Dream, who doesn't really know what to do with him. Should the human be his cupbearer? A guard? Puffer fish juggler during feasts?

"Do you have any skills?"

"I'm good at stealing," Hob answers, because it's true and he's not ashamed of it. They better be prepared to get things stolen from them.

Dream sighs. "Anything else?"

Hob considers the huge merman before him, easily twice the size of his son(?), and decides, you know what? Yeah. Why the fuck not? If he's gonna be stuck in this guy's company for a year, he's going to be such a thorn in his side and make it so awkward that the king would be forced to send him back (with precious jewels) to the 'upper world' before the year is done.

"I'm good at sucking cock," Hob says, because it's also true. "That is, if you folk have similar appendages."

Dream has a lightbulb moment. Hob is easy on the eyes, and with only a thorough scrubbing and some meals, fine clothing for his body, elegant hair accessories, he would look very fine and presentable indeed. And moreover, it would mark him as Dream's personal concubine. In a year, (and even if Orpheus had object permanence), his son wouldn't want him.

It's actually very unlikely that Orpheus would still 'love' him by year's end, anyway, even if Dream doesn't make Hob his concubine. Orpheus is very distractable and is capable of moving on quickly. (Aristaeus the goat, for example, had only been mourned for ten whole minutes.)

Satisfied, Dream smirks at the human before him, tosses his long hair over his shoulder a bit like the slut he is, and says, "Are you offering your services to me, little human?"

And of course it's only now that Hob sees Dream's beautiful face and sexy upper body, which has previously been hidden under his curtain of long dark hair. (In Hob's eyes, he had been dealing with a male Sadako underwater. Please give him a break. It's been a very stressful day.)

Hob realizes that he has severely miscalculated. Because even now, he wants to lick whatever appendage this gorgeous creature has. A year? He's gonna want to be here for eternity because holy shit the king is gorgeous and a total DILF.

They fuck. Because of course they do. Right there on the throne room. Everyone's seaweed salad is ruined.

(But fr, Hob is having the time of his life. Dream and his cock are so huge it brought out Hob's latent size kink tendency, and he can shapeshift as well. Hob gets fucked with dozens of new and exciting appendages. There's like an entire Bad Dragon catalogue down there.)

Dream announces that he'll be working from home for an entire year and assigns Lucienne, Jessamy, and Matthew to oversee things he wouldn't be able to for that duration because he's Busy.

He says this over ye olde Atlantean seashell cellphone as he's fucking Hob into the mattress.

When Dream has to show himself to grant Atlantean citizens their weekly audience, he does so with Hob warming his dick as he sits on the throne.

Thankfully, Atlantean citizens are less prudish than upperworlders, because if they get turned on, they just masturbate right then and there, no problem at all. Really, as long as anyone doesn't touch Dream or Hob, then it's fine.

Hob, prudish upperworlder that he was, discovers that he thrives in this kind of exhibitionist play. He realizes that he loves being on display and seeing Dream's subjects pleasure themselves while looking at them. (Even Corinthian, the head of the royal guards, jerks off just a step down from the throne, eyes on the place where Hob is joined with Dream. Hob doesn't know if Corinthian wants to be Hob, be Dream, or be sandwiched in between the two of them. He doesn't ask because Dream is obviously a jealous bastard.)

And every day that passes, Hob gets increasingly addicted to Dream (not just his cock/s), and Dream is increasingly growing fonder of Hob. They realize that they actually like spending time together, even when they're not physically connected.

Dream laughs (his creepy frightening laugh) over Hob's stupid upperworld jokes, wonders at Hob's unconventional solutions to his citizens' problems, and mourns with him when he finally tells Dream about why he became a thief in the first place.

Meanwhile, Hob listens well to Dream's personal problems and never gives advice unless Dream asks him to, gives Dream new songs to sing and melodies to play, and holds him whenever he dreams of the night Orpheus's mother was taken from them and killed by upperworlders hundreds of years ago.

It's so very clear that they're meant to be together, but they're pretty stupid and don't realize that they have fallen in love with each other.

The Atlantean citizens grow to respect Hob and not just lust after him from afar. He's very kind, and the unconventional upperworlder solutions he proposes when Dream is giving an audience work out surprisingly well. Soon, he's being referred to as Consort Hob, and is given gifts of gratitude. Just small but heartfelt things like fresh produce and homemade jams.

Hob likes being given gifts. A thing that Dream notices early on so of course he immediately sets out to spoil Hob. (Especially when he found out that Hob grew up impoverished.) Does he care that he's one-upping his own citizens with his lavish gifts? No. A subject's gift is different from a lover's, and Hob likes all the gifts anyway. He doesn't even complain when Dream tears off his own gifts from his body only a minute after Hob puts them on.

As the year is slowly coming to an end, they fuck more often, and lowkey desperately.

Hob thinks Orpheus will still want him at the end of the year. Dream thinks Hob will want to go back to the human world and he'll never see him again.

As we have previously established, they're both idiots, so they only confess their true feelings to each other like, on the day before Orpheus is set to return. And then, knowing that their feelings are requited after all, they fuck again, but this time it's the slow and very gentle lovemaking (TM) kind of sex that lasts the entire night full of soft 'I love you's and new sensitive spots to discover and obsess over. It's great. We want what they have but we also love that they have it with each other.

In the morning, Dream is determined to persuade Orpheus to give Hob up (in the unlikely event that Orpheus still wants Hob), and Hob is determined to stay with Dream and willing to help Orpheus find someone else.

All their worrying is for naught because Orpheus returns with Eurydice (a mermaid) in tow, and says that they got married like...11 months ago.

Dream is a little hurt that he wasn't invited to his own son's wedding, but Orpheus tells him he could just marry her again. It's not like they're lacking funds or need to fill up 10,000 government forms.

Hob is just so relieved that he almost kisses Eurydice in gratitude. (He doesn't because Dream is a jealous bastard who will no doubt misunderstand this very upperworld gesture.)

Dream tells Orpheus that he's gonna marry Hob. Orpheus says okay and is very chill about it. Dream tells him that it would mean that Hob is going to be his stepfather. Orpheus needed a moment to process and come to terms with that, but comes out of his shock still supportive.

Eurydice is a very nice merwoman who is also supportive of Dream and Hob's union. They find out that her family's kelp farm benefitted from Hob's advice so now Orpheus is definitely pro-Hob.

And then they get married! Dream with Hob and Orpheus with Eurydice (again). There may or may not be babies that resulted from Dream and Hob's very vigorous union--that depends on the reader's personal preference, but the point is that they all lived happily ever after. ✨️

[dabiwantsfood]

oMG YES MERAVPOL ABLE TO LOVE EACH OTHER PUBLICLY 😭❤️

That setting where mers and humans coexist would have so much potential tho. Like what if each pirate crew had a few merfolk crew members of their own to help them search for sunken treasure out of reach of humans and help guide them through rough seas, and they had a barrel or tub for them to stay on board cause they're welcomed companions of the human crew as well.

And maybe coastal cities would be designed to be more merfolk accessible with Venice styled canals running through the cities where they can travel through and their important buildings/taverns/shops being within flopping distance of the canals so they can pay visits too.

If it's Pirate Pol x Mer Avdol I imagine Avdol would be more aloof tho, he does love Pol of course but he generally stays in the ocean or the canals and waits for Pol to come to him. Not that he's hiding from humans, but just that he prefers only the company of his special one. 🥺❤️ He'd probably be more of the shy and reclusive type.

If it's Mer Pol x Pirate Avdol I imagine Pol would be on land a lot since he's really eager to explore and get into silly shenanigans, he hangs out on Avdol's ship in a tub that's hilariously small for him (he is a big boii) and sometimes when Avdol is at the tavern Pol just flops in and pulls himself up onto a chair next to Avdol. It was a surprise to the other customers at first but they got used to him quickly and now they don't mind and sometimes the tavern keeper even splashes him with water to keep him wet 😂

I imagine such a setting wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows tho. They'd probably still be some bad humans, and bad mers, and while society as a whole has them get along quite well there would still be some humans who don't like mers and some mers who don't like humans. If there would be antagonists in such an AU I'd always been interested in the idea of Dio being a mer and his agents being humans that help him extend his reach onto land. Idk. And since in canon Avdol has been fleeing Dio and Pol had been one of his fleshbudded servants at first, maybe this is how Avdol and Pol also first meet in the mer AU?

YEAH AND correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I've ever seen a love story between a human and a mermaid (or another mythical creature) in a world where the 2 species coexist and where their relationship is not secret or taboo?? I mean ok I get that it's where the ✨flavor✨ is (and God knows how much I LOVE this trope) but idk it should be interesting to see this kind of relationship too!

I'd love to see a universe where humans and merpeople can live peacefully together... So many possibilities 😭🙏 Both situations with Avdol as merman or Polnareff as a merman look so nice waah thank you for sharing so many ideas!

(here's a quick doodle of merman Pol in a small tub, as a treat)

[aquaburst3]

I've watched James Tullos' new video about the shitty worldbuilding in several YA series from the 2010s. I want to list off some of the dumb and nonsensical worldbuilding in TWST. Because while I love the game, the worldbuilding in this game is absolute dogshit.

(Keep in mind, just because I love this game doesn't mean that I think it's above criticism. Criticizing media I enjoy is another way that I engage with it and show appreciation, since it means that I want the game to do better.)

Why the fuck isn't being a mage the norm in the TWST universe like how it is in BNHA or ATLA? There are no negative stigmas against being a mage. The mages aren't isolated from the outside world in Harry Potter, making mage and non-mage marriages uncommon. So there's no fucking reason for it. You'd think being a mage would be a dominant trait passed down for generations thanks to it having an evolutionary advantage. To put into perspective how fucking bizarre this is when I mentioned the fact that only 1 out of 10 people in that world are mages on a Discord server I'm on, the other two people I was talking to were genuinely shocked. They thought that what I said was the truth thanks to it being the most logical. That's how stupid and illogical of a concept this is.

Why doesn't everyone know about overblotting and what that is? Magic is well known in this universe, so you'd think there would be plenty of instances of it happening in the past and it being public knowledge.

Why isn't there an in universe explanation for why people overblot? You think turning into a monster when you use up too much magic would have some some sort of explanation, but it doesn't.

Why doesn't everyone know about STYKs? They have modern level of tech, so you'd think word about that would get out by now.

Why is Briar Valley the fantasy equivalent to the Amish? They aren't blocked off from the rest of the world and still trade with other countries. Why the lack of technology?

Why does magic seem like a part of the environment where people can sense it? How the fuck does that even work?

How is Rollo able to rip magic out of people? People in this universe seem to be born with magic, so wouldn't that be like ripping out someone's heart or brain?

Why is Malleus completely gobsmacked by the fact that humans age and will eventually die? He lives with Silver, who is a fucking human, and should've learnt about this years ago!

Why aren't the fae courts, changelings, the tithe, etc a thing? The fae are known for being morally grey or downright nasty. They punished people for small transgressions (like in Beauty and the Beast). They stole people away to their courts forever to be a servant, pet, wet nurse or even husband/bride. In some myths, they would human sacrifice people every 7 years to fulfill a tithe. Iron is the biggest weakness to them. (The fae from The Folk of Air series by Holly Black are a fantastic example of them.) There's none of that in TWST. While I don't expect the game to add in the human sacrificing and other dark shit, things like the weaknesses to iron and the courts should be.

Why isn't Lilia more fae like? While I can understand Silver, Sebek and to an extent Malleus to lack these traits, Lilia doesn't have an excuse. He's a several hundred year old fae!

Why are a lot of the beastmen automatically put in Savanaclaw? Same goes for Merfolk in Octanivelle and fae with Diasomnia? Shouldn't all of this all determined by personality instead of what fantasy race someone is? (Yes, I know there are a couple exceptions like a beastman being in Heartslabyul, for example. But they are just that, exceptions. All of this should be determined by personality in the first place.)

Why aren't there female faculty and staff at Night Raven? Wouldn't that be grounds for Crowley and even Azul to be sued? All boys schools still have female teachers and staff IRL, so the same should go for NRC.

Why are there hardly any place or city names in the game?

[bookwyrmling]

The Not-so-beginning

Look, just...I had a brain worm that I had to get out before it consumed me. I have too many WIPs as it is, so here y'all go!

MDZS - The Longest Promise Fusion AU (spoilers for, like, episode 1 of TLP, if that)

On the Northwestern edges of the empire, the fertile farmlands and busy metropolises fade into windswept grasslands and deserts. The water still runs swift and cool in its banks, but it warms in still, shallow ponds.

Life here isn’t one of scholarly or agrarian pursuits.

Xiao Qing chews on mutton rougan, the spices tingling her nose and activating her salivary glands, as she watches the soldiers run through their qiang drills. Her feet kick back and forth, the sage and emerald skirts of her dress fluttering about them from where she watches on a nearby wall. The sound of servants calling her name sound in the distance and Xiao Qing glares in that direction, stilling her legs so as not to be so easily seen where she’s blocked from behind by a tree.

“Ah Qing.”

Xiao Qing winces and turns back to the training grounds, looking straight down to see Zichen raise an eyebrow at her.

“Did you run away from your father?” he asks as he raises his hands up in silent command.

Xiao Qing huffs and kicks off the wall, specifically avoiding the arms that had been raised to catch her. “Zichen-gege, he just wants to talk about introducing me to another suitor. You know I don’t want to get married.”

“He is your father and he is looking out for you,” Zichen says as he leads her out of the training grounds and through the garden that connects to the private residence of the Xiao family.

“If he let me train, I’d be able to look out for myself,” Xiao Qing points out with a smile. “I’m better than most men out there at fighting and cultivating, anyway!”

“Yes. The Bai School had quite a bit to say of your talents when you last ran off while your father was at the capital,” Zichen says blandly.

Xiao Qing looks around warily because her father isn’t supposed to know about that trip. Zichen isn’t supposed to, either, but he’ll keep her secret if she asks him to. Zichen has been around since her father first adopted her off the streets, after all. He’s been around since before even her father was born. He’s a merfolk who has seen it all, so nothing anyone can do surprises him. She smirks for just that reason and says, “If they were of any talent, they wouldn’t have been so easily beaten by me and have to send a letter complaining.”

It’s an old argument so she isn’t disappointed or surprised when Zichen merely raises an eyebrow at her and directs her into the front rooms.

There are strangers there: women from the palace.

Inviting her to dance at the Star Gazing festival.

“Unfortunately, Ah Qing has never been one to develop her dancing,” her father attempts to apologize and turn the offer down for her.

“I’ll do it!” she jumps up to shout before he can say any more.

The women from the palace wince at her volume and Xiao Qing winces in return, hoping she hadn’t ruined everything.

“Well, she is eligible,” one of the palace ladies says.

“But it does require ability,” the other adds pointedly. “And of course, the lead dancer will always come from the Jin family, so it would only be a minor position.”

“But even then, ability is important,” the first cuts back in to say.

“Then, ladies, please enjoy yourselves and judge my ability for yourselves tomorrow,” Xiao Qing suggests at an appropriate volume with a lady-like bow (it had taken her months to get it down and her teacher and smacked her with a stick every time it was wrong until she corrected it).

“If this is truly what you want to do, Ah Qing,” her father says, turning to her with a worried frown as servants lead the palace ladies to their guest quarters.

Xiao Qing nods. “I really do, father!”

He smiles at her. “It’s good to see you taking an interest in something other than fighting and cultivating. A position like this can only help draw a good husband for you.”

Xiao Qing frowns in disagreement as she turns away. “I’m going to practice, so don’t interrupt me,” she called back before running out of the room and towards her own quarters. The Star Gazing festival was held on Jiuyi Mountain! The strongest and most powerful cultivation sect in the empire! If anywhere would have a lead to the spell she has been looking for, it would be there. For this reason, Xiao Qing has to grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and make it there.

She would finally be able to repay the Crown Prince.

-----

In a lush mountain valley far away, a gentle young man smiles wryly at his companion fluttering about, celebrating his recently-obtained human form.

“This is the prettiest face around, Sizhui!” the bird laughs as he frames his face and looks into the bronzed mirror appreciatively. “Of course I have to show it off during the Star Gazing festival. You really should come with me! Next to me, after all, who would notice you?”

“You know very well I can’t, Jingyi,” Sizhui scolds lightly. “I will not leave Emperor Valley until I turn 18.”

“The chance that one of the, what? ten? girls coming is your fated doom is highly unlikely,” Jingyi bemoans before running over to tug at Sizhui’s hand. "We'll stay far enough away that they won't meet you!"

Sizhui pushes Jingyi’s hold from him and pats his shoulder soothingly. “All the same,” he swears, “I will not go. After all, if we stay so far away they can't meet me, how would they see your pretty face?”

Sizhui doesn't laugh when Jingyi bemoans that realization. He does smile, though.

[amtwst-tls]

Scary outfit Jade Personal Story Translation Part 2

Jade Scary Outfit Part 2

Would you please teach me?

Where the 2nd years all talk about the Halloween traditions back at their places.

Classroom

Jade: Would you mind teaching me about the many different ways you all celebrate Halloween?

Riddle: ...Halloween, huh.

Riddle: In my hometown, typically young children would gather in the plaza and hold a 'Fun Party.'

Jamil: Why do you sound so detached?

Riddle: That's because I've only ever attended it once. So I can't speak much about it.

Riddle: The one thing that left an impression on me was the 'Apple Bobbing.'

Floyd: Goldfish-chan, what's that...Apple....whatchamacallit? That sure sounds real tasty~

Riddle: It's a traditional game that is played in the Rose Kingdom.

Riddle: You fill a large tub with water, and some apples will be tossed in, floating on the surface, which you have to try and catch with your mouth. Of course, you can't use your hands for this.

Jade: That... certainly sounds like a game to be played on the surface.

Azul: Indeed, the moment one lets go of the apple under the sea, it would immediately try to rise to the surface.

Jade: I suppose chasing after the apple could be a game in itself.

Floyd: That actually sounds real interestin'~

Silver: However... is it even possible to catch an apple with one's mouth?

Riddle: They normally use smaller apples rather than the regular ones... but even then it can be difficult.

Jade: Children with bigger physique would have the better advantage in trying to capture the apple in their mouth.

Riddle: Certainly, one would need good jaw strength to match the size of their mouth as well.

Ruggie: In this school, Jade and Floyd definitely have the advantage here.

Ruggie: They're dang huge. With sharp teeth to boot.

Jade: Fufufu, I wonder about that. I would be too shy to open my mouth so wide with people staring at me...

Jade: And I just may not be able to catch the apple in time while bumbling around...

Floyd: I mean, how do ya even decide on who wins in this kinda game?

Riddle: According to our rules, I think the one who manages to catch an apple the quickest would be considered the winner.

Riddle: There are regions in the Land of Pyroxene that play this game as well.

Riddle: Cater said that in his hometown, the winner was decided by who got the most number of apples.

Riddle: I was never able to grasp the technique, and would end up drenched from head to toe...

Riddle: Thinking back on it now though, I suppose the result was never the important part.

Riddle: Having fun, laughing at each other as we all struggle to catch that apple... I think such joys are important.

Jade: Certainly, to be able to see Riddle-san desperately chasing after an apple with his mouth wide open would be quite amus-

Jade: -I mean, would be worth seeing, yes.

Riddle: Just what were you trying to imply...

Kalim: I get what you were trying to say Riddle! It's not about winning or losing, it's all about whether you had fun or not!

Riddle: Yes... that's right.

Kalim: It's kinda different from the Rose Kingdom, the Halloween over at our Land of Hot Sands is real fun too!

Jade: Oh? Does the Land of Hot Sands have it's own peculiar recreational activity as well?

Kalim: Nope! When you say Halloween in the Land of Hot Sands, we mean 'Feast'!

Kalim: That's because in our homeland, to spend time together as we enjoy a splendid feast is what we consider to be the most fun!

Kalim: That's why, when Halloween comes around, the tables are almost overflowing with all kinds of delicacies!

Jamil: We do this so the ghosts that come back can also eat to their heart's content.

Jamil: Sweet, salty spicy... from small appetizers to large platters, we prepare a wide variety of dishes.

Jamil: When Halloween is close, the kitchens are always on full overdrive from the meal prepping alone.

Jade: Someday I would love to feast my eyes on such a sumptuous dining table myself... Are there any staple dishes for the tradition?

Kalim: The star of the Halloween Feast... it's definitely gotta be that dish.

Kalim: What was it again? That dish we bake with vegetables and sauce...

Jamil: Who knows?

Kalim: Ah, your face tells me you know it. C'mon, it's that one! The one with potatoes, eggplants and tomatoes!!

Jade: Is it something like... a lasagna that had the pasta replaced with vegetables instead?

Kalim: Ahh that's actually pretty close to it. It's super delicious when freshly baked.

Azul: I see, it certainly sounds like a dish that would be popular with people who prefer a healthy diet.

Jade: Jamil-san, would you mind telling us the name of the dish?

Jamil: Ha... It's a local specialty called 'Moussaka.'

Kalim: Yeah that! That's the one!

Kalim: When we were younger, even if there was no banquet or feast going on, I'd still ask Jamil to cook it for me time to time!

Jamil: It was quite the mess back then... my parents, and even the other servants would always scold me, telling me that children shouldn't handle fire by themselves.

Kalim: Eh!? That happened??

Jamil: We were still in elementary school after all.

Jamil: It's not like I was already great at cooking from that age... It would've been a big problem if I accidentally set a fire.

Jamil: I can now understand why my parents and the people around me used to get angry whenever I tried.

Kalim: Oof... I'm really sorry about that.

Kalim: But the moussaka you cooked back then was also super delicious! I can still remember the taste...

Kalim: Talking about it got me hankering for it again. Jamil, you gotta make it for me soon!

Azul: I would like to request it as well. It may be a good addition to the Mostro Lounge menu....

Jamil: No.

Kalim: Aww, don't say that Jamil~

Jamil: Moussaka is a very time-consuming dish that needs a lot of ingredients to make, it even needs two kinds of sauces to be prepared for it

Jamil: I don't believe such a dish is a good fit for a cafe.

Jade: From the sounds of it, it seems to be a dish that requires an oven to bake it.

Jade: The oven back at the Lounge isn't quite big... it would be quite difficult to bake enough of it.

Azul: I'm sure there are a number of ways to increase the turnover rate if you cook it all in one big platter.

Ruggie: Octanivelle's the same as ever.

Jade: Fufu... I suppose we can have a nice, long discussion about this once I have tried Jamil's cooking myself.

Jamil: Wait, I never said that I would make it- ...sigh...

Silver: *snore*

Jamil: See, you've bored Silver to sleep while you were hyped up about making profits.

Jade: Oh my, this won't do. My apologies for derailing the conversation.

Jade: Excuse me for a moment, Silver-san, Would you please wake up?

Silver: ...ha! I apologize. You want to know the traditions of Halloween at the Valley of Thorns, was it.

Jade: Yes, if you would please.

Silver: Halloween... all I can remember is my fath- I mean, Lilia-senpai going all out on dressing up for the occasion.

Riddle: As I recall, both of you are from the same province.

Jade: I see, so even the people from the Valley of Thorns would have costumes... It seems to be a standard custom no matter where you are from on the surface.

Silver: Do merfolk not have costumes?

Jade: We do not have a habit of wearing clothes in the first place.

Jade: But it is precisely because of that fact that I find wearing the many different kind of clothes from the surface quite interesting. Silver: As a matter of fact, it is quite difficult to say that dressing up was a fun memory... I shudder even now when I recall it.

Floyd: Ehh~ Wasn't pancake devilfish-chan even smaller back then?

Silver: Oh, there is not much of a change in terms of appearance, however...

Silver: It was the one and only Halloween that I had seen Lilia-senpai in such a fearsome visage....

Jade: My, that does sound very curious indeed, since he prides himself on being quite cute, and it's hard to disagree.

Silver: Lilia-senpai's threatening demeanor when dressed up like that...

Silver: Sebek who had witnessed the horror with me was also trembling in fear...

Silver: The two of us were so afraid to fall asleep that we promised to stay up all night together.

Jade: Oh my, if I were to be exposed to such horror, I would surely let out a loud scream myself...

Floyd: Ehh~ What the heck, I wanna see that too~ We've been together since the day we were born and I haven't got 'ta see that even once!

Ruggie: So~? Did you both end up greetin' the dawn with tears?

Silver: No, I ended up falling asleep at some point.

Riddle: As I thought...

Silver: Apparently, Sebek had to hold off on going to the toilet the whole night, so the next morning he was angry at me and called me a traitor.

Ruggie: Wow~ Even Sebek had such a cute side to him huh.

Jamil: Well then Ruggie, how is Halloween over at your place?

Ruggie: Me? I don't think our Halloween over at the slums would make much of a reference for ya.

Jade: Now now, I find any and every aspect of culture on the surface to be interesting, so please do enlighten me.

Ruggie: Well, I don't mind tellin' ya, but don't go gettin' all weirded out after hearin' it...

Ruggie: "Trick or Treat" is where ya get pranked if ye don't hand out the candy yeah?

Ruggie: But back at my place, it ain't anythin' as cute as that.

Ruggie: If candy isn't handed over, you'd be marked until ye do... it's a 24 hour candy collectin' endurance event! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wow that was long, really long, I almost died but I did it for y’all ;-; Note: Jamil and Kalim actually call the dish “Munazzara” but I believe that is another term for ‘Moussaka’ in jpn, I changed it so it’s easier to place. Part 1 Part 3

[wallgirl]

The Little Nereid Part 9

Record of Ragnarok fanfiction

Poseidon x OC

Word count: 2,800

Dynamene, youngest of the 50 Nereids, has lived most of her adolescence as a servant alongside her sisters at Poseidon’s palace. But with her coming-of-age birthday and other developments, what she initially thought was just admiration of her master blossoms into something stronger and more passionate… and painful.

Categories and warnings: Romance, angst, unrequited love, coming-of-age, earn-your-happy-ending, slow-burn (ish); no sexual content. There will be some graphic violence in the future.

Updated regularly, multiple times a week; will have about ?15? parts total.

---

"Dynamene," a soft voice nudged her hours later. "Dynamene, wake up, we're almost there."

Dynamene opened her eyes groggily and looked up at Eione, whose shoulder she was still leaning against. "Huh?"

"Home; we're almost home." Eione smiled and drew back the carriage curtains to show her, letting in the bright sunshine. Dynamene sat up, quickly awoken by the warmth of the sunlight, and pressed herself to the window.

The rocky terrain and stormy weather had completely disappeared, giving way to rolling green hills lined with thick forest and sandy bluffs. The sky was clear without a cloud in sight, and Dynamene drank in the view of the pristine ocean under the bright blue sky. The gentle waves broke with crests like diamonds in the bright sun, before fading back into the cerulean waters. Dynamene's face lit up and she turned back to Eione, beaming. "It's just as beautiful as I remember."

"Isn't it?" Eione grinned. "We're nearly there. Just around this bend..."

The line of carriages rattled down the well-worn dirt road, turning around a thick grove of fig trees before beginning the final descent down a steep hill.

At the bottom was a sandy delta, flanked on the far side by a gorgeous palace made of sandstone and marble. The palace looked as if it had grown out of the bluffs as a natural extension of it, the exterior asymmetrical and rough but pleasing in a busy way. Sea glass in every color wrapped in whimsical patterns around the pillars and windows before winding down to the ground and forming a mosaic walkway to the entrance.

The ocean flowed into a cerulean lagoon before the palace, where the mouths of several small rivers met. Around the lagoon were large tide pools in which Dynamene could spot people and merfolk playing and basking.

There was a sudden shout from the distance, and the people began to stop what they were doing, looking towards the carriages. Then there was a loud chorus of calls and cheer, and the people scrambled in every which way. A trumpet sounded; now everyone knew that the Nereids were nearly home.

Before Dynamene could say anything, a booming voice came from the oceanside. "Greetings, Nereids!" She turned towards the other window to see a parade of merpeople headed by a handsome merman keeping pace with the carriage, leisurely leaping out of the water to speak to them. "Welcome home!"

Eione leaned over Dynamene and threw the window up. "Aye, merfolk! I thought I smelled fish!"

"Nay, Nereid," the merman replied smoothly. "It is yourself, I reckon." He gave Eione a mischievous wink.

Eione feigned a gasp of offense and flicked her hand. A spray of ocean water splashed the merman's face, but he laughed easily. "We will tell your parents of your arrival. Welcome home!" With that, he and the rest of the group sped ahead down along the beach, their tails glimmering in reds and greens under the surface of the water.

"Ah, that slimy fish," Eione tutted, but she tossed her hair in amusement. "It's so good to be back." She took in a deep breath before exhaling dramatically. "I can breathe here, you know?"

"Yes. Yes, I do," Dynamene whispered, unpinning her travel cloak. It was if the weight of the world had fallen off her shoulders with the fabric, and she began to help Eione get their bags sorted.

Minutes later, they had arrived before the palace. Beings of all sorts had gathered to greet their arrival with much a-do; fresh-water nymphs, dryads, fauns, satyrs, and merfolk. Familiar faces were on every side, and Dynamene lost track of the number of hugs she'd clasped with people she hadn't seen since goodness knows when. Old jokes were exchanged, and new ones made, as the crowd helped the Nereids unload their luggage from the carriages.

"Dynamene!" Actaea called from where a dryad was helping her lift down a trunk. "Look who it is!"

Dynamene turned and erupted once again into a wide smile. A boy with messy chestnut hair and freckles like hers was running down the path from the palace towards the group. "Dynamene!" He shouted. "Actaea! Eione! Everyone!" He flung himself into Dynamene's arms, and she squeezed him tight, rocking from side to side.

"Nerites," she whispered happily, taking the scent of seawater in her little brother's hair. "It's so good to see you again."

He pulled back to look at her with a frown. "You've gotten taller again. But I thought I would get taller than you someday?"

Dynamene laughed and ruffled his hair lovingly. "I think you have a few more centuries yet, little brother."

"That's fine," he replied. "As long as it happens someday." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards one of the inlets. "I can't believe you're finally here! Even Elasippus came to greet you all today, too!"

Dynamene knelt down at the edge of the small bluff. Basking in the shallow water of the pool was a young merman, barely out of boyhood, with strawberry blond hair strung with ocean droplets and a shimmering green tail. He looked up in surprise at Dynamene. "Hello, Dynamene."

"Elasippus!" She smiled at her brother's friend warmly. "It's been too long. Your tail's gotten longer, hasn't it?"

"Um, yes," he answered shyly, fins curling back and forth. "I just thought I'd come and say hello, since I've known you all for so long..."

"Don't be awkward, Elas," Nerites sighed. "We've been best friends for ages; it's okay to talk to my sisters."

Dynamene laughed. "It's okay, it's been a few years. It's still weird to see that you two have gotten bigger, though," she sighed. "I guess I still remember when you were both little tadpoles, crying when the sand got in your eyes."

"Hey, we're not crybabies anymore!" Nerites protested. "Actually, me and Elas have been exploring a lot recently. We found this underwater cave that's full of oysters, and we've been collecting them to harvest. Some of them even have pearls. We're gonna go again today, actually. If you want, you should come with us!"

"When? Now?" She asked in disbelief as Nerites pulled on her hand.

"Yeah! Come on!"

"Well..." She looked back at her other sisters, who were still bringing the luggage in.

"Go ahead, Dyna," Ianeira called. "We'll join you in a little bit."

"Scratch that," Eione jumped in, boldly tossing off her peplos and chiton. "I'm going with now. Come on, Dynamene! Last one into the water is rotten caviar!" She took a running start and dove head-first into the rippling water.

"Well, if it's alright with everyone else," Dynamene sighed dramatically, undoing her own peplos. "I suppose..."

And bolstered on by the happy exclamations of her brother, she dove in.

---

Hours later, Dynamene pulled herself back up onto shore, breathless from laughter. "Here," she tossed a pearl to Nerites. "Almost dropped that one."

The other Nereids broke the surface close-by, laughing and wringing out their hair. "Did you see how fast Thoe dissipated when that ray went by?" Eione teased. "I thought she was a cloud of silt for a moment."

"Hey, those things have barbs, you know," Thoe sniffed as she smoothed her wet bangs away from her forehead.

"I wish we could've seen some whales," Callianassa sighed as she finished reforming her hands. She gave her fingers a graceful wiggle. "It's been forever since I've heard a whale call."

"There are a lot of whales at the next cove down. They came here for the birthing season," Elasippus told her as he carefully pulled a strand of seaweed from his hair. "We can show you later if you want."

"We gave a few of them nicknames," Nerites added, looking up from where he was admiring his satchel full of freshly harvested pearls. "Two babies have been born so far; we named one Fig and the other Olive."

"That's so... unimaginative," Dynamene teased him good-naturedly, and he splashed her with water.

"You come up with better names, then!"

"I will," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I bet I can come up with better names than both of you," Ianeira said, splashing them both. "Just give me until after supper."

"Speaking of supper, I'm starving," Eione groaned. She pulled her sandy chiton back on over her head before giving her hair one last shake. "What's on the menu?"

"Why don't we go inside and find out?" Ianeira said. "It must be nearly time to eat, anyways."

"Sounds good to me," Dynamene affirmed, gathering her clothes back up to get dressed. She paused for a moment, scouring the sand.

"Looking for something, Dynamene?" Elasippus asked.

"No, it's fine, just found it!" Dynamene sighed with relief. She brushed the sand away from where it had lightly blown over her bracelet. "False alarm." She quickly drew it back onto her wrist, carefully dusting any remaining sand off.

"That's pretty," Nerites said in awe. "Where did you get it?"

"Oh, um," Dynamene blushed, smoothing her wet hair away from where it clung to her neck. "Lord... Lord Poseidon gave it to me not long ago, as a birthday present."

"Really?" He asked in surprise. "Wow. He didn't get you guys jewelry, did he?" He asked the other sisters tactlessly.

The sisters exchanged a silent look for half a moment before Ianeira cleared her throat. "Come on, everyone! I'm sure Mother and Father would like to see us at long last as well."

The rest of the girls finished dressing and began to make their way up the beach towards the glittering palace. Nerites said goodbye to Elasippus and ran after them.

"Dynamene, are you coming?" Actaea asked, pausing to look back at her younger sister. Dynamene was still carefully braiding her hair.

"I'll be there in a moment!" Dynamene called back, waving her on. "I just want to finish braiding my hair before it dries again. I'll meet up with you guys at the palace."

"Alright, don't be too long!" Actaea disappeared over the sandy hill, leaving Dynamene alone with Elasippus.

Elasippus remained for a moment, watching in fascination as Dynamene wove her hair back into two braids. "Beautiful," he whispered.

"Mm?" Dynamene looked up.

"The bracelet," he said hastily. "Lord Poseidon was very thoughtful. It's gorgeous."

"Isn't it?" Dynamene sighed and held out her hand so the merman could take a better look. "It's mother-of-pearl, my favorite."

"So it sounds like you get along with him, huh?" Elasippus swam in an idle circle. "That's good. I hear he's not so easy to be around."

"No, he's not," Dynamene admitted. "But, you know..." She remembered the times on the beach with him, and the way he had brushed her hair back. "He's not so bad, deep down." She began to blush.

"I see," Elasippus said slowly, watching Dynamene's face turn pink. "If you say so." He turned to look at the setting sun. "You and your sisters are really brave, you know. I don't think I could ever live with him. Not after what happened with his brother."

Dynamene stared at him for a moment blankly. Then she realized what he was referring to - Poseidon's killing of Adamas.

She stared back down at the ocean. "I suppose so. I guess I can see how that would make people... uncomfortable."

"Does it bother you?" Elasippus asked earnestly, tail flicking.

Dynamene bit her lower lip. What happened with Adamas was justified, wasn't it? I don't know all that was said between them, but Adamas did want to start a civil war, right? So... Is Poseidon really in the wrong for what he did? "No. I... I think he did the right thing," she said, but her voice was shaky.

Elasippus sensed her discomfort and frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things awkward. It's none of my business. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's alright," Dynamene said quickly. "It's an honest question. I suppose I just don't really think about it much. We'd only been at the palace for a century when it happened, and I was still just a child, so my sisters didn't say much about it around me." Her thoughts went back to that day; what little she remembered of it, that was.

The Nereids had left the palace to picnic on the beach that fateful afternoon. They didn't want any part of Adamas's visit; he was nothing but a jealous troublemaker, and they wanted no part of whatever ill-will he brought.

But when the sound of marble breaking echoed out from the palace, they had rushed back out of concern for their master. Dynamene remembered tagging along behind Actaea, barely able to see past the rest of her sisters as they crowded into the great hall where Poseidon had received Adamas...

"No, don't look," Actaea had said suddenly, covering Dynamene's eyes with her hands. "Don't look, Dynamene." Her sister's voice had wavered in horror. She had immediately steered Dynamene back out of the room, rushing her as fast as she could go. But Dynamene's ears were free, and she heard the rest of her sisters gasp and scream at the sight that greeted them in the great hall.

They hadn't been expected to clean up the mess. Poseidon had ordered them to leave the body where it lay, and continue on with their day as if nothing had happened. The other unseen servants of the palace took care of Adamas's body and the wreckage, and the following day, the great hall was spotless. The wall had been repaired, the table replaced, and no sign remained of the gory mess that Poseidon had made out of his older brother.

Dynamene shuddered at the memories. "Even now, no one speaks of it, especially at Lord Poseidon's palace. That's what he wanted, so we must obey. I don't think we would talk about it even if we could, though. It was so brutal." She swallowed. No one likes remembering that day. That was the first time we truly realized how powerful, and dangerous, Poseidon was.

"That's awful," Elasippus sympathized. "I hope it doesn't haunt you too much."

"No," Dynamene sighed. "No, I guess I owe Actaea for that. I never saw the... aftermath of Poseidon and Adamas's argument. I hear it was a horrible sight."

The two of them sat in silence for a while longer, neither of them knowing what to say. "I'm sorry," Dynamene said finally, getting to her feet. "I didn't mean to make things so dreary."

"No, not at all," Elasippus said quickly. "It's good to talk about things like that sometimes, right? If you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen. It doesn't bother me too much."

Dynamene smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you, Elas. I'm glad my brother is friends with you."

Now it was Elasippus whose face was pink. "It's... It's nothing much, we just have fun together. I'm glad I got to see you all again today."

"Me too. We should all meet again before we go back to the palace," Dynamene beamed. "I had a lot of fun today."

"I'm glad," Elasippus smiled back. "See you later." He sank back under the amber waves.

"Bye," Dynamene called after him. She watched his tail splash through the surface for a ways before he dove deeper into the water, returning to his underwater home. Left alone with her thoughts once more, she sighed.

I'm sure what Poseidon did was justified, even if it was violent. Over the top, even. Terrifying. But I guess that's just how Poseidon is; why would someone like him hold back? I know he'd never hurt us, at the very least.

She stared out at the setting sun, lost in thought, twisting the bracelet around her wrist.

Poseidon... I hope things are okay back at the palace. I hope the visit with Hades went as well as can be expected.

If you were here, I wonder... What would you say to me? She looked away from the sun's burning orange rays to the ocean. The dark hue of the water brought to mind Poseidon's eyes, so beautiful, yet so often cold and empty. Lately, though... Was it just her imagination, or was there truly life in them when he looked back at her?

 Would you tell me that you don't regret what you did? Even if you'd never harm me, surely there are still times that you hurt others. Or was Adamas an isolated event?

 She sighed before turning to make the journey back to the palace. This trip was meant to be relaxing, and worrying over the past did no good. Surely everyone was wondering where she was by now.

---

Author’s Notes: Another chapter that took on a life of its own. I think it'll work okay, though.

Next chapter is one I've been waiting to write almost since I started this fanfic. So much angst. I can't wait.

[liss-99]

A little rogue from the list, so feel free to skip this, but I’ve always wondered about Sophie’s mother and grandmother.

So, Marjorie and Sophie x a memory of her grandmother/mother or maybe even Sophie x Violet (her daughter)? Whatever catches your fancy :)

From the moment she was born, she was so loved. By her whole family, yes, but especially her mother. Their bond was unbreakable. Her father and three older brothers loved her fiercely, and she them, but Violet Bridgerton loved her mom Sophie more than anyone in the world. 

She would always remember the special bedtime routine her mother had for her, something her brothers didn’t get. When Sophie would tuck little Violet in bed, she would read her a story, and then she would say: 

“Violet repeat after me. I will not be so kind, I forget to be clever,” Sophie would say as she tickled little Violet. 

“I will not be so kind, I fuhget to be clev, clevuh,” Violet would repeat in her little voice. 

“I will not be so clever, I forget to be kind,” Sophie would say with a kiss on the cheek. 

“I will not be so clevuh, I fuhget to me kind.”

“I will never be so polite, I forget my power,” said with a kiss on the other cheek. 

“I will never be so puhwhite, I fuhget my power.”

“I will never wield such power, I forget to be polite,” said with a kiss on the forehead. 

“I will never weeeeeld such power, I fuhget to be puhwhite.”

“Kind, clever, polite, and powerful,” Sophie would say with a final kiss to Violet’s nose, “these are the things I will be.”

“Kind, clevuh, puhwhite, and powerful,” Violet would giggle back, “these are the things I will be.”

This went on every night for years, even as little Violet grew into a young woman. Her mother always wanted her daughter to know she was kind, clever, polite, and powerful. And she was. Violet Bridgerton exuded kindness, never harming even a little bug. Yet, she was clever, and no one ever mistook her kind eyes as dumb, she was more intelligent than all her brothers, and if she’d been able to go to school, she would have likely become a doctor, or a lawyer. 

Violet Bridgerton was also polite, knowing exactly how to greet the lords and ladies, but also empathizing with the maids and servants, those who were not in good fortune. Yet, she was powerful. No man would ever make the mistake of thinking she was a shrinking violet. She had a protective father and three older brothers, but they rarely had to intervene, for Violet was powerful enough for herself. 

It made Sophie so inextricably proud. Her daughter was everything she had ever wanted to be, a vision of grace and beauty yet a force to be reckoned with. 

Many, many years later, when Violet herself was a mother and grandmother, Sophie passed away. It was peaceful and beautiful, the only way she would have wished her mother to exit. 

After the funeral, Violet strolled to the lake near My Cottage, a place her mother loved so much. The autumn chill woke her up out of her grief. The amber sky brought tears to her eyes; her mother had loved those skies so much. She could picture it even now, her mother’s long limbs swimming with her in the water that somehow always felt frozen. She could picture her mother swimming past where any of her or her brother’s feet could touch, dragging them with her, pretending they were merfolk escaping pirates. Violet remembered how she’d complain the whole way out to the lake, that it was too cold, or too early or too anything, but how her mother would simply say there is no such thing as ‘too.’ 

Sitting there, beside that lake under the amber sky, Violet wished she would have asked more questions. She wished she asked her mother how to be. She wished she would’ve asked her mother to write everything down for her. How she wished she would have kept every scrap of paper she watched her mother sign her name Sophie on, because every scrap of her was now taken from Violet. All that was left, were her mother’s backlogged dreams, left just for her. 

She knew her family was probably wondering where she was; knew she should have been with them. But sitting there, beside that lake under the amber sky, Violet could swear she heard her mother talking to her now. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she was still around, singing a lullaby to her now, talking to her, saying: 

“kind, clever, polite, and powerful”

she realized, then, that her mother died, but she wouldn’t stay dead. Sophie would stay alive in Violet’s head. Violet knew better, but she could feel her mother all around. She knew better, but Sophie was still around, and would be, always. 

Taylor Swift Bridgerton One-Shots

wow, I cannot tell you how much I love this prompt and this one-shot. marjorie is such a beautiful tribute song, and Sophie is such a strong character, this made so much sense to me. I hope you love it!

[heavenlyborne]

Does Shalria (or Shakira, according to my autocorrect), establish a hierarchy for other humans, and even other species, or does she lump everyone together, nobles and commoners and merfolk, beneath the Dragons?

// Answered under the cut! (Also I had a good chuckle over your autocorrect, now I’m going to think of this song every time I have to spell her name)

Thank you very much for sending this in, Sparrow! You know, this is actually a really interesting question to think about since humans are generally thought of so lowly by most Celestial Dragons, that even one of their own referring to themselves as such is enough to absolutely infuriate them? There is so little regard for human life amongst their kind that whole countries can be taxed into poverty, allowing the population to suffer, starve and die just so long as the World Nobles can enjoy a little extra wealth. When it comes to Shalria and whether or not she has a hierachy for humans and other species, that would be a resounding yes! Pretty much everybody who doesn’t have celestial blood running through their veins is trash as far as she’s concerned, but humans are the most tolerated race with royalty coming first. They’re nowhere near as good as World Nobles but at least they try, and most seem to do a good job of running their silly little kingdoms and earning tribute for the World Government. Celestial Dragons were once mere royalty themselves before ascending to the Holy Land, so Shalria would at least deign to pretend to be polite if she ever happens to interact with one. When it comes to humans in general, she does tend to lump them all together. Nobles, commoners, peasants and pirates; they’re barely worth the filthy air they breathe and she could care less about any of them other than perhaps a few interesting or amusing individuals who might have gotten her attention. It’s the way she was brought up, with slavery being normalized and anybody unfortunate enough to become a slave is seen as less than human, more akin to some beast of burden or object to be used and discarded once they’re done. Overall she tends to think lowly of many humans regardless of skin colour or where they come from, paying more attention to things like wealth, mannerisms and status. The reason? She literally doesn’t consider herself to be human, actually believing herself to be a living god much like most other Celestial Dragons. Who cares where you come from or what you look like so long as you’re doing what you’re meant to? A good human is supposed to do as they’re told and that’s that. Underneath humans come other races. Longarms and Longlegs are human as far as she’s concerned, just uglier with freaky-looking arms and/or legs. Mink are considered to be animals but just as intelligent as humans, perhaps being respected a little more because they’re comfortably removed enough from humanity plus tend to be capable servants. They’re strong, fierce and can be wonderfully loyal much like her own father’s servant in Saladin who is a Rough Collie Dog Mink, having served the Rosward Family for nearly 40 years. Ranking below humans and the Mink Tribe are Fishfolk and Merfolk. To Shalria they are more disturbing being somewhere between human and animal, plus Fisher Tiger was responsible for the attack on the Holy Land of Mary Geoise when she was a young girl. She remembers that night all too well, how high the fires rose and threatened to overwhelm their household while countless slaves escaped into the night. It was close to the time her mother passed away and since then, Shalria tends to subconsciously associate their kind with negative experiences. Giants and Tontatta are considered interesting, with the former being thought of as exceptional servants due to their legendary size and strength while the little dwarfs are thought of as endearing but stupid due to being so easily ruled by the Ancient Donquixotes.

[zebrabaker]

The Mermaid, A MLB Oneshot

THIS IS A ONESHOT, DO NOT ASK FOR MORE!

Adrien was bored. He was in yet another lesson, and his father was expecting him to spend time with Princess Chloe later. Better her than Princess Lila, at least. Finally, Madame Mendelieve closed her book, and headed for the door. Adrien sat still until she was gone, before jumping up out of his seat. He stretched his back and ran for the door that lead to the servant’s passages. He ran along the narrow, winding paths, before reaching the small courtyard where his best friend, Nino, was practicing his guitar.

“Hey man! How were lessons?” Nino adjusted his hat and looked up at him, smiling. This was why Adrien liked Nino. He didn’t treat him like a prince, but like a friend. It was refreshing.

“Boring as ever.” Adrien huffed, and joined his friend in the bench.

“Well I have some good news! Captain Theo has brought back something awesome from his latest trip! You’ll never guess what it is.”  Nino smirked and plucked a string.

“What? Another treasure chest?” Adrien scoffed.

“Nope. An actual mermaid!” Adrien froze. A mermaid? No way.

“Be realistic, Nino. Mermaids are just myths.”

“No! I saw this one myself! We can go see it tomorrow morning, I’ll set it up. It’s gonna be so cool!” Nino bounced, excited.

“Alright, alright. For now, let’s head in; it’s almost time for lunch.” Adrien gave Nino a hand up, and the two reentered the palace

X0X0X

Marinette swam back, assessing the glass that held her. She flicked her tail as she thought, before nodding. She angled her shoulders, braced her arms, and slashed her tail down. Her body jetted through the water, and she rammed against the glass and bounced off. With a growl, she watched the glass. Nothing. She had rammed the glass dozens of times and nothing had happened! A weak chuckle came from the outside of her tank, and she glared at the human leaning against the wall across from her enclosure.

“That won’t work, little fish. The glass is bulletproof. No matter how many times you ram into it, it won’t even crack. You may as well rest. The prince will be here to see you in the morning.” He smirked at her before strolling away. She had to get home. She couldn’t stay here! Without her, the sea would die! She swam back, assessed the glass, and readied herself again.

X0X0X

Adrien followed Nino deep into the basement of the palace. They weren’t near the old dungeons, but he still felt uneasy.

“How much further?” He hissed to Nino.

“Just through here. C’mon!” Nino grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the doorway into a dark room. Nino flipped the lights on, and Adrien glanced around. One wall was glass, and looked like an aquarium. The bottom of the tank was coated in sand, with pearls of various sizes and colors scattered about. There were a few strands of seaweed swaying in the water, and the largest clam shell he had ever seen was sitting open in the center. It looked like it could host a mermaid, but that was just it. There was no mermaid. Adrien turned to Nino and sighed.

“I told you, Nino, mermai- “Adrien was cut off when he heard a large thunk from the other side of the glass. He wheeled about, and felt his jaw drop.

Floating on the other side of the glass was an honest to god mermaid. Her hair was black, and her tail a vivid pink, almost red. Her eyes, which glared hatefully at him, were a shimmering blue. Her skin was paler than a pearl, and she had a splattering of freckles. She pounded a fist against the glass, and he realized she had been making odd sounds at them.

“Whoa. She’s…” Adrien trailed off, unsure of what to say. Lovely did not fit, nor did beautiful. She was flawless.

“Creepy? Yeah. I mean, it’s pretty and all that, but something about it just sets me on edge.” Nino shuddered. Adrien glanced at his friend, confused. She was not creepy! She was the most perfect thing he had ever seen. He glanced back at her and sighed. She was swimming away now, tail slashing through the water.

“Where is she going?” He asked Nino.

“It keeps trying to break the glass. It won’t work, though. The glass is bullet proof.” Nino knocked against the glass, smirking. “Just think, the kingdom of Agreste has it’s own personal mermaid. I hear that their singing can convince men to throw themselves overboard. Wanna see if it’ll sing for us?” Nino pulled his guitar from his back, and strummed a cord. Suddenly, the mermaid was there, face and hands pressed up against the glass. She was staring at Nino with her pupils blown wide. He continued to play, a small shanty he had learned from the sailors down by the docks, and the mermaid began to hum.

X0X0X

Marinette would never admit, but she loved human music. They could not sing, not like her people, so they had made things to do it for them. The darker human was using one right now, pulling at strings and watching her. She began to hum, wanting him to play more. When he did not stop, when she began to sing in her mother tongue.

“Oh, the waves roll low

And the waves roll high,

And so, it goes,

Under a bright blue endless sky.

Waves try to measure,

The days that we treasure,

Wave hello and wave goodbye.”

It was an ancient lullaby, one that every merfolk heard from their parents at some point as a baby. The humans were staring at her, wide eyed. The pale one hit the darker one on the arm, and said something she could not hear. The darker one gulped and began to play again. Marinette beamed and quickly thought of another lullaby, one Queen Anarka had taught her the last time she and her children had come to visit.

“Hush now, mo stoirin,

Close your eyes and sleep.

Waltzing the waves,

Diving the deep.

Stars are shining bright,

The wind is on the rise.

Whispering words, of long-lost lullabies.

Oh, won’t you come with me?

Where the moon is made of gold.

And in the morning sun,

We’ll be sailing.

Oh, won’t you come with me?

Where the ocean meets the sky.

And as the clouds roll by,

We’ll sing the song of the sea.”

Marinette held the last note, and sighed when it was done. She loved that song. It sounded better when her friends acted as her chorus, but it was okay on her own. The door opened behind the two humans, and let in the one who had caught her. He was tall and had dark hair, wearing a great deal of dark fabric. The two smaller humans spoke with him, before leaving with him. Marinette sighed. She hated being alone. Merfolk were social creatures, almost always together. Worst of all was that the small space she was kept in was dark, with no lava pockets or glow fish to give her heat and light. She shivered, and swam into the seaweed patch. Her family would get her out of here soon.

X0X0X

They returned the next day, the pale one and the dark one. This, time, neither carried an instrument. Instead, the sat and stared at her. The pale one began to sing, and the dark one reluctantly joined him. Marinette recognized the song. It was a love song! How dare this puny human try to woo her! She glared and sat down inside the large clam shell, turning her back. She was engaged, as any merfolk with eyes could tell. Of course, human’s might not be able to, but she still would not sing with them. She sat with her back turned until they left. She would be out of here soon enough.

X0X0X

Adrien burst into Nino’s room, beaming.

“Whoa, Adrien! Is everything okay, dude?” Nino stood from his bed, setting aside his headphones.

“I just had the best idea, Nino! A festival! We call for the most talented musicians in the land, and we have them perform with her! We can move her cage into the square! It’ll be great!” Adrien was bouncing in place.

“That’s a great idea, dude! We’ll have to ask Captain Theo, since he’s the one who caught it though.” Nino grabbed his headphones and headed for the door. “Let’s go ask!”

X0X0X

He had said yes, and preparations began at once. Adrien commissioned a large tank, big enough that she could swim around. Nino began sending invites to the best musicians in all of Agreste. Soon, the big day came. The tank was placed in the square, and the mermaid had been moved while she slept. She had woken up dazed and confused, swimming about and looking out at the square. She had caught sight of the water on the other end of the square, and had been staring at it ever since.

X0X0X

She knew humans were foolish, but this was extreme. She was within just a few yards of the ocean; she could hear it calling out for her! She hummed, low in the back of her throat, and waited. After just a few minutes, she heard the reply.

“We cannot reach you, princess! You are too far! Try to move closer!” It was Sir Pierre, head of the guard. She looked around, frantic. She was so close! She just had to move this tank! She rammed her shoulder against the side, and growled when nothing happened. She tried, again and again, to move closer, but all she did was slosh water over the edge of her tank.

“I can’t! The cage I am in is too heavy! I will distract the humans while you look for a way to get me out!” Marinette swept around the cage, looking at all the humans staring at her. She saw several in a line, each holding an instrument. The pale one who visited her was standing on a platform, facing the crowd. He began to speak, and one of the humans in line stepped forward. Two others came over and quickly assembled a device next to her tank. Once the machine was all together, he smirked at the crowd before pushing several buttons. The machine began to emit horrible sounds, but the humans seemed to enjoy it. She slammed her hands over her ears, and shook her head, trying to block out the noise. It sounded like the machine was trying to make music, but was failing. Horribly. It was dull and lifeless, lacking soul. After a few seconds of this torture, the pale one spoke again. The one controlling the machine yelled at him, before stomping off. The two humans form before disassembled the machine, and another human stepped forward. This one had vivid hair and dramatic clothes. It strummed at it’s guitar, and began to sing.

“Record scratch; Steve Miller Band, Tattooed necks and tattooed hands. Oh, how don’t you drown in a rain storm? Fresh regrets, vodka sweats, the sun is down and we’re bound to get exhausted and so far from the shore.” Marinette trilled when the human began the song. She knew this one from a few fishing boats playing it while they were working! She gladly joined in, shimmying her tail to the beat.

“You’re never gonna get it, I’m a hazard to myself, I’ll break it to you easy This is hell, this is hell! You’re looking and whispering; you think I’m someone else. This is hell, yes. Literal hell!” She struggled to form the words, as she did not speak the human tongue. “We don’t have to talk, we don’t have to dance, we don’t have to smile, we don’t have to make friends. It’s so nice to meet you, let’s never meet again! We don’t have to talk; we don’t have to dance; we don’t have to dance!” By the end of the song, Marinette was panting, and had almost been distracted from why she was doing this. A few other artists tried to get her to sing, but only one succeeded, a small girl with a violin. After her refusal of another artist, she saw a flash of teal out of the corner of her eye. She twirled in her tank, pretending to be jubilant, but really trying to make sure she hadn’t just imagined what she saw. There he was, hiding in a corner! He winked at her and she couldn’t help but trill.

The pale one was smiling at her, like she was a sea-lion who had just done some cute trick. How ridiculous. Another human came up to him, with long hair the same color as the pale ones. She wore a dress that trailed behind her, and sneered at Marinette. The pale one smiled at her, and the female said something to him. He nodded, and she approached the tank. She snapped her fingers, and a red-haired human approached, carrying a stool. The blonde sat, and began to sing. Marinette slammed her hands over her ear frills and whined. The girl couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket! The blonde snarled, and slammed a hand against the tank, causing ripples in the water that disoriented Marinette. She shook her head, trying to think clearly. The blonde stormed off, and the pale one addressed the crowd before chasing after her.

X0X0X

This was not going how he had planned! The mermaid was supposed to sing with all of the best musicians Agreste had to offer. Instead, she had sung with Jagged Stone and no-one else. He had finally decided to let the commoners try, but only a small girl with a violin managed to get the mermaid to perform. He had panicked, and turned it into a contest. Chloe had then decreed that she could easily make the creature perform, and had begun singing a song from her homeland. The mermaid acted as if she was in physical pain, and Chloe had thrown a fit before storming off. He had told the audience they were going to give the mermaid a break, and chased after her. It had taken half an hour to calm her down and drag her back. By the time he had gotten back onstage, most of the crowd had left, with only a few bored teens still gathered around the tank.

“Your Highness, may I try?” A tall boy with hair that faded to teal at the tips was standing by the stage, gazing up at Adrien hopefully.

“You can try, but there’s no guarantee she’ll respond.” Adrien shrugged. This boy didn’t even have an instrument that he could tell, but it couldn’t hurt. The boy nodded, and headed for the tank, where the mermaid was watching him approach. The boy sat on the stool Chloe had abandoned and smiled at the mermaid.

“Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly, lavender’s green. When I am King dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.” The mermaid beamed and twisted about as if twirling.

“Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?” The mermaid sung back, not in the stilted words of before, but flowing and smooth. There was a challenging look in her eye, one that was matched by that in the boys.

“T’was my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.” He shot back, smiling. The two began to sing in unison, and it entrapped Adrien, making him unable to look away.

“Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work. Some to the plow, dilly, dilly, some to the fork. Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn, while you and I, dilly, dilly, keep our selves warm. Lavender’s green, dilly, dilly, lavender’s blue, if you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.”

“Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, and the lambs play. We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm’s way.” The mermaid took over, placing one of her hands flat against the glass, while the other was fisted over her heart. “I like to dance, dilly, dilly, I like to sing. When I am queen, dilly, dilly, you’ll be my king. Who told me so, dilly, dilly, who told me so? I told myself so, dilly, dilly, I told me so.” She pulled out the last note, and Adrien was shocked to see the usually hateful mermaid, smile tenderly at the blue-haired boy. Then, there was a crash from behind him. Adrien wheeled around, trying to find the source, only to see a broken vase laying in the road.

By the time he turned back around, the blue-haired boy had thrown something into the tank. The mermaid grabbed it, and leapt out of the tank, flinging it about her shoulders. She landed not as a girl with the tail of a fish, but a seal. The boy scooped the seal into his arms, and ran for the water. He tossed the animal in, before turning to face Adrien.

“Take her again and we will sink your nation like we did Atlantis!” He bellowed, before diving into the water. Adrien ran to the edge of the dock, and waited, frantic. The boy was human, he would need to breathe eventually. He stood, frantically searching the water, before he saw them. The two were holding each other tight, wrapped in each-others arms. She was back to being a mermaid, her tail flicking just below the surface. When the young prince finally dragged his gaze to the boy, he was shocked. He now had a tail, longer than hers, that shimmered green and teal. The two were speaking in a language he did not understand, but from the way his hands cupped her cheeks it was a private moment. The mermaid flashed him a furious glare, before diving into the ocean.

“What just happened?” He asked.

“Dude.” Nino muttered. “I think your pet just ran away.

[royalreef]

@chainsxwsmile​ inquired:  “Been meanin’ to ask ye! Yer ‘eatin’ serfs’... are they servants that bring ye food?” Hopefully they weren’t servants meant to be eaten. That’d truly be an unfortunate position. — (Bruce is a little curious lol)

      “Of course they are not meant to be eaten, that would be silly!” So says the mer who had absolutely no problem with cannibalism and offering her closest friends the meat of fellow merfolk to eat literally yesterday --- but this is Miranda. These things are intricately different to her, and her eating serfs are entirely unrelated to any unfortunate habits that might be practiced here or there.

      “Nor do they bring food - that would be my serving serfs and waiter serfs! A very different role indeed. My eating serfs do exactly as suggested by the name. They eat for me! I need not have to do any of it myself, nor taste food that might not be up to the standards of my royal tongue, and I have much more important things to tend to during mealtimes anyhow. Such as the rather intricate task of managing any visitors who I might have, or even other guests and our host.”

       A lie. A wonderful, sweet little lie, that was so practiced by now that it darted off her lips with a smile and a grin of her serrated fangs. She would never openly confess to what the eating serfs really were for. Not even among her own people, of which the reasoning was an open secret, and especially not on land, where no one understood a thing about her kingdom. How many years had it been? Too many to count. Nor would she ever properly confess that, she too, needed to eat like everyone else.

[magma-cjay]

https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D14357897/

https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D14358082/

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(note: omg guys I love all your contributions to the AU! I like seeing how y'all add your own stuff with references to minor characters to help flesh it out more ❤)

The commotion on the harpies’ island did not go unheard, neither in the sky – or in the sea. For beneath the ocean merely a few miles from their home, lay the undersea domain of Jotaro, prince of the Joestars, and next in line to the throne after his grandfather King Joseph, for his father Sadao was nowhere to be found.

He took his duties as ruler-to-be with earnest loyalty, and was willing to defend his home if need be. And so, when word reached his kingdom that a battle between harpies and merfolk had taken place, he knew it was serious business.

“Koichi, you are the most reliable and trustworthy of my aides,” he told his small, green-tailed assistant. “I would have preferred to check on this problem myself, but this kingdom needs my guidance, and I have faith in you to be able to learn more about the situation. Take care, Koichi.”

“You can count on me, Prince Kujo,” he said earnestly but with a hint of mild reluctance. He was willing to be of Jotaro’s aid…but he’d also heard terrifying tales about harpies, some even from Jotaro himself, and he knew that they could be dangerous.

“There is one of the sky-folk that I’d like you to find,” Jotaro added. “His name is Giorno…and he is particularly important as he has ties to our family.”

“I’ll do my best,” Koichi replied, as he swam off. Behind him, Jotaro grumbled to himself in exasperation, as there was never a shortage of responsibilities being a leader-in-training, and this fiasco with the harpies was yet another unwelcome addition to his list.

“Yare yare, give me a break,” he sighed.

It was late afternoon when Koichi arrived to the island after a long, long day of swimming. He searched out a river to head upstream, and soon found a route that let him go deeper into the island. "Hello…? Anyone there?“ Koichi called out toward the trees uneasily as he swam upstream. "I’m looking for the one called Giorno…hello? Anyb–”

His calls were suddenly interrupted by a shadowy figure that dropped from the sky, and Koichi had barely any time to respond before he felt poweful arms seize his tail and lifted him screaming out of the water.

“WHO ARE YOU, FISH BOY?” Abbacchio growled, grabbing the panicked merman by his tail and holding him up like a prize catch. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ON OUR ISLAND?”

“I DIDN’T MEAN ANYTHING BAD!” he wailed in panic as he struggled in Abba’s grasp. “I’m just here looking for the one they call…Giorno!”

“Let the child go, Abbacchio,” said a voice from behind. Abba turned around and saw Giorno, who had landed behind him with scarcely a sound, and Bruno, whose wing had just recently recovered, alighting on a branch overhead.

“Please don’t hurt me,” Koichi pleaded to the trio of harpies. “I’m not here to hurt anyone, I’m just here to look for the one called Giorno. Prince Jotaro sent me. Also…I’m not a child, I’m just very small,” he added in a complaining tone.

“Giorno? Oh, that’s me,” Giorno replied. “Put him down, Abba, I believe this one is a friend. I’ve heard of the Joestars before.”

Abba complied with an angry grumble and dropped Koichi back into the water, before flying off and perching on a branch to join Bruno above, and noticed the absence of a bandage on the other harpy’s wing.  “How’s your wing, Bruno?” Abba asked his companion.

“It’s healed very nicely, though I haven’t tried flying much lately,” Bruno replied with a smile. “Ris doesn’t want me tiring myself out too much.”

Abba laughed dryly. “I guess we’re both stuck with a fish then,” he mumbled, knowing the feeling all too well from Prosciutto and his enthusiastic admiration.

Below in the water, Koichi resurfaced with a relieved gasp. “You’ve heard of the Joestars before?”

“Indeed,” Giorno replied. “As strange and unlikely as it may seem…one of my two fathers was a Joestar as well.”

Koichi scoffed in confusion. “Wait, two fathers? Also, the Joestars are merfolk, Giorno? From what I’d heard, our races couldn’t interbreed! We’re completely different species!” he explained.

“Yes, but my other father was a harpy like me, and a magic-user like myself. However, he’d used his power for darker deeds, and made a powerful rival with the first king of the Joestar clan…and through black magic beyond even my comprehension, I was born of both their blood. And though I took after my feathered father…I was born with this.” He pulled down his sash, exposing the back of his neck, revealing a distinctive star-shaped mark on his skin.

Koichi gasped in amazement. “The Joestar mark…on a harpy? It…can’t be!”

In the meantime, further off into the forest, Zucchero strained angrily at the bamboo bars of his cage. He’d given Bruno’s flock what they wanted, but much to his anger the three young ones had refused to release him, and kept him as some sort of plaything. The nerve, how dare they kept a right-hand servant of the Crimson King himself, locked up as some sort of pet? He seethed at the very thought.

His anger subsided as he noticed a splintered bamboo shaft on the flooring of his cage. He grinned maliciously to himself as he realized his opportunity.

Pounding on the broken shaft, it wasn’t long before he broke open the bottom of the cage, struggling his way out as though if he was hatching a second time. Soon he was free, and he stretched his wings eagerly after having been cooped up for days.

He knew he couldn’t just return, though. No harpy was foolish enough to confront the Crimson King after a failure, unless they wanted to get all their feathers painfully plucked out and tossed into the sea to drown…Zucchero shuddered at the prospect. Perhaps he could offer him some sort of gift, in consolation?

He glanced down at Giorno’s hut and rubbed his hands wickedly. What better gift could he give, than something of the healer’s spells, which Diavolo greatly coveted?

He flew downward to the hut, looking out for any of the flock, should they return. Tiptoeing his way into the healer’s clinic, he rummaged about searching for something of value, until his eyes laid a glance upon Giorno’s book of spells, which lay on one end of the table…perfect. All the knowledge it contained within…

“Hey, who’s there?” stirred Formaggio as he woke up from his cup of water, which rested on the table on the other end. He scarcely had enough time to react when the intruder turned to leave, and in his rush, knocked over Formaggio’s cup with his wing, sending the tiny merman falling onto the floor.

Gasping frantically, he saw the green-winged harpy, clutching the spellbook as he departed, but he was unable to intervene as his water was draining away on the floor fast, as he helplessly flopped about in the shrinking puddle. He was too small to reach the tub, the only other source of water in the hut…

Zucchero took no mind of him and his struggles, and promptly sailed out the door, soaring away clutching his prize. There was no trace of the rest of the flock in sight, and he knew right where to go.

Gliding off to the stone pillars as quickly as he could, he saw Diavolo perched on the tallest pillar, who was gazing out to sea while eating a small fruit, and quickly alighted eagerly before his king.

“Greetings, my lord,” he said, with an exaggeratedly sycophantic tone. “I, your humble servant, have returned after the failure of my two incompetent companions–” Behind him, on a nearby stone pillar, Sale and Luca shot him a dirty glare. “–and here I come bearing you the greatest treasure of all!”

“Ahhh, Zucchero, you’ve returned at last.” Diavolo crooned. “I was expecting that you worthless cowardly fool would come back pleading for mercy, and I was just preparing to…dispose of you, if you dared return…” He crushed the fruit in his grasp, and Zucchero gulped uneasily, imagining how the fruit could easily have been his neck.

“But it seems that I still have use of you yet, after all!” Diavolo added, as he seized the spellbook from Zucchero’s hands. “Excellent, Zucchero! You’ve proven yourself with this ultimate prize…one whose knowledge shall make me Giovanna’s equal in magic– or even greater…”

In the meantime, oblivious of the thievery, Giorno and Koichi conversed in the river, discussing the mystery of Giorno’s heritage. “So this would mean that you’re a hybrid of a harpy and a mer, something we all thought was impossible…” Koichi pondered. “And yet you don’t look it one bit…”

“Perhaps there’s a deeper mystery to it,” Giorno suggested. “My spellbook holds ancient knowledge, perhaps it may have some answers. Hold on there for a while, Koichi. I’ll go back to my hut and get the book.”

“It’s dangerous out here,” Bruno interjected. “Koichi won’t be safe if we leave him out on the river on his own. Perhaps we should take him over at our place, we’ve got a small pool nearby." 

Giorno nodded and flew off back toward his hut, gliding over the river as he followed it back towards his house. Landing on the soft sand path, he headed towards it on foot, but at immediate glance, he noticed the door was ajar, and he felt right away that something was not right. 

His heart racing, he barged his way in, and to his horror, he saw that the place had been ransacked. His home was a mess, and the spellbook– which he had left on the table– had vanished.

"Help…me…” cried a small voice, and he glanced down to see Formaggio laying on the floor, his tiny chest heaving rapidly as he gasped for breath. “Water….”

“Formaggio, no! What happened?” Giorno said in a panic, scooping up the tiny merman in his hands and dropping him into Ghiaccio’s now-unoccupied tub. Ghia was out at sea practicing swimming again, once his tail was healed, but Formaggio had stayed behind to watch the place, and it was fortunate –or for him, perhaps not– that he did.

Giorno waited for a few tense moments before the tiny merman surfaced again, breathing heavily. “Whoa, thanks a lot there, bird boy,” he sighed. “Another moment without water and I’d have been a goner. So about that: remember the guy who Narancia and the others caught? Seems he’s broken out and stolen your book!” Formaggio pointed at the table, where a telltale green feather lay ominously where the book once was.

“This is bad,” Giorno groaned. “Weren’t you able to do anything? I thought you could use magic as well?” he said half-scolding to Formaggio.

“I need to be immersed in water for my magic to work, and he knocked me out of my cup!” Formaggio defensively explained. “And yeah, I know size-shifting is all I can do, but I could’ve tried and stopped him if I was bigger. Anyway, about that, if I’m gonna have to be on land for a while…”

He dove back under the surface and rubbed his hands on the gem he kept on a necklace that he wore. Formaggio clapped his hands together and snapped his fingers, and in a flash he increased tenfold in size, growing as big as Ghiaccio was and filling up the tub entirely.

Giorno stumbled back at the sight of the now-large Formaggio, surprised.

“This is how big I usually am, bird boy,” Formaggio explained, crossly. “I can survive out of water much longer at normal size, and perhaps even more if I had one of those scarf things Riz and Pros have…But we’ve got not time! We need to warn the others!”

Formaggio hauled himself out of the tub and fell to the floor with a crash.

“Owww…” he complained. “I’d forgotten how heavy I am at this size.” He looked up awkwardly at Giorno. “Er…I hope you don’t mind giving some help?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sure.. I could" Giorno helps him into a more comfterble position and sighs, "I'll help bring you out to the others" "Hurry!!" The two manage to flee the robbed home and reach the others, "Bucciarati! Bucciarati!"

"Giorno?" Bruno and Abbacchio look back at him, "what's wrong?" "Something bad has happened hasn't it twerp?" Abba groans and steps toward Giorno.

"My room! It's been destroyed by that bird we had captured! He took my book!" The others gasp in shock- well this certainly wasn't how they wanted this to go- "The book!? No! That has all of your spells!" "And now the King most likely has his hands on it.. damnit" Abba grits his teeth, "how the hell did those two idiots let him escape!?"

"I don't know, but now we have to be on extra precaution. Who knows what the king could send out next... especially with the magic he has now at his fingertips"

[allthingsobeyme]

Little Mermaid AU pt.4

(( @eddieveneziano is co writer

MC chuckled as they finished tending to Lucifer. They tilted their head and smiled kindly as Lucifer and the other brothers making their hearts collectively jump.

"I shall have the maids prepare some proper clothes for you all for now you all need to bathe in the meantime, Simeon will take to the baths"

The brothers all nodded and MC soon stpped out of the room.

Mammon was still blushing, all them were actually and Lucifer smiled softly.

'I suppose we'll need to work around being unable to speak but, its time'

All seven jumoed whent he door opened to reveal a young man.

"Ah! You must be Prince/Princess MC's guests, come this way I shall show you to the baths!'

What was a bath?

---

Oh so that's a bath

MC came into the royal bath house, huffing and puffing. "What is it Simeon? Did something happen to the boys?", MC asked with their hand on their chest.

Simeon shrugged. "More or less. These gentlemen won't go near the water no matter how much I tell them it's safe.  I won't blmae them thou. You do found them er, naked by the beach yes?"

At the far corner of the room, MC could see the boys hundle together with the one with the black hair(Lucifer) standing infront as if protecting them.

MC bit their lips before walking over to the black haired. They smiled gently and then carefully held Lucifer's hand, unknown to the fact that the former mermaid's heart was ready to birst out.

"Come now..."

He carefully guided them to the bath as Lucifer's eyes widened.

"This bath is safe, nothing is going to hurt you here"

Lucifer purswd his lips and pokes at the water. True to MC's words it was intact safe. Even if there was lots of foam like bubbles.

Being a former mermaid made the prospect of swimming irresistible.

All the brothers dove right in.

"Oh my..."MC giggled.

---

After that one eventful bath time, it's time to eat.

The boys were astonished with the variety of human food. How colourful! Oh it smells so good! Oh it's so...so...

So human!

Beelzebub was the first to dive in. Literally, I mean. He smacks his face in a bowl of mashed potato. Belphegor took one of the hot soup and drank it straight from the bowl. Then his face turned red.

Mammon gasped and took one of the fork. He remember seeing it on MC's ship and he used it to brush his hair, thinking that it's a hairbrush that the humans used. But he hides it away when he notice that Simeon and MC is looking at him so weirdly.

Lucifer looks on, seeing his brothers happily eating the food offered by MC. Back in their sea kingdom, receiving food from the other species meant one thing.

'This human is courting us...' he mused before he too, dive in to eat.

"I take it you all have nowhere to go?"

Satan lookef uo, face messy from food as he nodded, Lucifer looked up as well as MC hummed and set down their fork.

Simeon then suggested an idea, he had observed they could make good servants.

"Hmm...My lord/lady, we could have them live here and work for you?" Simeon turned his head to MC, MC put a finger on their lips...

"I suppose, if you want to work here I mean?"

MC stared at the brothers whom all stopped eating the meal and looked at each other as if speaking telepathically.

Lucifer stared at MC and nodded vigrously. 'Of course we'd gladly stay by you' he mentally exclaimed.

They'd be closer to there human!

---

"I take it that all of you can't speak?", Simeon asked with an amused face. Lucifer can feel his eyes twitching with irritation. Simeon chuckled and handed them their servant clothes

"My Greatness will send in the royal tailor to measured up your size. For now, this will do. I'm Simeon, if you got anything to ask you can come look for me"

Leviathan is ready to throw hands at the moment but he was held down by Beelzebub.

'Let me at em I had enough of this stinky human!', Levi internally yelled. Satan shakes his head. 'Can you for once stop trying to pick fights? You're no longer a beta fish remember?', Satan raised his brow while his eyes looking downloads at Leviathan's skinny legs. 'Let me at em' !!!!', he yelled internally again.

The brothers sighed. Wait...

'Where's Mammon?!'

'Heheheh! All of these shinies'

This fucker managed to sneak into the royal treasurey, Mammon's eyes shined as he dug into the gold piles of gems and metals.

'So much human shiny things! I love it'

Mammon laughed internally but stopped when a voice spoke, MC's.

"What are you doing here?"

MC was stanfing by the doorway as Mammon scrambled and stood up. He blushed in embarassment but MC just smiled kindly.

"I'm not mad, but I am curious...Did something catch your eye"

He walked over to the small pile Mammon made.

"Servants are not allowed here you know"

Mammon blushed in embarrassment and also looked ashamed, he blew it for him and his brothers...

"But I can give you something..."

He stared at them in shack and he stared at what was in their hands. A silver choker with a yellow gem at the center.

"You can't enter here again...But you can have this...Consider it my welcoming gift to the castle"

Mammon blushed as MC's hands glided on his neck and put the choker on.

"Now go on...Go to your brothers, they are at their room"

Mammon nodded and ran out. He smiled a big stupid smile.

'Brothers! Look what MC gave me!'

In the sea kingdom giving somethibg like a necklace was considered another form of courting.

---

The boys internally gasped. Except for Belphie who is sleeping and Beel who is....

'BEEL! You're not supposed to eat that!', Asmo shrieked internally. He quickly pulled Beel away from....Whatever he is eating.

Beel still munching on the blanket, 'Sorry I'm so hungry. I guess even as a human I'm still hungry....', he mumbled.

Lucifer sighed and facepalms. Guess being a human is not as easy as he thought. Not only the human has courted them first, it seems that his idiotic of a brother has gotten a gift.

A gift! He needs to act quickly, it is not fair for the human to court them and yet they haven't return the favour.

Back in their kingdom, their merfolks danced and sing songs to attract the potential mate or courting.

They all can't sing obviously. With that in mind, Lucifer absentmindly rub his neck. Hmm...

And they can't dance either. Lucifer can still feel the pain of sharp knifes in every step he take.

'Brothers, it's about time we court the human'

'Huh but how? Also it's not fair Mammon has gotten a gift! I want one too...', Asmo pouted. Mammon soundlessly chuckled.

'That means MC likes me! Oh I can't wait to have eggs with them!'

Satan stroke his underchin.

'Do humans lay eggs too?'

The boys shrugged.

Brainstorming was hard pressed until Satan finally suggested something.

'Simeon said somehing about us learning about MC's interests as he introduces us to their routine, maybe we can find out what they like doing that

Lucifer hummed but Belphie cut the silence.

'Can we brainstorm more tomorrow? Its getting late and I feel tired...We should all sleep too'

Lucifer sighed as Asmo nodded.

'Belphie is right we should get some beauty sleep so we can look pretty for MC!'

Lucifer and the rest nodded as Satan switched of the lamp and dmiled to himself at the cute little light source.

For now they rested.

---

The next day....

.

.

.

.

"Be honest with me....Have you lot never done any housework?", Luke one of the servants tsk'ed while looking at the mess infront of him.

In front of him is a royal disaster. Lucifer seems to be struggling with balancing the dishes that they ended up broken on the floor around him. Lucifer covers his face with his hands in embarrassment.

Mammon somehow don't know how clothes and gravity works so now he's all tangled up in the blankets he was supposed to fold.

Beelzebub was assigned to cooking with the head chef but he ended up eating almost ALL of the ingredients. The head chef had to hold him back when he started chewing on the table.

Leviathan was assigned to do gardening. But...um....(pushed the mic away) "Dude who even eats worms????" "Just read the script? Okay fine.."

Satan and Asmo was assigned to window cleaning, but because they are still adjusting to their legs, they ended up in a wet mess with the soapy water all over the velvet carpet and the buckets on their heads.

Belphegor? Well....

.

.

.

"Thank you umm....What should I called you?", MC asked shyly as Belphie serves them tea. It seems that Belphie is fairing pretty well. He smirked which makes MC blushed even harder.

"C-Come to think of it I don't know your names or your friends? Brothers?", MC asked.

Belphie shakes and nods. "Oh brothers ? My you all are so unique and different!", MC laughed heartly.

Belphie can feel his heart swoon.

Simeon just gave his ever patient smile but inside he felt that perhaps them dorwing did more damage then he and the healers initially thought. That or these 7 came from a place where they did not need to perform such tasks.

"Perhaps we should teach them basically skills first hmm Luke"

"Huh...Basic?! We need to teach them everything by the book!"

The 6 brothers all just stood there in embarrassment and hoped the land would consume them.

"Fear not, me and Luke can teach you all, but the young royal...He wants to take you out to see the town and familiaize yourself of this place"

All the brthers looked at eachothwr.

"But when you get back I will teach you all the ropes of being MC's butlers"

[pandatowrites]

Oceans Apart

Rating: M

Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin

Relationships: Eren Yeager/Levi Ackerman

Tags: Merpeople - AU, Royality - AU

Summary: Once upon a time, there was a merman called Levi. He was the offspring of Kuchel the Kind, the 23rd Queen of Eamora, one of the seven seas’ kingdoms. As he was the firstborn of the Queen, he was destined to be crowned king of Eamora. Before he could fulfill his promise on carrying on his mother's legacy, he had to find a partner, as he had to continue the royal bloodline. It seemed impossible for any merson to enchant his heart, nobody was able to make his heart skip a beat or two. Additionally, time was running out. One day, however, when Prince Levi was investigating a strange, enchanting sound, he found what he had been looking for on the surface near the shore he was told to avoid.

Read Chapter 1 here under the cut or on AO3

     Once upon a time, there was a merman called Levi. He was the offspring of Kuchel the Kind, the 23rd Queen of Eamora, one of the seven seas’ kingdoms.  

     As he was the firstborn of the Queen’s first partner, he was destined to be crowned king of Eamora, yet not before he reached the mature age of 315 moons.  

     Prince Levi showed interest in various things, not only politics, economics and military, but he also found his love for his folk. His mother made sure that her son grew up to be a worthy king, introducing him to all creatures in her kingdom, whether they were rich, poor, weak, strong, unintelligent or smart. Queen Kuchel made sure that the merfolk she had responsibility for, she swore to protect and care for, led a content life.  

     Her son promised to carry on her legacy.  

     Before he could fulfill his promise, however, he had to find a partner, as he had to continue the royal bloodline.  

     Prince Levi found no fulfilling satisfaction in courting female meople. He enjoyed their grace and their hair, the way their body looked, but that was in no way enough to make somebody his queen. The merman wanted to find the one to spend his long, long life with, and not just a partner to bear him children.  

     It seemed impossible for any merson to enchant his heart, especially since Prince Levi did not possess a great social skill, and neither did he know how to express his feelings quite well; an unfortunate side effect of growing up without a father, as Queen Kuchel had decided to be the only ruler of Eamora.  

     One day, however, when Prince Levi was investigating a strange, enchanting sound, he found what he had been looking for on the surface near the shore he was told to avoid.  

 -x-

     He was holding his mother’s hand, her delicate, almost porcelain white fingers wrapping around his own. She had yet to scratch him with her claws-like fingernails.  

 Levi’s first memory had been one of the many times Queen Kuchel led him outside the castle. They were swimming around at first, it was just her and her sweet, little son, no guards, no advisor, nobody else.

 He had been enjoying all of it, the way his mother would spin him around in circles or the way she would swim little races with him, only to slow down so he could reach their goal first.

 Kuchel was a great mother.

 The greatest he would ever have.

     “Levi”, she hummed, “I want you to travel to Iquira. You haven’t been there in so long, the folk misses you. I’m sure of it.” Her black hair floated over her face, but she did not care. Kuchel loved her long hair, the way it moved in the water. It made her feel beautiful when she was not.  

 How was he supposed to just travel anywhere, let alone this far, when his mother had caught a fatal illness? How could he show himself to the meople, when he did not know how to comfort them, how to comfort himself?

 Petra swam next to him, her bright orange hair was cut short, right above her shoulders, to make her less resistant to the water. “We should arrive at our destiny soon. I think I might see it already, far in the distance”, she informed the prince and both of them started to dive deeper, where the East stream would not carry them anymore.

 “Have you decided on what you are going to do?”, the mermaid asked, hoping for an answer this time.    Levi had not been talking the whole swim, he didn’t even communicate with the dolphins. No chirping, no clicking, nothing.

 “Petra. Stop. You should not lose scales over me”, he reminded her, as he did not want his guardian and companion to worry about him too much.

 “It’s my duty”, she remarked, but, when Levi shot her a warning stare, quickly added, “as a friend.”

 The prince let a pleased chirp escape his throat before turning his gaze away from his guardian.

 Petra’s lilac tail fin pushed her ahead while Levi followed her, watching her caudal fin dance in the water, and wondered whether he should buy her a dark purple ponjro to wrap around her upper body.

 She had forgotten hers in the castle, and he did not want her to freeze so much.

 Yes, Eamoreans were used to the chill temperatures, but it was still an unpleasant sensation to be enveloped by coldness.

 Levi glanced up to the surface, the sky faded from warm colors to a bright blue and dull white, the fluffy bodies were floating in the sea of endless air.

 It seemed to far away, but the sun’s rays still carried their light through the water to where they swam, making his silver scales stand out between the unspectacular blue ones.

 The jewelry on his body seemed to glow in the dull beam, as he was surrounded by dark water, as well; his golden tiara with the tear-shaped opal stone that hang down onto his forehead, and the long, gorgeous necklace with the crowned shell symbol. Levi’s wine red gown floated behind him, it was see-through and light, made of sensitive material the Eamoreans weaved with Atlantiqua’s Hair - a thin, delicate flower that grew on every type of ground, at every temperature and condition.

 When they reached the city, they slowed down their pace. The meople noticed them, bowing for their prince and staying silent to show their respect and devotion.

 Levi showed a slight smile of appreciation, a rare mimic. It was as fragile as an old shell, but as beautiful and graceful as a hidden pearl.

 All the while Petra swam next to him, slightly set further back, as it was not her place to swim next to a prince. They broke the rule when they were alone, as she was his friend, but in public, they were not allowed to show it. Rumors, such as “Bet he wants to breed his      guardian    ”, were bad for his reputation.

 It was a rather small city, but Levi didn’t mind the size at all, he preferred them over the stressful, big ones, because these less populated ones were usually quiet at night.

 Eamori was a beautiful city and he saw it as a privilege that Goddess Atlantiqua made it their capital city, but he detested the sounds of boats. The nightlife could get really       audible    as well.

 Some nights he found no sleep, instead finding himself staring at the city in front of the palace. The colorful lights, the glowing fish and jellyfish, the chirping and clicking of joy and pleasure.

 The merman was not able to do much for his mother’s folk, other than being a good and genuine prince. He prepared himself for questions regarding Queen Kuchel’s condition, when Petra and Levi made their way to the town hall.

 It was an old building, there were some marks and flaws, but as long as it was still serving its purpose, the city’s inhabitants didn’t mind. And Levi did not do so either.

 Yes, it would look nicer if it got taken care of properly, but right now, this was not even close to being a priority.

 Levi and Petra entered, both of them gliding through the chill water, until they found the hall they were looking for, the meryoress’ office.

 “Prince Levi, welcome”, she said when she looked up from her seat and bowed down to show her respect. “Queen Kuchel informed me that you and your guardian would stay in town. We made sure that you had the best rooms in the local hotel.”

 “Thank you”, the one of royal blood answered, nodding slowly while doing so. “We don’t know yet for how long we will stay, but we will inform you as soon as we decided on it.”

 The shell was handed to him, it was golden and actually a little big for a key.

 “I hope you will enjoy your stay, Prince”, the meryoress said with a pleased smile, before glaring at Petra. “And you as well. You must be tired, dear.”

 This time it was the guardian who thanked her before the two left the town hall again.

 They looked out for the hotel, which appeared to be not far away; it was actually just a few fins away.

 “When will we be visiting the villages?”, Petra asked and Levi could tell that she was already planning which streams they should be using to travel the fastest way.

 “I thought about the day after tomorrow. We are going to travel for a flippin’ long time, the distances are not that small. Six villages. Afterwards we can stay here for a little longer together”, he said with a knowing gaze. “You should not strain your body so much, it will be Bailara soon.”

 The merman had intended to travel alone because his guardian planned on spending this year’s Bailara with her mate, Oluo, one of the castle’s many servants, who had courted her last year.

 An exhausted fin was no good for breeding, it should be soft and non-aching. But Queen Kuchel was positive that Petra would be able to successfully grow offspring with her partner either way..

 Needless to say, the guardian was allowed several weeks off during Bailara, the main mating season.

 Petra thought about the prince’s offer, before she agreed with a content smile and a soft purr. “I heard they practice great massages here in Iquira. That would be perfect. And maybe a seaweed treatment? No! Even a sea star one!” Everything to relax and look attractive. She wanted to please Oluo; not that any kind of treatment was needed, the merman was still head over tailfin in love with her. Additionally, Petra was already a stunning beauty. Light brown eyes accented with long, black lashes, sea peach colored hair and lilac scales; contrasts only nature could create.

 Levi did not see what she saw in her partner; he was an asshole, which was quite upsetting considering he was told that this Oluo was impersonating him. Additionally, he had a lot of wrinkles and his fin looked muddy, it was a rather harsh dark green with sharp scales.

 But it were not his stormy grey eyes that had to judge the merman, it were Petra’s eyes that had to be caught up in love.

 “Will you be acquiring a new gown for the speeches, Levi?”, his guardian asked with caution as they reached the hotel. “The one you’re wearing is excellent, but… would you not want one that is more suited? A deep blue?”, Petra suggested furthermore with a sad smile.

 “Why?”, the prince asked, fake oblivion tainting his voice. “To match my fin better? Or to let everybody know that my mother- their Queen will succumb to her illness?” With a growl Levi made it clear that he did in fact not want to think about leaving the gown he was currently wearing in the hotel, the very gown his mother had inherited him.

 Petra should know better, he thought, but he also knew better. She had the best intentions, always.

 The apartment they were staying in was big, almost as big as a servant’s dorm in the castle.

 There was a lot of jewelry hanging off the ceiling, most of it was golden and decorated with red stones or chorals, as well as pearls; just the aesthetic the Eamoreans liked. Furthermore, the pure white shells were accented with tiny bits of coloured glass, creating a beautiful pattern, a mosaic.

 The floor was not made of stone, it was actually overgrown with sea anemones in light colors, soft pinks to mouthwatering oranges.

 In the back there was a huge mirror with strange material surrounding it; something he had not seen before, but Levi had to be honest, he did not expect a hotel to own a big mirror with no flaws.

 He stood out in the reflection; most of the room’s interior was coloured in warm reds while his pale skin and ashy-blue tailfin gave off a cold vibe, creating a contrast. The silver scales, scattered randomly across his fin, shone slightly in the dull light to remind him of his origin, his royal blood.

 “Oh wow, Queen Kuchel did not spare a single Krella”, Petra mumbled and Levi gave a nod in agreement while whistling quietly.

 “She knew we would like this. My mother loved coming to this hotel when I was a kid. It’s… been a while. Some things changed, it seems.”

 The mermaid swam around the apartment, looking for her sleeping shell, until she found it in the next room. Their rooms were seperated with a thin cloth that covered the whole, the passage connecting the bedrooms.

 Prince Levi allowed himself to rest in his own, bigger shell. There was enough space for two people. Good. He needed space and he was not planning on sharing any of it.

 Petra entered the room again and sank to the bottom of it, letting herself be tickled by the sea anemones growing there, and purred, “This is amazing.”

 “You should go rest”, Levi told her, before she could get too cozy and fall asleep on the floor. “Remember. Bailara is starting soon.” He was thinking about travelling without her to the villages.

 Prince Levi did, in fact, not need any help, any form of protection, as he was very well capable of fighting off enemies, whether they were of his kind or not; his toned body, the muscles told no lie about his strength.

 Additionally, he had sharp claws to work with. They cut through flesh effortlessly.

 Petra snuggled deeper into the anemones. “But this is so comfy”, she whined and pouted at the merman. “My shell feels so empty without Oluo by my side.”

 O good Atlantiqua, all these love-sick meople.

 “You will catch the shivers if you sleep outside the shell and I will not pull your sick flute back home”, Prince Levi snarled in a reprimanding manner, his tailfin snapping once against the soft cushion inside his shell.

 The mermaid sighed, which sounded more like a disappointed whistle. “Fine, my prince”, she started, lifted herself of the ground with one swift motion of her strong fin, and continued, “But you should close the shell soon, too. It is getting late. Rest well.” Petra swam out of the room and closed the curtain to separate their rooms.

 A few seconds later, the quiet creak of her shell was to be heard, and with that, Levi allowed himself to sink onto the soft, pink jelly, that adapted to his shape, and grabbed the cover, pulling it down with him until the shell was sealed shut.

 The inside glowed in the dark, bioluminescent filaments of deep-sea anglerfish were attached there to provide a source of light at night.

 It reminded him of home, where he had these kind of strings in his own shell.

[alternativewinxcontinuity]

Mark Of Valtor/Diaspro might not be a Psycho-B*tch Theory

So, just while we're talking about Diaspro, I thought I'd put forward a Head Canon/ Conspiracy Theory that I've been sitting on for some time.

It's... a little convoluted... (and deals with strictly 'in universe' explanations for the writers shitty writing.)

The Mark of Valtor is a corrupting influence, and Valtor can assign the form of corruption it takes, in the Merfolk of Andros he full on mutated and enslaved them, In Diaspro, Chimera and Cassandra, he just needed them to cross a line.

Chimera and Cassandra were already the kind of people who would do that sort of shit, so they suffered very minimal side effects, since they didn't need much influencing.

Diaspro on the other hand, would never have crossed that line in her right mind, no matter her own personal feelings.

When she 'accepted' the Mark of Valtor, she was already under its influence. Magic is about intent, and whether or not Diaspro's mouth was saying 'yes' or 'no', her heart and mind were saying 'I hate what happened to my life, I want it back.'

But there's a difference between wanting something desperately, and actually going for it.

Sky was freed of the influence via Fairy Dust, Chimera, Cassandra and Diaspro weren't.

Unlike Cassandra and Chimera, Diaspro's action went against her 'sober' personality (Bitchy, spoiled but fundamentally a servant of Eraklyon), and the Mark didn't go away.

Unlike the Merfolk, the marks on the trio required a more 'independent mental ability', theirs was like a cursed sticker rather than an ongoing connection, but it still continued to influence them.

Cutting to the chase: Diaspro was never freed of the Mark of Valtor which specifically influenced her to 'take back what she'd lost to Bloom'. Bloom acts like a trigger to the remaining magical influence, which has been causing Diaspro's increasingly obsessive and erratic behaviour.

Possibly even creating a form of 'split identity'. Throwing a Fairy of Fire into fire, regardless of its origins, sounds like a stupid way to try and kill them... unless that wasn't the goal.

Imagine for a moment, Diaspro gradually becoming more and more aware that she isn't in complete control of her actions, realising there's something in her mind and it has taken her dislike/hate for Bloom to dangerous extremes.

Being not an idiot, it would be easy to whisper into the ear of an irrational being like that, especially if you phrase in a way that appeals to their wants. “Throw Bloom into the Vortex of Flame, she'll be overpowered by it and die.” Even though it makes no logical sense, the Mark's faux personality, the possession that's been left behind and slowly taken over Diaspro, is not a logical being aware of the other personality doing everything it can to stop it.

This doesn't excuse Diaspro of her behaviour, because it's still a version of her, it's just not the version of her that would have been without outside corruption.

TLDR: The Mark of Valtor was never removed from Diaspro after season 3, and slowly sent her crazy, which is why she's so obsessed with breaking up Bloom and Sky, and why her behaviour has become so detached from her season 1&2 personality/potential.

[stories-in-the-stars]

That Which Belongs to the Sea

Whoops, forgot the post the final update here! If you keep up with me on Ao3 (@ creeshtar), you might’ve seen that I upped the final part there yesterday. Anyways, here it is now, and I hope y’all enjoy. As always, thanks to everyone who has supported me through this fic.

~*~

Chapter 3

Part of Your World

Allura tried to rub the sleep from her burning eyes. It wouldn’t do to be presented to a foreign monarch looking half-dead, after all. Her tail was perfectly still as she waited to be summoned. Her appearance was abrupt, to be sure, but hopefully she could still be seen quickly. It was early in the third day. There wasn’t much time left.

“Your Highness,” came a voice from the door of the dim sitting room she’d been left to wait in. “The emperor will see you now.”

Allura rose from her seat and tried to smooth out her billowing white hair. She followed the cecaelia silently, heart pounding all the while. Ailing though he was known to be, the cecaelian emperor was still a force to be reckoned with. Allura had only met him a few times as a child, and while he had seemed kind but stern at first, as his health began to fail him so too did his kindness. But that had been years ago. Allura had no idea what to expect now.

The dark doors of the throne room (darker than she remembered them) swung open to admit her into the throne room as the herald announced her. Allura made her steady way towards the throne, not too fast, not too slow. She bowed low, tail curling just so behind her.

“Emperor Zarkon,” she spoke in a steady tone. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice.”

Zarkon sat silently on his throne, hunched over and perfectly still. Allura wondered idly just how bad his health really was. When he spoke, however, he sounded stronger than he seemed, but also more menacing. With his voice alone he seemed to make the entire room tremble. Allura hoped that she wasn’t visibly shaking.

“What is it you want from me?”

Allura kept her head high, her voice clear. “I would like to request access to your archives, your Majesty.”

Zarkon grumbled. “Altea’s archives are known to be replete with a great many topics, in a depth not rivaled by any other. What is it you could possibly want to know that is not contained in your own library already?”

“Alchemy, your Majesty.”

The water in the room grew heavy (although perhaps that was just Allura--this kingdom was quite a bit deeper than her home). For the first time Zarkon seemed to move, taking on a fierce posture.

“What use do you have for alchemy?” he demanded.

“No use, only curiosity,” Allura assured him.

Zarkon narrowed his gleaming eyes. Allura put every ounce of her willpower into keeping her posture formal but relaxed.

“We have nothing that would be of use to you,” Zarkon finally said. “If that is all you have come for, then you should leave.”

“But if I could simply look for myself--” Allura began insistently.

“What impudence is this?!” Zarkon thundered. “First you make an unplanned, unexplained appearance to request an immediate audience with me without thought to how that might inconvenience me, and then you think you have the right to make demands of me?!”

“Forgive me, I--”

“Begone!” Zarkon commanded.

His tone brooked no argument. Allura was promptly escorted out and she went without complaint. Or at least, no complaint that she voiced. Zarkon had told her there would be nothing of use to her, but had still refused her access to his archives. If there was nothing of use, then why refuse her access? Allura was convinced that Zarkon was hiding something.

And she intended to find out just what that was.

~*~

The guards at Shiro’s apartments did not dare question the younger prince as he hurried towards the door, no doubt looking particularly fierce with the fresh cut running down his face. One of them asked if he should send for a doctor, but Keith ignored him and threw open the doors.

“Shiro!” he called. “Shiro, wake up!”

Keith closed the door behind him and waited in the sitting room. He stoked the fire to a blaze as he waited, listening to Shiro grumble from the bedroom he shared with Adam. From the sound of things, neither of them were happy to be woken at such an hour. Keith didn’t care. This was not a matter that could be delayed.

The bedroom door flew open to reveal a less than pleased Shiro. “This had better be--”

He halted when he saw the state of Keith. He nodded to Adam, who went to send a servant for a doctor. Keith let him. They’d be fluttering over him unnecessarily if he didn’t agree to let a doctor see him anyways. Shiro gestured for Keith to sit, and sat in a chair across from him, expression full of worry.

“What happened?” Shiro demanded.

“You remember the first petition of this morning? The fisherman with the merfolk problem?” Keith asked.

Shiro nodded slowly.

“His problem is real.”

Shiro raised his eyebrows. He trusted Keith unwaveringly, but perhaps, Keith considered, this was too much. These were creatures of supposed myth, after all, but Keith was certain of what had happened. Something with hands had grabbed him, tried to squeeze the life out of him. He hadn’t gotten a very good look, but it was good enough for him to know that whatever had attacked him and Lance was very much not human.

“Tell me what happened,” Shiro insisted.

Keith obliged. “I was down at the lagoon, and I was teaching Lance how to swim--”

“Lance?”

“Do you mean the handsome guest you brought home a couple days ago? Did you finally guess his name?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Keith answered quickly. “Anyways, we were swimming in the lagoon and--and something grabbed me and dragged me down. It wasn’t any fish either. It had hands, with claws, and it tried very hard to drown me. Another one tried to drown Lance.”

“Are you sure?” Shiro pressed.

Keith gestured to his face and neck. “You think I did this to myself?!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I just--this is really hard to believe,” Shiro amended.

“I know,” Keith said. “I didn’t believe it when the fisherman came to us with his petition. But now I do.”

“But all the fishermen were fatally drowned,” Adam pointed out. “How were you able to get away?”

“Sheer luck,” Keith guessed with a shrug. “That, and…”

He trailed off, pressing his lips tightly together.

“And?” Shiro nudged.

“I think Lance was the one who rescued me,” Keith said quietly, barely audible over the crackle of the fire.

“Well, that makes sense, since Lance was the only other one there, although how he managed to get away when he couldn’t even swim at first is--”

“No,” Keith interrupted. “I think Lance was the one who rescued me from the shipwreck. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, and I don’t even know why he’s here now--It doesn’t even make sense, because I was sure that whoever rescued me could speak, and Lance can’t… But somehow I just feel like it was him, all along.”

A beat of silence passed through the room. Adam and Shiro exchanged a look that Keith couldn’t quite decipher, and wasn’t sure that he liked.

“But that’s not what’s important right now!” Keith hurried. He was thinking that he might have added too much fuel to the fire; the room was stifling all of a sudden. “What’s important is that is a very real threat facing the kingdom right now, and all we’ve done is send the merfolk more people to drown!”

Shiro nodded, his expression resolute. “You’re right. But this… This is something our kingdom hasn’t faced in centuries. If you weren’t here telling me that you’d almost been drowned by one, I wouldn’t believe that this was a real problem at all.”

“We need more information,” Adam added. “I can get a task of librarians to look up some old legends regarding merfolk.”

“We also can’t just sit around and wait while this keeps happening to people. We can’t just tell our people to not go out to sea!” Keith insisted.

“Keith,” Shiro said firmly. “The ships I tasked to patrol the eastern waters are set to leave tomorrow afternoon. That gives us enough time to briefly research effective methods of defense against merfolk and outfit our men accordingly.”

“I’m going with them,” Keith decided.

“Keith--”

But Keith leveled his brother with a fixed look that was all too familiar. Shiro paused, considering whether he should try to talk Keith out of this or not. Keith remained resolute. No matter what, he was going. There was no way he wasn’t going to face this problem directly, not after what had just happened. Eventually, Shiro seemed convinced of this.

“Fine,” Shiro relented. “But don’t you dare get drowned!”

“Oh, come on, Shiro,” Keith said airily, at ease now that he’d gotten his way. “If they couldn’t drown me this time what makes you think they’ll be able to do when I see them coming?”

A soft knock came at the door, and the doctor was admitted into the room. Keith winced as she dabbed the cut, muttering about disinfectant and how much of a pain it would be to dress such a wound, and how it would likely leave a scar. Meanwhile, the problem at hand seemed to be well and settled. Which meant, apparently, that it was time to tease Keith.

“So,” Shiro started as he and Adam leaned in eagerly. “You took Lance to the lagoon?”

~*~

Allura was supposed to be gone by now, turned away as she was by Emperor Zarkon. And she would be. As soon as she found out what he was hiding about alchemy. She’d managed to slip away from the servants that should’ve been escorting her to the small delegation she’d come with, and had no doubt they were dashing about like mad trying to find her. She had only to hope that they wouldn’t find her before she found answers, and that they were too intimidated by Zarkon to tell him they’d lost her before she found them again.

Unfortunately, she had yet to come across any tablets with even a whisper of alchemy. Her hands flew over the stones, searching, scanning, but ultimately not finding what she was looking for. She gazed hopelessly at the the shelves that were nearly as numerous as the ones in her own library. There was no way she could go through it all before being discovered. Time had doubled down on her. There never seemed to be enough of it anymore.

“You will not find what you seek here,” a harsh voice rasped from the shadows that seemed to be so abundant in this palace.

Allura whirled around with a flurry of bubbles. “I’m so sorry, I’ll leave at once!”

“I did not say you had to leave,” the voice spoke again. “I only said that you would not find what you are looking for here.”

Allura peered into the shadows. “Then… do you know where I will find it?”

“Come with me.”

Whoever it was seemed to move only in the shadows, their silhouette barely visible to Allura. She hesitated for only a second before following. As it was, she thought she heard some of the servants looking for her approaching the library. If she was going to avoid getting caught anyways, she may as well follow this person who seemed to know what Allura needed, and where she could find it.

The shadows seemed to crowd in closer as Allura followed the stranger. There was no telling if the sun had even risen yet. Allura let herself hope that it hadn’t, that time would slow down enough for her to find a viable solution. Another part of her, tired and far more cynical, said that if the sun hadn’t risen yet, it was about to. Allura made a point to ignore it.

The stranger led her to a darkened room, so dark that Allura couldn’t make out any of the features. Then the stranger lit a bioluminescent lamp, and Allura gasped, not at the room, but at the stranger themself. They were not a cecaelia.

They were a mermaid.

A very old mermaid at that, with hair as white as Allura’s and graying scales on her tail. Her eyes were dim, and had a constant, glazed-over look. She gestured for Allura to take a seat, as she herself took one. Allura waited as patiently as possible.

“There is no record of alchemy in the archives here,” the mermaid told Allura. “Zarkon is many things, but he does not lie. He only leaves things out as it suits him.”

“And what, pray tell, has he left out?”

The old mermaid hummed, as though she were unsure where to start.

“You know that Zarkon had an heir, yes?” she asked.

“I had heard rumors, but I was never certain of their validity,” Allura admitted.

The mermaid nodded. “They’re true, I’m afraid. Zarkon had--has a son. And he did indeed banish that son after an alchemical experiment gone wrong. After that, Zarkon destroyed all records of alchemy in the archives.”

“What happened?”

The old mermaid leaned back in her seat, looking reminiscent, and a touch melancholic. She took a deep, shuddering breath. Her health seemed to be about as good as Zarkon’s, Allura thought.

“He was a good boy. His heart was in the right place. He and his mother wanted to revive the art of alchemy for Zarkon’s sake. His mother had long had a curiosity regarding alchemy, and that curiosity only strengthened when she found that it was a shared interest between her and her son. Zarkon supported their academic pursuits. They both had bright minds, and he was proud of them.”

The mermaid sighed. Allura’s attention was rapt.

“Then the emperor’s health began to decline more rapidly. His son and wife began to hasten their experiments, at the expense of safety. For a while, there were no severe consequences, but the emperor started to become nervous. It was clear that the experiments were taking a toll on his family, but they would not stop. I wonder if they would’ve had they know the truth of alchemy,” the mermaid recounted.

“And… what is the truth of alchemy?”

The mermaid’s eyes narrowed. “The truth of alchemy is that, unlike magic, it is not a gift to be given freely. There is always a cost, an exchange. But neither the prince nor his mother knew this when they decided they were ready heal their emperor with alchemy. The records in the archive were not as complete as they should’ve been. When they tried to heal Zarkon… it went badly.”

“How badly?”

The mermaid did not immediately answer. Allura tried and failed to keep her tail from twitching impatiently.

“Zarkon’s wife died. In theory she knew what was happening as it was happening, but pressed forward anyways. This was her husband, after all. Zarkon was distraught, and demanded that his son undo the process at once, his own health be damned. His son argued that his mother only wanted to see him well again, but his father forced him into it anyways. Alchemy is not meant to revive people. The prince, having studied alchemy extensively, understood this. Zarkon could not, or rather… perhaps he didn’t want to understand. All he wanted was his wife back. His son wanted his mother back, but he knew it might not work. He tried anyways.”

The mermaid paused again. Her sorrow made her deeply lined face seem even more weathered.

“It worked--in a way. She was not the person she had once been, and she ailed as much as Zarkon did. She did not remember her son or husband. Zarkon was furious. He blamed his son for her state, though his son had warned him that it might not work the way they wanted. In spite of the prince having the best intentions… Zarkon banished his only child. Thus rejected by his only remaining family, the prince became embittered… There are few who know his whereabouts these days, but I would not be surprised if his solitude has only served to further foster his resentment.”

“That’s awful,” Allura breathed.

“Indeed,” the mermaid said with a nod. “And now there is no one left who remembers.”

“But you remember, surely you must know something about alchemy--”

“I have told you all that I know.”

“But… there has to be more,” Allura lamented.

“What for?” the mermaid inquired.

“I--” Allura stammered. “I’m not trying to bring anyone back from the dead!”

“But you are trying to prevent death, aren’t you?”

Allura leapt up from her seat, heart hammering painfully against her ribs. This wasn’t the same, not in the slightest!

“Thank you for your time and insight,” Allura said through clenched teeth. “But I’m afraid I must be going now.”

The old mermaid nodded. “Very well. But princess, remember, alchemy will take if something is not given. And there is no telling what it will take.”

~*~

To say Lance was impatient for Keith to return was a bit of an understatement. He’d done as Keith bid him and changed into dry, warm clothes, but it offered little relief for his frazzled nerves. Lotor’s mermaids were attacking humans, including Lance himself, and now merfolk as a whole were to blame. More than anything Lance wished he’d traded something other than his voice, anything, so that he could explain to Keith precisely what was going on.

Restless as he was, Lance found he just couldn’t wait quietly in his room. He’d been fascinated by the bed the night before; now there was simply too much on his mind to even give it a second glance. He took to wandering the large halls of the castle. They looked so different at night. They didn’t gleam or shine, and they felt larger than Lance remembered. Nighttime, he surmised, must get very lonely in this castle. His own home was smaller, but at the same time more open. Even there Lance had managed to feel lonely at times.

He ended up meandering into a cozy sitting room, lined with books he couldn’t read and lit, as much of the rest of the castle was, with a candle. Here was something that sparked his curiosity once more. Lance had always been fascinated by candles and the tiny flames that seemed to dance atop them, but he hadn’t had time to investigate more closely. Now was his chance, it seemed.

Lance gazed into the flame for a long while. It moved so much like water. Subject to its own whims, and seeming so very alive. It stirred something nostalgic deep within Lance, a sort of longing for the home he’d left behind. He scowled. Now was not the time for regrets. He turned his attention back to the flame.

Unlike water, fire radiated a warmth and light all its own. It drew Lance in, and he was helpless to resist. He raised a hand in a cradling motion, letting the heat seep into his skin. There was nothing so gently warm underneath the water. Lance poised a finger just above the flame, wondering how close he could get to it.

“Lance!”

Lance jumped, and then felt a searing pain on his finger. He withdrew his hand sharply, silently hissing as the pain really settled in. Keith was by his side in an instant. He took Lance’s hand in his, studying the injury intently.

“What are you doing sticking your fingers in fire anyways?” Keith muttered, rubbing his fingers over the pad of Lance’s finger.

Lance made no move to answer.

“I was a little worried when I couldn’t find you at first,” Keith continued, not yet looking up at Lance. “Can’t blame you for not wanting to sit still though. Are you alright? Do you need a doctor to look at anything?”

Keith looked up and Lance shook his head.

Keith sighed and looked away again, his lips pressed together in contemplation. He was still holding Lance’s hand. Lance made no move to change this.

“Lance,” he began. “I’m going with our men to the east tomorrow afternoon.”

Lance felt as though he’d been punched in the chest. Keith was leaving?! He shook his head vigorously, clasping Keith’s hands tightly as though to physically prevent him from leaving. Keith smiled gently; Lance frowned.

“I know it’s dangerous, but--Lance, listen to me--I have to do this. It’s my responsibility as a prince. I know you’re worried but I’ll be back. And… well, I was wondering if you would wait for me?”

Before Lance could even shake his head, his eyes were overflowing again. It didn’t help that it seemed to concern Keith this time. Keith used his free hand to tilt Lance’s face towards his, forcing their eyes to meet. The flame of the candle was reflected clearly in Keith’s eyes, not unlike a bright star in the night sky. Lance didn’t want to look.

“Lance, what’s wrong?”

Lance shook his head; it was all he could do.

“You don’t want me to go?”

Lance nodded.

“Is it because of the merfolk?”

Lance shrugged. It was difficult to articulate that it was only a few merfolk in particular that concerned him, and that Keith should not seek to fight against merfolk as a whole. Not to mention explaining why he so firmly believed that.

“Lance, they couldn’t drown me today, and they won’t drown me tomorrow, okay? I promise.”

Don’t go, Lance silently begged.

“Besides,” Keith continued in a low voice. He brought Lance’s still-stinging finger up to his smiling lips, letting them brush across the tender skin. “That’s twice now I should’ve drowned, but I didn’t. I think I know why.”

Don’t go, Lance’s absent voice screamed.

“I think it’s because my heart belongs to the sea.”

Don’t go.

“And the sea won’t let me drown.”

Don’t go!

“I’m certain of that now,” Keith said. He punctuated the statement with a press of his lips to the pad of Lance’s finger.

Don’t go!

Their eyes met like a crack of lightning, and Keith stumbled back as though pushed, Lance’s hand slipping out of his. He fell to the floor without a sound. When he sat up, his eyes were unfocused, his mouth agape. Lance felt his heart rapping a staccato beat against his chest, sharp and insistent. He held out a hand to help Keith up, but Keith hardly noticed it.

“I won’t,” Keith mumbled. “I won’t… go? I won’t--no! I’m--I have to go!”

He stood up without taking Lance’s hand. The distrust that had briefly flared up in the lagoon had flared up in full force once again. Lance thought to shake his head again, to say that whatever had just happened wasn’t his fault! He wasn’t even sure what had just happened! Instead he just stood there, wishing that Keith would look at him again, for all that just a moment ago Lance wanted him to look anywhere else.

Keith stumbled over his words when he spoke again, “I’ll come back. I promise. And I really hope you’re here when I do.”

Without another word Keith hurried out of the room. Lance slumped against his seat, eyes still spilling over as though his emotions were simply too much for his body to hold in. There was no telling how long he sat there for, but it was long enough that the candle he’d been watching had melted down to a puddle. By then, Lance felt utterly dried up. His head was throbbing, he felt exhausted, but hated the idea of going to sleep.

So instead, Lance watched the candle as it flickered wildly, desperately hanging on to the last vestiges of its life. He watched the wick get shorter and shorter, as the flame consumed it. He watched as the flame finally reached its end, and with a sudden puff, was extinguished.

Even then, Lance remained.

~*~

When Allura returned home, the sun was nearly directly overhead. It only further served to emphasize her utter failure. She had only hours and counting. What could she possibly do in that time to help Lance?

“Princess,” a steward greeted before she had even properly settled herself after her journey. “I hate to bother you so soon after your return, but there is someone to see you. He’s been insistent ever since he arrived.”

Allura had just opened her mouth to ask who in the seven seas could possibly want to see her, now of all times, when Hunk barrelled around the corner. The steward was utterly horrified by the lack of decorum. Hunk couldn’t be bothered to care. And if Hunk couldn’t be bothered to care about appearing respectful to a princess…

“What happened?” she asked immediately, waving the steward off.

Hunk spoke in a horrified, hushed tone. “Lotor sent his mermaids to drown Keith and Lance.”

“He did what?!” Allura exclaimed. Then, more quietly, “Is Lance…?”

“He’s fine, they’re both fine, luckily I was nearby and they didn’t seem to want to deal with me, but the fact that they were there at all…” Hunk trailed off, the implication all too obvious.

“Lotor doesn’t want Lance succeeding,” Allura whispered anyways.

“But why?” Hunk asked.

Allura’s brow furrowed, everything she’d learned in the past two days all coming together in a messed up jumble that she could hardly make heads or tails of. One thing was certain though. Lotor was playing dirty, at the expense of Lance’s life. And Allura wouldn’t stand for it.

“I don’t know,” she finally said, darting back towards the exit of the castle. “But we’re going to find out.”

~*~

A shell of bright blue gleamed under the midday sun. It seemed like a perfectly ordinary, if perhaps an unusually well preserved shell. Any passerby might pick it up and think it a rather pretty trinket. And, upon doing so, would marvel at how warm it felt, at how it seemed to thrum with life. They would peer inside and find it empty.

Unless, of course, they knew what they were looking for.

Lotor turned the shell over and over in his hand, looking bored but with a touch of simmering ferocity. Anyone who knew him might think him angry. As it was, there were few that knew him. Fewer still that would not recoil as he gripped the shell hard enough that it might break. It didn’t.

Two distinct shadows slipped silently into the cove of Lotor’s agitated repose. He didn’t spare them a glance, instead keeping his attention fixed on the shell in his hand.

“Acxa, Zethrid,” Lotor greeted in a clipped tone.

“Lotor,” one of them began. “We—”

“Failed,” Lotor interrupted. “I’m well aware.”

Silence descended upon the cove once more. The mermaids did not swish their tails nervously, nor did they keep unusually still. To any outside onlookers, it might seem that they felt perfectly at ease with this turn of events.

“No matter,” Lotor said suddenly. “You did, at the very least, prevent the princeling from accomplishing his goal. And today is his final day.”

“What if he manages it on land?” Acxa asked.

“I doubt they’ll have much time for romance, what with the trouble Narti and Ezor are stirring up,” Zethrid noted with a fierce grin.

“Indeed,” Lotor agreed. “Narti has relayed that a commission of ships has be sent to assess the problem in those waters, and should be arriving close to sunset. And even if you did fail, you have at the very least given them a reason to expedite their plans.”

Lotor smirked maliciously, eyeing the shining shell once more. “Regardless of what happens, by sunset the silvertongue gift will be mine in its entirety.”

“And then you’ll have no trouble taking advantage of the chaos that’s about to take hold of all underwater kingdoms,” Acxa added confidently.

They quieted as a small, but definite shuffling could be heard from just outside the cove. Lotor had only to motion discreetly with his eyes, and Acxa and Zethrid immediately moved to investigate. Lotor himself did not bother to move, but looked far less agitated as sounds of a struggle were shortly heard.

“You again!” he heard Zethrid snarl.

“I beat you before, I—I can do it again!”

Zethrid could be heard laughing. “You think you actually beat me?”

“Leave him alone—!”

The scuffle lasted for only another moment. Then Acxa and Zethrid dragged two still struggling intruders before Lotor. Their shining, brightly colored tails were a sharp contrast to the cooler colors worn by their captors. Those tails thrashed wildly to no avail.

“Well, well,” Lotor began. “What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe this exceptional honor, Princess Allura?”

“You won’t get away with what you’re up to, Lotor!” Allura spat. “We’ve figured you out!”

“Have you now? And I suppose you’ve alerted all underwater kingdoms, told them to beware of my trickery?”

Allura faltered. It was brief, almost invisible to the untrained eye. She recovered lightning fast, and opened her mouth to retort when Lotor held up a hand.

“Don’t waste my time with bluffing. The two of you came here alone, and no one knows you’re here,” Lotor said.

“You still won’t get away with this!” the golden tailed one, Hunk, insisted though he trembled.

Lotor leaned back idly, tentacles curling in amusement. “Won’t I?”

“You won’t,” Allura said, almost more to convince herself.

“So you say,” Lotor said. “But fear scrambles reason. Fear will convince your friends that their dear little prince has been poached by humans. Fear is what will send them running to me when your kingdom finds that their one and only beloved princess has been speared by humans. Fear is what will unify them against humans, under my rule. Fear is what will return me my birthright.”

“And what makes you think any merfolk, or even any cecaelia, would be so easily swayed? They’re not so foolish as to give in to fear that easily! They’d never follow you! Not like this!” Allura shouted, straining against Acxa’s grip.

“Perhaps not,” Lotor amended with a nod. He brandished the shell. “Perhaps all they would need is a gentle nudge in the right direction. After sunset tonight, I’ll be more than able to give them just that.”

He glanced up at Acxa and Zethrid. “Take them to where Ezor and Narti are. Make sure the humans find them. I hope I don’t need to say that a second failure will not be tolerated, regardless of what the circumstances are.”

Acxa and Zethrid nodded obediently, and dragged their captives away. Lotor returned to considering the shell in his hand, this time smiling in an almost eager fashion. All he had to do was be patient for a little while longer. Only a few more hours, and the seven seas would be his for the taking.

All he had to do was wait. And make sure that the little princeling failed.

~*~

Keith didn’t see Lance before leaving.

Not for lack of trying, of course. Keith was up before the sun, and instead of getting something to eat or even checking to see how preparations for departure were going, he went straight to Lance’s room. He didn’t even know what he wanted to say. He’d been a little vague the night before, he knew, but had promised himself he would make everything crystal clear once he returned. So then, what was there for Keith to say? Maybe he wanted to ask about that strange feeling that had overcome him when he’d fallen over suddenly, that sudden urge to simply not do as he intended. Maybe he wanted to ask Lance where he’d come from, and why he’d come here, of all places, or if he had even intended to come here at all!

All these possible questions (which Keith wasn’t even sure he wanted ask anyways) were for naught. Lance wasn’t in his room. Keith tried not to be surprised, but they had been up pretty late the night before. The first place he checked was the sitting room they’d been in the night before, thinking that Lance had accidentally fallen asleep there. All Keith found was a puddle of wax that had once been the candle Lance burned his finger with.

So Keith took to wandering through the many massive halls of his lifelong home in search of a single person. He knew from past experience that it was a pain. He checked the kitchens, grabbing a small bite to eat when he found that Lance wasn’t there. None of the cooks had seen him either. He tried the dining room where Lance had joined them for dinner the first evening of his stay, thinking that if Lance had gotten lost he might stick to the first familiar place he found. No such luck. Keith felt a lead weight beginning to collect in his gut.

It didn’t help that Keith couldn’t dedicate too much of his time to looking for Lance. He asked any servant he came across if they’d seen Lance, and if they hadn’t, to keep an eye out for him. By the time Keith finally went out to inspect the ships, he very likely had the entire castle staff on the lookout. Still there was no word as he walked down to the docks. The sun was now fully over the horizon. Only a few more hours until Keith left.

Keith threw himself headfirst into preparations. Adam had gotten the librarians out in full force at the first light of day, scouring their records for anything and everything regarding mermaids. By the time Keith went down to conduct inspections the ships were being outfitted with extra harpoons and nets made of extra sturdy material. Three small boxes were waiting at the docks when Keith arrived. They were full of earplugs, a pair for each crewmember.

“Your Highness,” a curt greeting got Keith’s attention. Behind him were captains of two of the ships set to leave, Griffin and Kinkade.

Keith greeted them in an equally brisk manner. “How are things proceeding?”

“Smoothly, even with your decision to suddenly join in on the fun,” Griffin answered in a flat tone.

Keith raised an eyebrow. Griffin mirrored the action.

“We were told to expect to be at sea for no more than a week, so stocking rations has been easy enough,” Kinkade continued, smoothly cutting in between the two of them. “All the ships are ready to go in that sense. Right now we have the crews installing the harpoons and checking the nets to be sure that they’re secure. I expect you’ll be wanting to do an inspection of all the ships?”

Keith nodded, and the tedious work began. The sun rose steadily in the sky, beating down insistently on them. The ships and the crews that tended to them were impeccable. The captain of the flagship, the ship Keith would be aboard, was a gruff man that Keith had known much of his life. He’d butted heads with Iverson as a child, but now they had a mutual respect for one another. Unfortunately, that respect seemed to be eroding on Iverson’s end.

“Your Highness, you’re not actually taking the idea of mermaids seriously, are you?” Iverson asked, careful to keep his tone in check. “These country folk are out to make a fool of you.”

“So I thought, captain, until a mermaid tried to drown me last night,” Keith said plainly.

Iverson faltered at that. “You’re not serious.”

“Captain, as long as you’ve known me, have I ever joked like this?”

Iverson considered that. He was still wrestling with the idea when he slowly replied, “You’d cause trouble sometimes, but no, you’d never tell tall tales.”

Keith nodded, and moved to continue the inspection of the flagship. It was impeccable, of course. Iverson wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less. No doubt he’d had the crew give the entire ship an extra scrub down when word arrived that Keith would be joining them. They would not love Keith for that, but he could worry about that later.

“My grandfather liked to tell stories about mermaids, saying he’d seen them before,” Iverson commented.

“What did he say about them?”

“Only what every other storybook might tell you. That they were strange and beautiful and alluring, but he always added that even being half-fish merfolk weren’t so different from us. I always wrote it off as stories he liked to tell to entertain us kids, and then when he kept telling them as we got older I wrote it off as old age,” Iverson explained.

“He never gave details?” Keith prompted.

Iverson hummed. “He did like to tell a story about one merman in particular. I think he said his name was Dain or something of the sort. He’d tell us about how they were great friends, and often liked to meet up in shallow waters at low tide and trade food while talking about anything and everything. And then, he said, one day Dain stopped showing up. My grandfather didn’t know what to make of it, but he often liked to go down to the shore, saying that he hoped to see his friend again one day.”

“That’s… sad,” Keith offered lamely.

“It is, so long as it’s real,” Iverson replied with a shrug.

Keith chose not to respond to that statement. Iverson would see soon enough. In the meantime, there was an inspection to finish. When Keith stepped back onto the docks, Shiro was there. The sun was rapidly approaching its peak in the sky.

“How are things going?” Shiro asked in a low voice.

“As well as they can be, even with last minute additions,” Keith answered. His eyes glanced back towards the castle. He might have time to look around one last time--

“I hear you’ve been looking for Lance,” Shiro said. “There doesn’t seem to be a single person in the castle that you haven’t personally ordered to keep an eye out for him.”

Keith frowned. “I just… wanted to see him before I left.”

Shiro waited for him to continue without saying a word. Keith cursed Shiro’s seemingly limitless patience.

“I… last night I told him I’d be coming along this mission. He was upset, but I asked him if he would wait for me to come back. I guess I have my answer,” Keith explained, scowling.

Shiro put a reassuring hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s not what you think.”

“Sure,” Keith huffed. He shrugged Shiro’s hand off of him. “I need to get ready to leave.”

He did not search the castle a second time. None of the castle staff, from servant to steward, from maid to matron, had seen hide nor hair of Lance. Keith tried to tell himself he didn’t care, that Lance wasn’t obligated to stay. He never had been. Lance likely had a home, a family he wanted to get back to. As enthusiastic as he seemed, Keith considered for the first time that Lance might’ve been indulging Keith.

Still, there was some hope that he’d get to see Lance at least once before he left. That Lance would stop him as he walked out of the castle. That Lance would run after him on the docks. That Lance would appear, waving frantically as the ship shoved off. That Keith would see a lone figure on the increasingly distant shore, and somehow know in his heart who it was.

The sun was well overhead. The ships were out on open water, and all of Keith’s hopes had been in vain.

Out on open water, even people as sensible as Iverson became superstitious. Every once in a while Keith spotted more than one sailor peering down at the water. Keith himself was helpless against the paranoia brewing just underneath his skin. The cut on his face prickled uncomfortably under the bandage. Nothing jumped out of the water with alluring songs that threatened to draw them overboard. Even so, earplugs were passed out well before they reached the designated area.

Sometimes land peeked over the horizon. Most often it was out of sight, but never out of mind. The only indication that time was passing at all was the sinking of the sun towards the horizon. It was just about to dip into the ocean when the ships turned towards the land. Once it came into view, a silhouette of a prominent lighthouse, one built for the express purpose of dividing the coastline into distinct sections. These were officially eastern waters.

The tension on the ship instantly spiked. Keith could feel it in the air, almost as thick as the salt on the wind. Some sailors tried to joke about it, to break up the anxiety that settled on everyone’s shoulders. The other two ships pulled ahead of the flagship. The three ships would be stretched out in a loose line of patrol. Any trouble they encountered, they would face with only the men they shared a ship with. That the land was so near was not a solace as it would normally be.

Fishing boats were hurrying towards land as the sun was setting. Some of the sailors waved, clearly glad that they were being taken seriously by their rulers. Others looked on with solemn faces, deeply lined and weathered from years of sailing. The lines were deepened by duress. They left Keith feeling particularly unsettled.

The sun was halfway under the horizon. The ship had been drifting idly. The sailors were a bit more at ease. Several of them urged Keith to relax too. He couldn’t. He gripped the railing tightly, staring intently at the waters. He was certain of what happened to him. He knew what lurked in the fathoms below.

Finally, something happened.

It started with excited shouting towards the stern. Keith was there in an instant. Something huge was tugging at the nets they’d cast. Some were shouting that it was no fish. Keith was right beside the sailors struggling to pull the net up. Whatever it was was struggling harder than Keith had ever come across. His heart was thudding painfully in his chest. This was the moment. The moment that would prove him rightfully vigilant or unnecessarily paranoid.

When the net finally breached the surface with its haul, Keith and several other sailors nearly dropped it right back in. The entire crew was in an uproar. Behind him, Keith saw that Iverson was stunned into a stony silence. Tangled within the nets were two people--no, the crew collectively corrected themselves as their eyes fell upon two vividly colored tails.

Two merfolk. Undeniably real, and struggling against the reinforced netting. Iverson shook himself from his stupor long enough to shout at everyone to put in their earplugs. Keith and the sailors holding up the net couldn’t. If the merfolk tried anything though, there were enough able-bodied crew members to keep them from throwing themselves overboard.

“Let us go!” the white-haired mermaid with a radiant pink tail not unlike that of a lion-fish snarled. “We’re not the ones that have been drowning your people!”

Keith set himself, passing his length of rope to a nearby sailor.

“Why should we trust you?”

“Okay, I know there’s no reason you should trust us, but consider: you’ll make things a lot worse for yourself if you do anything to us,” the golden tailed merman insisted.

They seemed sincere to Keith. Perhaps that was the trick. Keith was resolved to not be drawn in so easily.

The sunset was casting a fiery glow across the waters.

“If you’re not the ones drowning our people, then who is?” Keith demanded.

Behind him, the crew was clamoring about something, no doubt thinking that the merfolk should be speared and strung up by their tails without delay. Keith was of a different mindset, it seemed. If he could get any information out of them, he would.

“Mermaids in the employ of a sea-witch, a cecaelia,” the lion-fish mermaid explained.

Iverson was shouting about something. Keith tuned him out as best he could.

Keith scoffed. “You really expect me to believe that?”

It almost sounded like someone was shouting back at Iverson, which Keith knew was impossible because Iverson did not tolerate insubordination of any sort. Keith kept to ignoring what was going on.

“Well, yeah,” the golden-tailed merman said. “That’s kind of why we’re telling you at all. That, and we don’t want you to skewer us. Please don’t skewer us.”

There were sounds of a scuffle behind Keith, one that he could no longer ignore. Keith huffed. He didn’t have time for this. He commanded the sailors at the net to hold their captives securely and turned around just in time to see Lance charging towards him with a knife in hand, a wild but determined look in his shining eyes. Keith dove out of the way, but Lance made for the net. With an incredible swing, Lance sliced through the rope holding the merfolk. It snapped without delay. The merfolk tumbled back down to the water.

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence. Lance looked out at the crew with steely resolve. Keith gaped at him like a fish out of water. The crew exploded with a vitriolic mix of fury and fear. Lance’s expression did not change. He held himself almost regally, Keith thought distantly. That was, until several members of the crew moved forward, threatening to throw him overboard since he was so keen on merfolk anyhow. Towards the middle of the deck, Keith heard Pidge shouting his name, trying to tell him something. He couldn’t hear them.

Shouting from the water had caught Keith’s attention instead.

“Lance!” the white-haired mermaid was shrieking. “Lance! You have to warn Lance! It’s Lotor! He--!”

But she disappeared under the water before she could relay her warning. Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon. The sun was still casting its last few desperate rays over the water. The angry shouting of the crew turned into a frenzied panic. Keith whirled around to see what was happening.

The crew had retreated midship. On the railing, across the ship from Keith, several tentacles were curling over the railing. Something was pulling itself up. Scratch that, Keith’s mind numbly informed him only a second later, someone. Someone not entirely unlike a merman, but with tentacles instead of a fish tail. He looked devilishly handsome, but wore an expression that twisted his refined features into something ugly. He was looking right at Lance.

“My dear, little princeling,” he rumbled, low and threatening. “You’ve worn my patience down to its sinew. I would wait for the sunset to finish you, but I’m certain you’d only find more ways to agitate me in that time.”

He advanced on Lance all the while. Lance seemed genuinely afraid, gripping the knife in his hand like a lifeline.

“It seems, then, that I’ll just have to finish you myself!”

~*~

When Allura and Hunk were caught by the mermaids working for Lotor and subsequently dragged away to be offered up as bait to humans, the sun was just starting to dip down in the sky. Allura’s exhaustion caught up to her in full force. Acxa was able to hold her down on her own, while Ezor and Zethrid held down Hunk (who struggled until he wore himself ragged). A fourth mermaid, a deep-sea mermaid that did not see as the rest of them did, could be seen prowling about. Allura guessed that she was keeping watch for the humans in whatever way she saw things.

Hunk and Allura were prevented from speaking to each other. Any time they tried to talk to one another, or even to the mermaids holding them captive they were promptly and harshly silenced. There was nothing for them to do but wait as the sun crawled steadily across the sky above.

Tired as she was, Allura’s consciousness wavered the entire time. Even then she was trying to think of a way out of this situation. There wasn’t much time left. The mermaids were murmuring among themselves. Allura could hardly make out what they were saying. Her eyes were burning. Disjointed thoughts drifted through her mind as idly as the current around them.

The light was beginning to fade when Narti returned again, this time making particular motions with her hands. Acxa’s grip on Allura tightened, and Zethrid grinned maliciously. Allura supposed the humans had arrived. Her head was throbbing. She had to think of something. A quick glance at Hunk told her he was thinking the same thing. Thankfully, the mermaids didn’t yet shove them to the surface.

“The human prince is with them?” Allura heard Ezor trill through the fog of her fatigue.

“Ezor, hush,” Acxa scolded lightly.

Allura’s thoughts started to align themselves more coherently. A human prince; they most likely meant Keith. And where Keith was, Lance was likely not far behind, but Allura wasn’t able to glean any more of what Narti was saying from the others. Had he managed to get his kiss? Or was he still working on it? Judging by the sunlight filtering through the water, if Lance still hadn’t gotten that kiss, he was cutting it awfully close.

“Do we get to drown the human prince?!” Zethrid asked eagerly.

“Zethrid, keep quiet,” Acxa insisted.

“What does it matter? It’s not like they can do anything!” Zethrid retorted, giving Hunk a light shake.

“It’s not like Lotor can either,” Allura snapped suddenly.

Acxa tightened her grip on Allura painfully. “Be quiet.”

“I’m really warning you for your own good.”

“Don’t bother. We know that no one knows where you are,” Ezor piped. “By the time they do find you, it’ll be too late.”

Allura rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I was talking about. His plan is going to fail.”

“How? He’s got the silvertongue, and as soon as your little friend is dead and gone, it’ll be all his,” Ezor said before being silenced again by Acxa.

The thoughts whirling around in Allura’s head were a messy jumble of everything she’d learned in the last two days, but occasionally she was able to pluck something from it, something that could fit together with the last idea she’d grabbed. She had to speak quickly and with confidence.

“What makes him so sure? What does he know about real magic?” Allura demanded.

Acxa twisted Allura’s arm hard. “I said be quiet.”

“He doesn’t have the silvertongue,” Allura continued anyways. “And he never will.”

None of the mermaids responded to Allura, but she saw them shift uncomfortably. Narti moved as though to look Allura in the eyes, but having no eyes of her own, it was a little disconcerting. Allura didn’t waver. It was like the answer she’d been scrambling for these past two days was finally within reach, right on the tip of her tongue, but it was almost too late to have found it. Almost.

“Besides, you haven’t been able to keep an eye on Lance this whole time. What makes Lotor so certain that he hasn’t already gotten the kiss he needs? The sun could set, and whether you drown the human prince or not won’t matter, because Lance’s life is already assured.”

Allura was rambling, she knew. Anything to buy herself and Hunk some time. At least the mermaids were letting her talk now.

“Interesting theories, princess,” a familiar voice drawled.

Allura’s mouth snapped shut.

“By all means, please tell me what you’ve learned about the silvertongue gift,” Lotor insisted as he slipped out of the shadows. Had he been there all along?! “It’s so hard to come across reliable sources on magic these days, but I understand that your kingdom has an extensive collection.”

The shell that Lotor had been considering the night before was now attached to a thick cord strung around his neck. His gleaming eyes were intent on Allura. Allura pressed her lips tightly together. The sight of Lotor plucking Lance’s voice right out of his throat was suddenly vivid in her mind’s eye.

“No need to get so shy now,” Lotor crooned, leaning in threateningly. “But if you need some encouragement, I’m more than willing to provide.”

~*~

The sun was rising on the third day. Lance was standing ankle deep in the shallow sea water, swaying with the waves. Lance supposed he should’ve at least tried to sleep, but he just didn’t see the point of it. His mind was far too consumed with the steady climbing of the sun above the horizon. Too consumed with how little time he had left. With what had happened the night before

Lance had been a child when his silvertongue gift had supposedly made itself apparent. A child, but on the cusp of adulthood. His family fondly teased him, calling him a little guppy. More than once Lance had gotten in trouble for fighting with his siblings. They would get in trouble for teasing him too much.

(Lance smiled at the memories.)

A stuffy diplomat from a deeper kingdom had come around. Having so many children to teach, Lance’s parents rotated which children attended meetings with them, with the exception of Veronica, who was first in line for the throne and always, insistently present. That day had been Lance’s turn. Veronica had already glared at him for fidgeting several times. Lance couldn’t help it. The diplomat had been deathly boring!

Deathly boring though the diplomat was, with nothing else to do, Lance found himself actually listening to the diplomat. He was from a deep water kingdom, a rather large and enterprising one at that. The kingdom that Lance’s family ruled was quite small in comparison. Young and aloof as he was, Lance knew that much.

Lance also knew, as soon as he started listening to the diplomat, that he didn’t like this merman. He was an aggressive negotiator. That was, he had an idea of what he expected, and would accept nothing less. More than once he’d shut down Veronica, and Lance didn’t like that one bit. Even his parents were having some difficulty in getting a word in with the diplomat. It was grating on Lance’s nerves.

It was when the diplomat shut Veronica down for the fourth or fifth time that Lance finally snapped. He shot up from his seat, startling all the adults in the room. Beside him, Veronica tried to get him to sit down again.

“Let her speak!” Lance commanded, sounding older than his years. “How do you expect to get any negotiating done when you won’t let anyone else speak?! One day Veronica will be queen and you’ll have no choice but to speak to her. Get used to it, now.”

Everyone in the room had been stunned, but none so much as the diplomat, who had gone slack-jawed and glassy eyed. Veronica moved to usher Lance out of the room while their parents readied apologies that Lance was convinced were unnecessary. The guy had it coming. Before any of that could happen, however, the diplomat spoke in a manner quite different from the way he’d been speaking only a moment before.

“Yes, of course, your Highness,” he’d droned.

The silence stretched on longer as everyone processed what had just happened. Lance felt a swell of pride at the time, not knowing the effect the moment would have on his entire life. The diplomat shook his head. He looked just as confused as everyone else in the room. He cleared his throat, and continued speaking. For the rest of the meeting, he was much more courteous, and Lance’s parents and Veronica were finally able to make some ground with him. He watched Lance with a wary eye the entire time.

Afterwards, the adults around Lance began whispering. They tried to hide it from him, but Lance heard more than they intended. It was only a matter of time before he outright asked one of them what, exactly, a silvertongue was.

Lance attended more meetings after that, all the adults looking expectantly at him all the while. But what had happened with that one diplomat never happened again. At least not as far as Lance noticed. Certainly he picked up on the art of diplomacy through all those meetings and negotiations, but everyone around him attributed that to his silvertongue gift. So, naturally, Lance began to resent it. He resented it so much that he jumped at the opportunity to get rid of it.

Or so he thought.

Keith had been swayed. It was only for an instant, and Lance hadn’t uttered a word, but it had happened all the same. Lance felt awful. Even if he hadn’t ultimately changed Keith’s mind, he almost had. Had there been times, in the past two days, when he’d been successful without even realizing it? After all, Keith had no real reason to be so interested in him. Lance was a stranger to him. A stranger that was hopelessly, foolishly in love with him.

Lance breathed in the ocean breeze that swept over him. He tried to quiet his thoughts, morbid as they were, but in the absence of his own voice, they seemed to scream.

“Lance!”

He jumped, having thought himself completely alone. He turned to see Pidge sprinting towards him. They stopped a few feet away, bent double as they tried to catch their breath.

“Keith is leaving,” they wheezed.

Lance nodded.

“You knew?!” they exclaimed. Then they grabbed Lance by the wrist. “Whatever, Keith is looking for you! If you hurry you might--”

They stopped short when Lance tugged against them, not following. They looked back at him, utterly confused.

“Lance, what are you doing? If you don’t kiss him, you’ll turn to seafoam. You’ll… I don’t want you to die,” Pidge pleaded softly.

Lance shook his head. He was too tired to try and explain everything with vague gestures. There was simply too much.

“I don’t understand,” Pidge said.

Lance didn’t move to explain.

“Lance, where’s Hunk?”

Lance made a vague motion out towards the sea.

“He’s gone…?” Pidge gasped. “But--no, he wouldn’t leave without a good reason, what happened?”

Lance shook his head.

“Lance, tell me what happened!”

Lance shook his head again, with a little more force.

“Lance!” Pidge demanded, their voice cracking. “You can’t give up! Not while the sun is still up!”

Lance turned back to the sea, gazing out towards the home he’d never get to see again. Pidge screeched in frustration and pushed Lance hard enough to knock him into an oncoming wave. The cold, salt water was a shock to Lance’s sun-warmed senses. He scowled at Pidge, who stood with fists clenched and shining eyes.

“You can’t just give up! I won’t let you! And if Hunk were here he wouldn’t let you either, and even though I don’t know her all that well, if Allura’s your friend she wouldn’t let you either!” Pidge cried as their eyes overflowed in a way that alarmed Lance. “I know there’s a lot going on right now, but you dying isn’t going to help anything!”

A knot tightened in Lance’s throat. He stood up and hugged Pidge tightly, a silent apology. Pidge clung to him as they shook a little. After a moment he pulled away and tried to wipe away the wetness from their face. He must’ve looked especially concerned, because they giggled a little at that.

“Do merfolk not cry?” they asked. “These are just tears, Lance. It happens when humans feel too much of something. It’s perfectly normal. Now get off of me, you’re soaked!”

In retaliation, Lance grabbed Pidge by the arms and tossed them right into the surf. They screamed at how cold it was, but they were laughing too. Lance couldn’t help but grin.

“Okay, now that we’re even,” Pidge griped. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Lance nodded, and crouched down to draw in the sand. Pidge crouched down beside him.

“You… and Keith? Yeah, that’s his mullet alright. Oh! This was at the lagoon last night? Okay… You guys were swimming… And two merfolk… Tried to drown you and Keith?! Is that why he’s going on this mission all of a sudden?!”

Lance nodded.

“Is it really merfolk drowning humans?” Pidge asked.

Lance pointed to his drawing of the mermaids that had attempted to drown himself and Keith. Then he drew a figure with far too many limbs. He tapped his throat, and then pointed back at the many-limbed drawing.

“The one who took your voice, the one who made you human… this sea-witch is doing it?”

Lance nodded.

“Why?!” Pidge asked in exasperation. “Doesn’t he know that humans will retaliate?”

Lance nodded again.

“He knows… but then why--Unless he wants to antagonize relations between humans and merfolk again?”

Slowly, for a third time, Lance nodded.

Pidge fell back to sit in the sand, holding their head in their hands. “This is so much bigger than I thought… I mean, I knew about the fisherman’s petition, but I also knew that Keith and Shiro didn’t really take it seriously, which is why I was so confused when Keith decided to go investigate for himself, but if he knows without a doubt that merfolk are real, and if he manages to find one--”

They stopped short and stood up. Lance followed, confused.

“We have to get on one of those ships,” they decided.

Lance agreed, but wasn’t sure how they would go about doing that. Pidge thankfully, was well practiced in the art of the stowaway.

It was almost midday. Lance and Pidge were crouched behind a large stack of crates. The crews of all three ships were assembled neatly on the docks before them. Keith was there, glancing frequently back towards the castle, but was otherwise a picturesque prince. Lance sighed quietly at the sight of him. Pidge tugged at the front of his shirt. According to them, they had a very narrow window of opportunity when it came to sneaking aboard a ship. In this case especially, the captain of the flagship was all too familiar with Pidge’s antics. Their only advantage, Pidge had explained, was that Iverson had no reason to expect that Pidge might join this expedition.

The crews were dismissed to finish preparing to shove off. Pidge tugged at Lance again. It was time to move. Lance stooped down to Pidge’s height, trying to remain unseen. They whispered to him to not do that. The key, they told him, was acting like they belonged. They found a smaller box marked for the cargo hold of the flagship. They took one end of it, and motioned for Lance to take the other. Together, they carried it right up the cargo ramp. No one spared them a second glance. Lance’s heart was hammering all the while.

Pidge led them through the cargo hold of the ship, taking the box towards the back where crates were already stacked high and tied securely in place. Pidge set the box down in a corner towards the back, and Lance followed suit. Then they settled themselves behind the box in the corner.

Lance blinked. Was it really this easy? Pidge grinned. Apparently it was.

Until it wasn’t.

“Hey, who brought this box in?” someone asked.

“Don’t know,” another voice grunted.

“They didn’t put it in the right place--don’t they know how Iverson is by now!” the first voice huffed.

Pidge and Lance retreated further into their corner. There was nowhere for them to go, nowhere to hide. All they could do was sink into the shadows and hope the sailor didn’t notice. Heavy footsteps were steadily approaching when Lance had an idea. He moved forward, putting himself in front of Pidge. They tugged at his shirt frantically, but Lance stilled them.

The sailor came into view. She stooped over, intending to drag the box over to where it was supposed to go, but stopped short. Something had caught her eye. She stood up, and her eyes locked with Lance’s.

Let us be, Lance thought with all his might. Pretend we aren’t here!

She opened her mouth, eyes widening.

Don’t see us! Lance insisted. It’s not worth the trouble!

Slowly, the sailor closed her mouth. Her eyes went out of focus, looking past Lance and Pidge. Lance continued to focus on the last thought, that it wasn’t worth the trouble, that it was someone else’s problem, that someone else would find them eventually. The sailor sighed. Then she bent over and began to drag the box away, without any indication that she’d seen them at all.

Behind him, Pidge breathed a sigh of relief.

“Was that magic?” Pidge asked incredulously.

Lance slumped against the wall and sank down. Part of him hadn’t actually expected that to work. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, that he could exert his own will over someone else’s. That the silvertongue gift he’d rejected for so much of his life was actually something real that he could control.

He looked up at Pidge, who was still waiting for an answer, and nodded.

No more sailors came peeking into their corner. The cargo hold was shut into a stuffy and near-impenetrable darkness. Sailors migrated to the upper decks, their voices and footsteps becoming muffled above them. At some point the ship lurched; the sails had been dropped, the anchors raised. They were well on their way.

The only problem was, with no windows in the cargo hold, there was no telling where they were. No telling where the sun was in the sky. Pidge told Lance to leave it all to them. They crept through the darkness expertly, leaving Lance to his thoughts in that dark corner. Lance hoped they could come out of hiding soon.

Pidge came back quickly with an armful of food.

“Iverson always makes sure to over-prepare,” they explained, tossing Lance a chunk of bread. “It’s a bit past midday, so we’ve got a ways to go. I heard some of the crew saying we’d get there before sunset. I can probably get Keith by himself, and I don’t think it’d hurt to explain things to him now--”

Lance shook his head, a motion that Pidge could barely see.

“What do you mean, ‘no’? Keith is head over heels for you already, telling him what’s going on wouldn’t change that,” Pidge insisted.

Lance shook his head again, and then gestured to the space in front of them, miming a person walking away with two fingers. Then he vaguely motioned upwards, then towards himself, making a heart with his hands. He shook his head again.

It took Pidge a moment to get what he was trying to say. “You’re… not saying that you spelled Keith into loving you, are you?”

Lance shrugged.

“You don’t know? How do you--wait, do you mean you might’ve spelled him accidentally?”

Lance nodded.

Pidge bumped their head into the wall behind them, groaning in frustration.

“Lance, Keith is definitely not under the influence of any mer-magic,” Pidge half-laughed.

Lance made an uncertain motion with his hands.

“I saw you working that magic first-hand. That sailor looked like you fried her brain. There hasn’t been one moment that Keith has looked like that when looking at you. Trust me, I’ve been watching,” Pidge insisted.

Except for the night before, Lance thought to himself. Still, Pidge had a point. He couldn’t recall anytime that Keith had really seemed to lose focus around him. He always looked directly at Lance, fond and smiling. Lance smiled to himself. Pidge snorted.

“The both of you are hopeless,” they said. “So, of course, you’re perfect for each other.”

According to Pidge, they just had to wait for Keith to be alone before dragging him off to explain everything. It wouldn’t do either of them any good to be caught by the crew. They’d take them straight to Iverson, who wouldn’t bother listening to anything they had to say. All he would see were two stowaways, one of which was a known troublemaker. He would be sure to lock them up tight and keep them out of the way until they returned to land. There would be no getting to Keith then.

So they waited. Pidge scurried away every once in a while, leaving Lance to listen to the lull of waves just outside. Were it not for the tight deadline and everything else weighing on Lance’s mind, it would’ve been rather soothing, and all of this just another exciting adventure. It occurred to him during one of those quiet moments that he’d never been in a ship that hadn’t been sunk first. He wished he could explore it himself. Perhaps if everything went well, he could. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest; he was trying not to get too lost in the best case scenario.

Pidge came back after a tenth (eleventh? twentieth?) such excursion in the same manner they’d come back from all the others: unsuccessful and frustrated.

“He’s staying topside,” Pidge huffed. “There’s no way I can get his attention without getting spotted and the sun is setting!”

If Lance had a voice, he might’ve admitted that he was feeling uneasy in that moment. More than uneasy. He was scared, nauseatingly so. His hands felt like they were shaking, but when he held them up to look, they were perfectly still. Lance hugged himself tightly. If they could just get Keith’s attention without the rest of the crew noticing--

Lance perked up suddenly, hitting Pidge’s arm a little to hard in his excitement. He tapped his chest lightly, and then wiggled his fingers away. He covered his eyes and then ended with a double thumbs-up. Pidge stared.

“Oh!” they gasped after a moment. “You want to use your magic on anyone that might see us!”

Lance nodded eagerly. Now that he knew he had it, he decided he may as well use it.

“Alright then, let’s go, we don’t have much time!” Pidge urged.

Much as Lance wanted to be excited about seeing the rest of the ship, there was no more room in his chest for it. Pidge led the way with an air of certainty. Lance kept close, in case they came across any crew members. At first, everything was quiet. Good as that was for them, something about it didn’t sit well with Lance. It only served to agitate his nerves further.

Then the deck above them exploded with shouting. Something was happening. Lance and Pidge exchanged a quick glance. Someone ran down, calling for all hands on deck. Pidge looked at Lance. Moment of truth.

The narrow passages were filled with sailors in an instant. It took only seconds before they were spotted by several sailors. Lance took a deep breath, trying to focus. There was shouting, a lot of shouting. Pidge was tapping his arm. Lance was trying to focus, trying to tell them that they had better things to do than worry about a couple of stowaways, but not a single one of them were swayed. No mysterious fog descended over their eyes. None of their jaws went slack.

Instead, several pairs of hands grabbed at them and roughly dragged them up topside.

“Captain!” one of the sailors shouted. “We’ve got a problem!”

“Tell me something I don’t--” Iverson started, wheeling around and stopping short when he saw what his crew had discovered.

The majority of the crew was converged on one spot, but Lance couldn’t see why. Pidge was trying to peer through all the bodies to see what it was. In the midst of them all, Lance could see Keith. Beyond him, the intense rays of the setting sun. There wasn’t much time.

Meanwhile, Iverson looked ready to explode.

“I would’ve thought that you had the sense to leave such an important mission alone!” he shouted, speaking more to Pidge than to Lance. “We don’t have time for children’s games--!”

“None of us do! I know how important this is, that’s why we came!” Pidge shouted back.

Lance was still trying to see what was going on. He could see that some of the sailors were holding fast to a rope, but what it was attached to was just out of his sight. Keith was wearing a fierce expression, speaking to someone--but who?! If Lance could just lean a little to his left, then maybe he could catch a glimpse…

The sailors that held fast to him jerked him back just as Lance’s heart froze mid-beat. It had been the barest glance, but Lance would know those tails anywhere. How had they ended up here?! Lance decided it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting them free. Lance scanned his surroundings for something, anything. In front of him, Iverson was still locked in a shouting match with Pidge. On his belt he wore a large, practical knife. That would do.

Lance took a deep breath.

Then he pushed back on the sailors holding him as hard as he could. Before anyone could register what was happening, Lance jerked forward and snatched Iverson’s knife right out of its sheath. He sprinted as fast as his legs would take him. He must’ve looked especially wild, because no one dared stand in his way. Even Keith dove out of his way. There would be time for explanations later (hopefully). Lance raised the knife and brought it down on the taut rope as hard as he could. It cut through easily, and Allura and Hunk tumbled down into the water.

That, then, was one less thing for him to worry about. It was quickly replaced by another when Lance saw the fearful, angry expressions of the entire crew. Fearful humans were dangerous, his mind helpfully reminded him. They were yelling, all of them, saying how he had doomed them all, that they’d all meet their end at the bottom of the sea. Some of them had it in their heads that Lance would be better off overboard. Lance glanced at the choppy waves below. He wasn’t sure he was a good enough swimmer for that yet.

Just as it seemed Lance had to choose between throwing himself overboard or being forced, someone screamed, shrill and far more fearful than before. Everyone’s attention turned portside. A tentacle, followed shortly by several others, was creeping over the side.

Lance held the knife close as Lotor pulled himself on deck. The sun’s last rays were clinging desperately to the horizon, as if trying to give Lance a little more time.

“My dear, little princeling,” Lotor began as he advanced on Lance.

Lance held the knife in front of him. The sun was just about set, what in the seven seas could Lotor possibly want from him?!

“You’ve worn my patience down to its sinew. I would wait for the sunset to finish you, but I’m certain you’d only find more ways to agitate me in that time.”

Lance was all too aware of how quickly his breath was coming. His heart was beating so fast it felt numb. His fingers and toes were tingling. Was this the fear, or was Lance turning to seafoam already? Lotor kept on his steady advance, handsome features twisted into a fierce snarl.

“It seems, then, that I’ll just have to finish you myself!”

Lotor lunged at Lance with terrifying speed. Lance swung the knife, but too early; he sliced through empty air. Lotor grabbed his wrist with a tentacle and twisted until Lance was forced to drop the knife. Lance found himself dragged forward in spite of how he was digging his heels into the rough wood of the deck. Lotor’s hands were around his neck in an instant; Lance distantly noted that it was still tender from the near drowning the night before.

“Your silvertongue will be mine if I have to rip you to pieces to get it!” Lotor snarled as Lance kicked helplessly against him.

Meanwhile the knife had skittered across the deck, coming to a halt just at Keith’s feet. There was no question in Keith’s mind as he picked it up. Sure, Lance had secrets. He did things Keith couldn’t even begin to understand, but so desperately wanted to. Sometimes Lance looked like he wanted so badly to tell Keith something, but just couldn’t. Sometimes strange things occurred around Lance that were terribly dangerous, terribly suspicious.

Yet through it all he smiled at Keith like he put the stars in the sky. His enthusiasm had lit up Keith’s life in a way he hadn’t known possible. He sprinted towards the creature that was so insistent on ending Lance’s life. If he thought he was going to take Lance away from Keith so easily, he had another thing coming.

Just as Keith sank the knife near the base of one of Lotor’s tentacles, Lance had wrestled a hand free and grabbed at the cord around Lotor’s neck. Lotor screamed and threw Keith across the deck. Keith slammed hard into the railing; the knife went sailing into the water below. The sun had almost completely disappeared beneath the waves.

Some of the crew rushed forward to help their prince, distracting Lotor for the briefest instant. It was all Lance needed. He kicked Lotor right in his middle, the sensitive spot where skin met tentacles, and yanked as hard as he could on the cord. It snapped as Lotor doubled over. His grip on Lance loosened enough for him to pull free.

One last ray of sunshine nearly blinded Lance as he stumbled over, and smashed the shell with his hand against the deck.

Lance hardly had time to register the pain in his hand as a veritable gale threatened to rip the air from his lungs. His entire body felt like it had been flooded with ice, his legs felt like they were being stabbed with shards of broken glass. Through it all, he vaguely registered the taste of salt on his lips. Had he been too late? Had he turned to seafoam after all?

“Lance!”

Keith’s voice cut through the all the overwhelming noise like a beacon in the night. Lance whipped his head up, breathing hard. The sun had set. His hand was bleeding and his legs didn’t feel right. They felt like--

“He’s one of them!” one of the sailors screeched.

Lance didn’t care about them. Instead his eyes found Keith, whose eyes were fixed on the bright blue tail that had taken the place of Lance’s legs. His expression was unreadable. Was he confused? Shocked? Did he feel as though Lance had lied to him all along? Lance hoped not.

“Keith--” he started, and then gasped. Keith’s eyes widened further.

Lotor, meanwhile, had recovered and was positively livid. He dragged Lance back to him by the tail and coiled a tentacle around his throat.

“Rescinded bargain or no,” Lotor snarled. “It makes no difference to me!”

And then Lance was being dragged bodily towards the edge of the ship, where Lotor perched precariously on the edge. Lance resisted all the while, gasping and feeling utterly helpless. Lotor turned towards Keith with a smirk.

Without a word, he disappeared under the roiling waves with Lance in tow.

Keith waited for the space of a breath. Then he sprang into action, grabbing a harpoon and hoisting himself up onto the railing.

“Your Highness--!” Iverson protested fiercely over the shrieking winds.

Keith didn’t even spare him a glance as he dove into the waves after Lance.

“Damn fool of a prince is going to get himself killed,” Iverson growled. “Man the harpoons! Cast the nets! If you see anything that isn’t the prince, fire on sight!”

“Don’t, some of those merfolk are on our side!” Pidge shouted.

Iverson turned to them once more, and a second storm began to brew.

Below the surface, things were no more calm. The currents raged, not one of them following their usual paths. Allura and Hunk were struggling against Lotor’s mermaids again. Lance was still being dragged like a ragdoll behind Lotor.

“So, tell me princess, which part of your friend do I have to rip out of him to get what I want?” Lotor demanded. “Or will I have to kill him and find out for myself?!”

“Don’t!” Allura pleaded. “It’s not something you can take from him!”

“We’ll see about that,” Lotor sneered. To the mermaids he said, “Offer them up to the humans. I’m sure they’re more than eager by now to put their harpoons through merfolk tails.”

While Lotor talked, Lance searched for a way to get free. Brute force wasn’t working. Lotor had him well overpowered. He needed something to work with, a weapon, preferably something sharp. The ocean seemed to answer his pleas as a particularly fierce current brought the stolen knife back to him, settling in the silt just within Lance’s reach. Before Lotor could haul him away again, Lance sliced up on the tentacle that held fast around his neck.

Lotor roared as the end of his tentacle fell away. Zethrid reacted first, releasing Hunk to slam into Lance right where skin met scales. Lance’s nerves screamed with pain from the tips of his fingers to the ends of his fins. Behind Zethrid, Ezor and Narti were left to deal with Hunk, who seized the opportunity to break free of his captors. Acxa, distracted by Lotor’s injury, struggled to keep Allura in check.

“I may’ve failed in killing you before,” Zethrid cried victoriously as she pinned Lance to the ocean floor. “But I won’t fail again!”

Only as soon as the words left her lips a harpoon suddenly sprouted from her side. Her resulting gasp was small and frail, quite unlike anything Lance had heard from her before. The hands on Lance loosened enough for him to break free as Zethrid keeled over, hand grabbing weakly at the harpoon. Everyone looked up to see where the harpoon had come from.

Floating near the surface of the water, with a fire in his eyes that could not be quenched by the entire ocean was Keith. Keith, who was now conspicuously weaponless and vulnerable. Lotor, still reeling from his injury, bared his teeth viciously.

“Get him!” he commanded of the mermaids that could still swim.

Lance made to get there first, to swim Keith to safety and hopefully convince him to stay there, but just as he launched himself up, Lotor dragged him back down. Lance had to admit, he was getting really sick of Lotor throwing him around like this. He turned to scowl fiercely at Lotor’s furious expression while Allura and Hunk swam to help Keith.

“I will get that silvertongue from you, mark my words!” Lotor hissed.

“I get the feeling that if you need magic to get folks to listen to you, maybe you’re not worth listening to in the first place!” Lance spat, nearly sputtering over the feeling of his voice.

Lotor did not take kindly to that retort. “You don’t even know how to use it!”

“You don’t even know what it is!”

Instead of replying, Lotor grabbed the severed portion of his own tentacle and began speaking in a tongue that did not sound at all natural. The blood still oozing from the severed limb began to bubble and fizz. Above the water, lightning flashed dangerously, the thunder deafening even underwater. The severed limb seemed to dissolve into an eerie, glowing foam around Lotor’s hand, and when it cleared away he held a long, delicate knife in his fist, poised to strike.

Lance brought up his knife just in time to block Lotor’s strike. He flipped his tail and twirled out of Lotor’s reach. Lotor pursued him doggedly as the storm overhead raged on.

Said storm was a major inconvenience for Allura and Hunk, who were helping Keith stay above water where he could breathe while fighting off three mermaids at once. In addition they had to keep an eye on the humans on the ship, even as it was tossed around like a fragile toy. Already one harpoon had sailed dangerously close over their heads. Allura was fed up with it.

“Are your own people so daft that they can’t see we’re trying to help you?!” she demanded of Keith.

“They probably think I’m in danger!” Keith sputtered as another wave slapped him in the face. “Just stay close to me, if we’re lucky they’ll hit one of the other mermaids!”

“And if we’re not lucky?!” Hunk asked.

Keith didn’t immediately reply. “Let’s just hope we’re lucky.”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Keith was yanked from their grasp and pulled underwater. Two harpoons loosed immediately, almost hitting their marks. Allura and Hunk wasted no time in diving back underwater after Keith. Narti and Ezor held fast to him even as he kicked and struggled, while Acxa darted towards Allura and Hunk with a harpoon in hand.

Hunk and Allura split, allowing her to speed right past them. Hunk swam to help Keith. Allura was left to deal with Acxa, weaponless and exhausted beyond belief. Allura didn’t want to have to kill her, but it seemed Acxa was intent on doing just that to her. Behind her, Hunk managed to wrestle Keith away from Narti and Ezor. Another harpoon shot through the water, slicing so narrowly past Narti as to leave a cut on her arm. She didn’t seem to react to it.

Acxa charged at Allura again with devastating speed. The tip of the harpoon caught the skin just above Allura’s torso, but she ignored the sting. Instead, she grabbed the staff of the harpoon and tried to wrest control of it from Acxa. In strength, it seemed, they were evenly matched.

Ezor and Narti were grabbing at Keith again while Hunk tried to bring him back up to the surface. Not far below, Lance and Lotor’s knives were locked together again, neither having a particular advantage over the other. It was an all around stalemate. Anyone could take the day.

It didn’t stay that way for long.

Lotor grabbed hold of the hand that Lance had cut open on shards of the shell that had trapped his voice. He swiped a thumb across the wound, speaking in the strange tongue of his once more. Lance tried to pull away, but Lotor had him in an iron grip. Lance didn’t want his blood boiling in his veins. Fortunately, that’s not what happened.

Unfortunately, Lotor’s palm began to glow with some mysterious force that Lance quickly decided he wanted nothing to do with. Lotor grinned as he swiped at Lance with his glowing hand. Lance barely managed to roll out of the way.

“Merfolk blood is such an effective ingredient in alchemy,” Lotor said. “Yet so tragically difficult to come by. I wonder if your blood will be any different from the blood I’ve used before!”

He thrust his hand towards Lance, issuing a blast of energy that struck Lance square in the chest. Lance struggled to breathe as he was sent careening through the water. Before he could recover, Lotor was on him again. He pinned Lance down with several tentacles. Lance realized in horror that he’d lost his knife. Lotor held his glowing hand aloft. His own knife was still grasped tightly in his other hand.

Before Lotor could deliver his blow, a harpoon shot just in front of him, leaving a long, thin cut across Lotor’s chest in its wake. Both Lotor and Lance looked to see where it had come from. It was Keith once again, this time supported by Hunk. Narti and Ezor were racing towards them. Lotor drew back his hand, attention solely on Keith and Hunk now.

Just as his hand shot forward, Lance launched himself up and grabbed at Lotor, trying to stop Lotor. He was a second too late. An arc of energy shot through the water, but Lotor’s hand jerked wildly when Lance threw himself at him. The blast went right past Keith and Hunk and instead collided with Narti, whose form seemed to fizzle violently, and then dissolved into the water around them.

Ezor, who had not been far from Narti, looked horrified. Even Acxa, who was still wrestling with Allura, took pause at what had just transpired. Lotor spared just as much sentiment for Narti as he had for Zethrid; that was, none. Instead he turned his attention back to Lance. His hand was no longer glowing, but Lance had a feeling Lotor didn’t intend for it to stay that way as he raised his knife instead.

Allura looked from where Narti had been so callously dispatched to where Lance was in real trouble with Lotor. She was still in a stalemate with Acxa. She jerked against the harpoon between them as hard as she could, as she had done before. Only this time Allura whipped back as Acxa suddenly released the harpoon. Allura finally had the advantage. She did not, however, take it. Not as she looked at Acxa, who before had seemed so fierce, so dedicated, and saw a real, genuine fear. But not of Allura.

“Go,” she told Acxa.

Acxa’s eyes widened.

“Go!” Allura commanded.

Acxa, or at least her sense of self-preservation, didn’t need telling twice. She swam towards Ezor, who was still reeling over Narti’s destruction at Lotor’s hand and immediately swam for deeper waters. All that was left to deal with was Lotor. And, Allura mentally added as another harpoon plunged into the water, the humans above that were no doubt scared senseless.

Said humans could hardly keep a hold of themselves as wave after wave pummeled the ship. Several times now Pidge had nearly been swept right overboard, only to be caught by some helpful hand or other. If they were a better swimmer, they might’ve already joined Keith and the friendly merfolk.

Meanwhile, Iverson was still refusing to listen to them. The sailors were jumpy and unable to see clearly. Pidge was certain that of the harpoons fired thus far, none of them had been at actual targets. They had to get out of this storm, but Iverson refused to leave without Keith. Noble as that was, Pidge knew he was in safe hands. Iverson believed otherwise.

So Pidge did what they did best. With no hands holding them back, they caused all manner of trouble on deck. They filched a knife off of one of the sailors and set to cutting away all the nets that could potentially tangle up their friends. Between the storm and the harpooners looking out for merfolk, no one took any notice of Pidge.

Next order of business: the harpoons. Shoddy as their aim was, there was always a chance that the sailors could hit their friends. Pidge was under no illusion that they could fight off every sailor that had a harpoon, but they could at least make things harder for them. First they cut loose all the spare harpoons overboard when no one else was looking and allowed them to tumble overboard. At the very least, it meant that the crew would run out of harpoons sooner than later.

All the sailors not on harpoon duty were running around like headless chickens trying to secure the sails. No one was watching where they were going. Even Pidge hadn’t spared a thought to it until the were running around the fore of the ship, and saw in a brief instant of illumination by lightning a massive outcropping of rocks. They swore to themself as they pounded across the deck to find Iverson.

“Captain!” they shouted over the storm.

On instinct, Iverson turned, but scowled when he saw Pidge.

“I don’t have time for your sabotage--”

“There’s rocks ahead! We’re going to crash!” Pidge interrupted.

Iverson halted momentarily, but then continued to shut Pidge down. Pidge had just about had it with him.

“Did it ever occur to you that my life is in just as much risk as anyone else’s on this boat?!” they hollered at the top of their lungs. “I don’t need to be a troublemaker when there’s already this much trouble going on! Now get this ship turned around before we all--”

A horrible, gut-wrenching crunch could be heard over the waves, and the ship jolted backwards. They were too late. Thankfully Iverson didn’t think to waste his time trying to exert his authority over Pidge again.

“Abandon ship! Make for land! I want at least one harpooner in each lifeboat! If you see the prince, get him to safety!”

He grabbed Pidge by the back of their shirt, throwing them on the first dinghy he saw. Several sailors clambered in after Pidge and immediately dropped it down to the water. They were almost instantly overwhelmed by the storm. Pidge scanned the waters for their friends. The harpooners were far more likely to hit a target they saw this close to the water, even in spite of the storm. Pidge could stop the one harpooner on their dinghy, but not all the others. They could only hope that their friends managed to stay safe.

Beneath the waves the currents ran wild. Were Keith not holding tight to Hunk, he very likely would’ve been swept away already. They’d resurfaced for a moment, and Hunk tried to put Keith up on the outcropping of rocks that the ship had just crashed against. Keith refused to stay.

“If you want me to stay you’ll have to keep me here yourself!” he shouted when Hunk pleaded with him to stay.

There must’ve been something in his tone that brooked no argument, because Hunk resignedly held out a hand. Keith took it, and together they dove back into the waves.

Allura had gone after Lotor with a harpoon, but her aim had been way off and in her haste to keep Lotor from harming Lance she’d gotten herself tangled up in Lotor’s tentacles. Lotor turned his attention back to Lance, who was securely pinned down and rapidly tiring. Lotor took another swipe of the blood from Lance’s hand. He turned to Allura.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?”

Before he could try anything, however, Hunk and Keith charged, instantly overwhelming Lotor even with all his tentacles. He yelled incoherently, and instead of blasting Allura he aimed down, causing a cloud of silt and sand to erupt all around them. Lance felt hands grabbing for him as Lotor’s tentacles released him. He took them, trusting that they were hands of a friend and not foe, and shot up to the surface.

The hand in his was Keith’s, who coughed and gasped as soon as they reached the surface. Lance and Hunk helped him up onto the rocks so he could breathe a little easier. Beside them, Allura leaned against the rocks, utterly spent. The storm was howling furiously.

“Did we win?” Hunk asked tentatively.

“I doubt it,” Allura said. “Most likely Lotor intends to--”

But what she thought Lotor intended to do was lost as the ship crashed into the rocks at that very moment, the sound almost as overwhelming as thunder. They could only watch as the crew scrambled to abandon the rapidly sinking ship. Lance inhaled sharply.

“Pidge is still on that ship! We have to help them!”

“Lance, wait!” Keith shouted, grabbing hold of Lance’s wrist before he could go too far. “They still have harpoons! They could end up spearing you clean through, no matter what your intentions.”

“I can make them believe my intentions!” Lance insisted.

“It’s too dangerous!”

“They’re in danger too!”

“I know that!”

“Then let me help!”

“I can’t lose you, Lance!” Keith all but screamed. Lance finally stopped struggling against him. “I thought I lost you once--I can’t do that again!”

Their eyes locked, Lance’s on the verge of crumbling resolve and Keith’s on the brink of desperation. His mop of black hair was a sopping mess. Lance found him all the more handsome for it. Keith was holding Lance’s hand now, the injured one, gently drawing his fingers across the wound as though that alone could heal it.

Beside them, nearly forgotten, Hunk spoke, “We can do it. We can get everyone to land safely.”

“What?!” Keith and Lance snapped simultaneously.

“I know it’s dangerous, but they only got about one harpoon per dinghy, if that, and they’re more concerned about not capsizing. If we’re quick and careful, they’ll see that we’re helping them, right?” Hunk reasoned, voice trembling all the while.

Allura considered the idea. “If we start where Pidge is, that might make things easier. And if we bring Keith with us, they’re far less likely to fire. At least I hope they are.”

“What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go!” Lance exclaimed.

This time, Keith had no argument. He took Lance’s offered hand and held tight as they plowed through the stormy waters together, Allura and Hunk’s vivid tails acting like a beacon in the dark as they led the way. Lance tried to stay above the surface as much as he could for Keith’s sake, but the towering waves made that difficult to accomplish.

As they approached the group of lifeboats, several harpooners noticed the approaching mermaids and raised the harpoons in warning.

“Stay your hands!” Keith commanded as loudly as he could.

A harpoon flew overhead anyways.

“I said stay your hands!” Keith repeated, voice cracking under the strain. “They’re here to help!”

“Very persuasive,” Lance mumbled into Keith’s ear. Before Keith could retort, Lance continued, “Now, let’s get you into one of those boats!”

“No,” Keith refused, clinging tighter around Lance’s waist. “I’m not letting you go.”

“You won’t be! I just need to make sure you’re safe--!”

No sooner had those words left Lance’s lips than Keith slipped right out of his grasp and under the waves. Lance didn’t hesitate to follow him down. Lotor was waiting, tentacles curled around Keith and the knife to his throat. Lance halted. The threat was clear.

“Now, little princeling,” Lotor began, tapping the tip of the blade against Keith’s skin. “This has gone on long enough, hasn’t it? Give yourself up, and I’ll spare your darling human prince.”

It was a lie, Lance knew it, but what other option did he have? Keith was shaking his head as much as he could, but between the lack of air, Lotor’s hold on him, and the knife held against him, there was only so long he could last if Lance didn’t do as Lotor said. But Lotor would dispose of Keith anyways, if only for the sole purpose of breaking Lance. Lance couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.

Lance’s posture went from resigned to resolved.

“No.”

Lotor actually looked surprised. “No? And here I thought you loved him!”

“I do,” Lance said. “But I’m not going to give myself up to you, and you’re not going to kill him!”

Lotor tossed his head back and laughed.

“You really think you can exert your will over me?!” he sneered. “I’ll give you one last chance--it’s all he has time for anyways--give yourself up, and I might let him live.”

The currents rushed past them as fierce as any gale.

“Let him go!” Lance commanded.

The thrum of the waves pounded in his head.

Lotor grinned maliciously.

A cacophony of thunder rumbled overhead, the sound shaking Lance to his very core.

“Very well,” Lotor said, poising his knife to strike. “His fate is thusly sealed.”

The surface of the water dipped dangerously low as the ocean prepared for a strike of its own.

Allura and Hunk were in danger.

Pidge and the other humans were in danger.

Keith was in an incredible amount of immediate danger and Lance could feel his thoughts screaming, a sound that grated his nerves down to his bones until Lance could hardly stand it anymore.

Blue eyes met yellow in a flash of lightning.

“Stop!”

Above the water, Allura and Hunk didn’t realize that Keith and Lance had disappeared until it was too late. Even with Pidge trying to convince everyone that Allura and Hunk were on their side, several harpoons were raised and ready to strike. Allura and Hunk were certain they couldn’t dodge them all. Before the humans could strike, however, a massive wave threatened to swallow them all up. It was just as treacherous for Allura and Hunk as it was for any of the humans.

Thunder boomed. Lightning flashed.

Just as Hunk and Allura were bracing for impact, a shockwave rippled through the water. The wave that threatened to decimate them all collapsed instead of breaking over their heads. Above them, the storm stopped abruptly, clouds clearing away as though commanded.

In the fathoms below, the Lotor jolted back as though slapped in the face. Keith kicked free of Lotor’s hold and immediately swam to the surface for air. Lance couldn’t find the strength to follow. He was sinking down, all but the barest remnants of life sapped from him. At least Keith was safe, he thought as the edges of his vision darkened. At least Lotor had been stopped.

His vision sharpened once more as he was grabbed around his middle and slammed into the ground, his head hitting a rock hard. Lotor, consumed with wrath and practically feral, held Lance down with his tentacles as he held his knife aloft. Lance was helpless to stop him. He couldn’t even muster the strength to command Lotor to stop again. Lance closed his eyes, consciousness already fading as Lotor brought his blade down.

His last thought was that at least Keith was safe.

Lance didn’t see Lotor stop suddenly. Lance didn’t hear the grunt of agony that Lotor let out. He didn’t see the harpoon shoot through Lotor’s chest. He didn’t see as Lotor let the knife drop, hardly making a sound as his body slowly dissolved into sea foam.

Keith, swimming just above Lotor, saw it all. When his harpoon found its mark, he swam down through the newly formed foam to grab Lance. He knew Lance couldn’t drown, that it was impossible, but Keith wanted to make sure he was okay without having to worry about drowning himself. It was a struggle, hauling Lance up to the surface, but Keith managed.

“Lance!” Keith gasped as soon as he could. Lance didn’t respond; his head lolled to one side.

Keith grunted as he scrambled to get them both up on the nearest rock. Lance was dead weight all the while. Keith didn’t realize his hands were shaking until he was on his knees, bent over Lance and turning his face towards him.

“Lance,” he repeated, pleading. “Lance, please wake up, I told you I can’t lose you again, please.”

“Lance!” Allura and Hunk shouted, swimming up towards them.

“What happened?!” Allura demanded.

“I don’t know! One moment I was trapped and about to be killed, and then Lance told--no, commanded him to stop… and he did,” Keith explained. “I came up for air and grabbed a harpoon that had washed up against the rocks, and when I went back down, Lance was pinned down and unconscious.”

“The silvertongue,” Allura immediately said.

Keith was perplexed. “The what?”

“A gift of magic that Lance was born with, but never really had any control over. It was what Lotor wanted from Lance in the first place,” Hunk replied.

“I never thought it could be so powerful as to stop a storm,” Allura added.

Indeed, the clouds overhead had cleared away, revealing a sky bespeckled with a few stars and illuminated by the full moon. Keith couldn’t be bothered with any of that. His attention was focused solely on Lance, breathing shallowly and still unresponsive. The lifeboats drifted over, wary of the merfolk but worried for their prince.

“Is he going to be okay? This gift of his, it doesn’t hurt him normally, does it?” Keith asked.

“I--I don’t know,” Allura admitted. “Information about the silvertongue is scarce as it is, and while I’ve become something of an expert on it in the last two days, I’ve never heard of it used on this scale before. It’s possible he just overexerted himself.”

Allura did not articulate what the other possibilities might be.

Keith turned his attention back to Lance, tracing his thumb over the swell of Lance’s cheek.

“Please, please, open your eyes, tell me you’re okay,” Keith whispered, so softly that his voice was lost among the sound of the waves.

He rested his forehead against Lance’s, exhausted both physically and emotionally. Around them, everyone else was quiet. The only sound was that of the waves, gentle now, as though repentant for their earlier behavior. The wind had calmed to a breeze, softly shushing through the air. And then, faintly, a hum so quiet that even Keith missed it. He did not miss what came next.

“Keith?”

“Lance!” Keith gasped, moving to hold Lance’s face in his hands.

Lance chuckled. “This is a nice change of pace, isn’t it?”

When Keith looked confused, Lance continued, “Usually it’s me waiting for you to come to, isn’t it?”

Keith snorted, and began to laugh in earnest. “I suppose it is.”

“Your Highness!” Iverson called as the lifeboats drifted closer towards the rock they were perched on. He did not look happy.

Keith rolled his eyes. He couldn’t have one moment of peace, could he?

“Give me a minute,” Keith said to Lance. Lance nodded, letting his eyes flutter shut again as Allura and Hunk moved to see if he was alright.

Keith stood to face Iverson and the whole crew.

“What happened here was the direct result of the actions of a few, not the many. The same thing happens among humans. The merfolk you see here have saved my life multiple times between them, and they would do the same for any of you. They are not our enemies, nor should they be,” Keith said, almost beseechingly.

The sailors shuffled uncertainly among themselves, but none moved to immediately attack the merfolk. That was a start, at least. Keith ordered them to head back to shore, and added that he would join them at his earliest convenience. Even Iverson didn’t argue. They went obediently, or perhaps they simply wanted to get as far away from the merfolk as possible. Pidge waved as they passed by, and even hopped out of the boat they were in to join them.

Keith sat down next to Lance as they went. Lance, still on his back, turned to Keith.

“So what now?”

Keith shrugged. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“Lance!” a voice shrieked in the distance, one that made Lance finally sit up.

“Oh, no…” he groaned.

“What? Who is it?” Keith asked, barely able to see the approaching figure even in the light of the full moon.

Before Lance could answer, a mermaid with a steely blue tail leapt out of the water and tackled Lance in a fierce hug. Lance hugged her back.

“Where have you been?! Everyone’s been worried sick, and I’m sorry I was so harsh but you really shouldn’t have taken it out on everyone but I should’ve listened better and--!”

The mermaid stopped when she saw Keith and Pidge, realizing for the first time that there were humans among them. She gasped and retreated into a defensive posture. Behind her, two more mermaids peered out of the water, holding weapons and ready to attack at a moment’s notice. Lance placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. She relaxed only marginally.

“Veronica, this is Pidge, the human I’ve been friends with for years, that told me about all the stuff I collected,” Lance introduced. “And this… this is Keith. The human I rescued from that shipwreck.”

“And from countless other things,” Keith added.

“Actually it was Hunk that rescued us in the lagoon the other night--” Lance caught his sister’s eye and stopped abruptly. “Er, right. Keith, Pidge, this is my eldest sister, Veronica.”

“That’s Princess Veronica to you,” she tacked on sharply.

“Princess?” Keith repeated, looking at Lance. “Then that means you’re--”

“A prince? Yeah, that’s me, prince of my own kingdom…” Lance chuckled, almost nervously.

Keith sighed, smiling. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find something that--”

Beside Lance, Veronica cleared her throat pointedly. Her arms were crossed and her expression stern. Even Keith had to recoil slightly. She was a force to be reckoned with.

“As much fun as I’m sure you’re having, I’m going to need an explanation,” she demanded.

Everyone exchanged glances.

“Then I suggest you make yourself comfortable, cause it’s a long story,” Lance advised.

The story, beginning several days earlier and told from up to five different perspectives at once, took the greater part of the night. Lance began with his part, adding a brief soliloquy about his lifelong fascination with humans for Keith’s sake (“What does it matter?!” Veronica insisted. “It adds depth to my motivation!” Lance snapped back.), and stumbling over the parts where it was very clear that he was over the moon for the human at his side. Keith blushed deeply at those parts, smiling from sheer elation.

Between all of them, gaps were filled, new information shared, and other trivial things revealed (“You and Hunk were spying on us the whole time?!” Keith exclaimed. “Can you blame us, given the circumstances?” Hunk asked. Keith paused, and slowly said, “Fair.”).

There were markedly fewer stars in the sky when they finally finished, exhaustion finally catching up to them all. Even Veronica looked considerably fatigued.

“I should probably get back to shore before the crew thinks you’ve drowned me,” Keith said through a yawn.

Lance held out a hand, and without a word Keith took it. They slipped into the water together, Lance snaking an arm around Keith’s waist as they made their leisurely way towards the shore. Hunk offered to help Pidge back to shore, a help they gratefully accepted. The two of them, along with Allura, swam a ways behind Keith and Lance. Veronica, however, was not intent on giving them the luxury of privacy.

“You realize that one of you is human and the other is a merman, right?” she asked in her usual straightforward manner.

“No, it had completely escaped our notice, Veronica,” Lance snapped. “And in case you weren’t listening, I was human for a couple days.”

“Yeah, at the cost of your voice and leaving your whole family behind.”

“It wouldn’t be such a big deal if humans and merfolk could learn to coexist!”

Lance readied himself for the inevitable argument, the inevitable shutdown that always came. It never did. Instead, Veronica looked thoughtful. He knew he shouldn’t, but Lance allowed himself to hope.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Veronica sighed. “Lotor was only able to cause as much trouble as he did because of the disconnect between humans and merfolk. If it hadn’t been for you and your friends, it could’ve gotten much worse.”

Lance didn’t say anything. He held his breath, not daring to believe that this could possibly be real.

“If you’re looking to open up negotiations,” Keith began. “I know a prince or two that would be willing to listen.”

The sun rose on a fourth day that Lance hadn’t been certain he would have. Things seemed to move far too fast from there. He had to part with Keith and go home to assure the rest of his family that he was alive and well, but when they parted this time there was a promise that they would see each other once more, a promise that they could openly keep.

Shiro arrived not long after sunrise, having travelled as speedily over land as he could when he heard what happened. It was a bit jarring to be introduced to not one, but several merfolk. Not only that, but according to Keith they were to open up negotiations with the merfolk so that they could all live in peace--relieving as it was, it was a bit much to take in at once.

Once the date of negotiations was set, the merfolk left. Lance lingered a little longer than the others, whispering promises of a reunion. When he finally left, Keith stood at the shore for a moment longer than necessary, his heart already longing. Shiro came up behind him, setting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Together they turned back to the humans that had gathered along the shore to see what was going on. There was work to be done.

The work was tedious on both ends, full explaining and re-explaining. Lance was all too aware that he could speed things along, especially as he practiced his silvertongue on willing participants and gained a tentative mastery of it, but the idea of forcing his will over someone still didn’t sit right with him. Better to genuinely convince people, even if it meant that it would be that much longer before he could see Keith again. Besides, he had another use in mind for his newly rediscovered and immensely powerful magic, that worked for more than just swaying people to his desires.

The sun rose and set over the various kingdoms. Days melted into weeks, and then into months. Keith had never been especially patient, and the days wore on his nerves. He escaped down to the shore whenever he could, hoping that Lance was just as impatient to see him again. If he was, they never crossed paths. Keith remained steadfast, and when the sun dawned on the day that would signal the beginning of negotiations, his nerves were buzzing with excitement.

“You excited?” Adam teased as they made their way down to the beach.

“What do you think?” Keith huffed as he felt his cheeks grow hot.

“I think you’re going to pass out if you don’t breathe,” Shiro joined in. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll be just as excited to see you as you are him.”

Keith could only nod. If he jumped eagerly every time a merfolk poked their head above the water, no one pointed it out. The human delegation stepped into the shallow waters to meet the delegation. There was Veronica, and Allura, and a couple other merfolk that Keith didn’t recognize. Thus far, no Lance. Keith forced himself to breathe. Lance had made him wait before but had always come back. Keith had no reason to believe it would be any different today.

And yet as negotiations began and Lance was still conspicuously absent, Keith found himself utterly unable to focus on what was being discussed. The merfolk had some qualms about human fishing methods, which usually tended to harm merfolk, and humans were always afraid that merfolk would drown them for the fun of it. Something along those lines. Farther out in the waters, Keith noticed the waves becoming particularly rough. The skies, however, were perfectly clear, and the wind was not nearly fierce enough to warrant such an occurrence.

Still, nothing came of it, so Keith had no choice but to participate in negotiations, which went surprisingly well in spite of the years of distrust that lingered between the two peoples. Even so, they took the greater part of the day. The sun was setting as they were wrapping up, deciding on how best to seal the deal. By then, Keith found himself unable to mask his disappointment. He wanted the formalities to be done with so he could ask Veronica when he could see Lance again.

“Perhaps a marriage,” Veronica suggested, snapping Keith out of his sullen thoughts.

“A marriage?” Shiro sputtered, just as confused and alarmed as Keith. “Well, I’m already married, but my younger brother--”

“No,” Keith cut in.

Everyone present gaped at his outright refusal. Keith looked away, not wanting to explain himself.

“Keith,” Shiro reprimanded gently.

Keith huffed. He didn’t have to accept, he knew, but he did have to at least hear them out.

“As I was saying,” Veronica continued. “As it happens, we have the means to allow one of our own to live among humans, as you know we’ve done before. We believe that, since we have this option, it would make an excellent show of good faith in the contracts drawn up today to have one of ours marry one of yours.”

Shiro looked to Keith, who was still silent. Keith uncrossed his arms. He had to at least try to appear unaffected. And he had to hear out the idea. The entire idea.

“Who do you have in mind?” Keith asked as evenly as he could manage.

“I would’ve thought that would be obvious by now,” a new voice broke in, one that was almost unfamiliar to Keith.

Everyone turned in interest. There, walking towards the human delegation on his own two legs, was Lance, smiling brightly with open arms. Keith dropped all pretense of decorum without a care. He sprinted towards Lance with wild abandon, nearly sending them tumbling down when they finally collided. He wrapped Lance in a crushing hug and spun him around, revelling in the sound of Lance’s laughter.

“How?!” Keith sputtered. “You didn’t make a deal with a sea witch again, did you?”

“No!” Lance laughed. “You forget that I have a magic of my own.”

“But--the silvertongue--I thought--”

“It’s more than just commanding people to do what you want. Remember how I stopped the storm all that time ago?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded.

“It turns out that the silvertongue gift is literally--it’s just like--” Lance attempted, tripping over his own words.

“It’s like an extension of the ocean itself,” Allura added from where she sat in the shallow waters. “It’s most often been used to sway people's opinions, particularly those humans that merfolk have wanted to drown in the past. But in studying the gift extensively these past few months, we discovered that just about anything can be commanded by the sway of the ocean. Even Lance’s own body.”

Keith turned back to Lance, who was still grinning. “Took me this long to actually make it work though.”

“It was worth the wait,” Keith assured him.

“So,” Veronica cut in sternly. “I take it your opinion on the idea has changed then?”

The members of both delegations looked expectantly at the two of them, wrapped up in each other as they were. Keith looked back into Lance’s eyes, the only ocean he could possibly drown in now. Has his opinion changed on the idea of spending the rest of his life with the man in his arms?

“It has,” Keith said without looking away from Lance.

The delegations seemed pleased, and left the two of them to it. Keith trusted Shiro to handle the details.

“I don’t know if I’m convinced,” Lance said, his voice lilting. “Marriage is a pretty big deal, after all.”

“Oh? Then I’ll just have to change your mind,” Keith insisted, the space between them growing ever smaller.

“I suppose you will,” Lance whispered into the scant space left.

As the last of the setting sun’s rays shined upon them, their lips met each other as the shore met sea: gently, but with inevitable certainty, and tasting of sea salt. Keith and Lance smiled into the kiss, pressing their foreheads together when they found themselves smiling too much to keep kissing.

It was the perfect start to their happily ever after.