This is a human au. It isn't told with the countries being countries, just so you know.

Mathew had been walking along the edge of the lake that was on the outskirts of the town he lived in, enjoying the view, and considering going for a swim when he saw something in the water. Now, there were many times where he really enjoyed how clear the waters were where he lived, and there were times, very rare times, that he didn't; this was one of those times.

In the water was a body.

It was the body of a boy that looked to be roughly his age. From what Mathew understood about bodies, they soaked up moisture. This body looked fine; it must have just been put there.

He had never seen a dead person before; he'd never seen anyone be intentionally hurt before. He tried not to think that someone had murdered this person and put them in the lake. It was best to think it was someone that had fallen in, and hadn't known how to swim, as bad as that sounded.

It didn't matter how the person had gotten there. It was the same either way, because now he was faced with a dilemma that had nothing to do with how the body managed to find itself in the lake. Should he lift the body out of the water so that it could have a decent burial, and not a watery grave; or, should he leave it there and pretend he never saw it so he wouldn't have to be questioned by the police about how he found it? Which was the moral thing to do?

Well, Mathew had never been afraid of zombies or any other form of the undead, he left that to his brother Alfred to do, and he didn't mind getting his clothes a bit wet.

So, he dropped to his knees as close to the shore as he could go, shoved his hand into the water, and grabbed onto the hand of the corpse floating in the water below him.

The hand tightened around his.

Mathew stiffened, and the body's eyes slowly opened. Mathew wasn't afraid of the undead; at least when he knows that they aren't real, but this was too much for him. This was real.

Mathew fainted.

When Mathew came to, his thoughts rushed back in at once as he noticed a person standing over top of him dripping wet.

Body, corpse, dead, alive…wait. Alive!

Mathew saw the boy frown at him before he blacked out again.

This time when he woke up, it was on a bed. The boy sat across the room from him on a wooden chair playing with his drying hair.

In a flash, Mathew recognized him. It was Francis Bonnefoy.

What was he doing beneath the water? What was he doing beneath the water not breathing for over ten minutes?

Francis glanced at him. "Oh, you're awake." He said sounding disinterested. "It took you long enough, Mathew."

Mathew coughed, and turned onto his side to speak. "W-what?"

Francis rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't particularly want to deal with this right now, and I don't think you've gotten over your shock just yet anyways."

He waved his hand, and Mathew had just enough time to wonder why he would do that when it felt like a wave hit him and his vision blacked out. He had just enough time to think that he was going unconscious, again, before he was.

"Are you ready to talk some sense now?" Francis asked glaring down at Mathew.

Mathew went to answer something along the lines of 'what?', again, when he realized his mouth was covered by Francis' hand. He couldn't talk, so he nodded.

"Perfect," Francis said then he sauntered back to his chair. "As you may have figured out already, I'm a mermaid."

Mathew may seem really weak in his passing out so much, but it does happen. Take this from a girl that goes into epileptic seizures and passes out whenever she gets a needle, has her period, or steps on big pieces of glass or sticks. I'm not on good terms with earrings either. Which is a shame. You have no idea how much I had looked forward to getting my ears pierced, then, well that happened, and now I can't wear earrings, and I have to lie down to get my flu shots.

It's the shame of my existence.

Yeah, I can bench press over 250 pounds… but I pass out if I get a sliver. That's exactly how everyone's opinion of me at school would change. Hey guys, North passed out from having a pen jabbed into her arm. Bam. The school gossip would change from "Don't stand next to North, she'll kill you." to "Jab North with that pencil, trust me, it's hilarious."

Shame…on me.

But at least I know exactly what it's like to pass out. Yay.