Chapter One- Of Sky and Sea

Hi guys! I haven't written for a while and this is my first fic on her for a show other than Tokyo Mew Mew. I hope yall enjoy it and I'm sorry for being gone for so long!

Victor Nikiforov gazed out the window at the billowing white clouds. You would think being thousands of feet in the air would provide with some amazing scenery but everything was white and quite frankly Victor found white to be very boring. Everything in his life was white. White robes, white rooms, white hair and white clouds.

Thus was the fate of an angel.

Of course the term angel was used loosely. Their billowing white, of course, wings had cemented them as the fabled creatures of the Lord, though despite being higher in the air than most humans had ever ventured, Victor was pretty sure they were no closer to God than anyone else. But humans were creatures of habit and so anything that looked angelic became so.

All of the white probably hadn't helped discourage the belief.

But white was all Victor knew and presumably it would be all he ever knew. Angels were forbidden to visit the earth unless they went for official business or on school tours. Victor had been once, and that brief glimpse of color had nearly taken his breath away. The trees, the grass, the strange little mechanical things the humans rode around in, and even the humans themselves were full of color. Every angel he'd ever met had very little variation in the color of their hair. Whether they were blond or silver haired, in the end it all looked, you guessed it, white.

"Mr. Nikiforov since you seem so interested in my lecture, would you care to answer my question?"

Victor's whipped back around, his teacher's voice sternly reminded him that he was supposed to be paying attention. Snickers echoed around the classroom and if angels actually blushed, Victor's cheek would be the only source of color in the room.

"I don't believe I heard the question Mr. Yakov." He admitted. Mr. Yakov glared at him, it was no secret to the class that he didn't harbor many fond feelings for the boy who often spent his class gazing out on the clouds.

"What is the earliest known instance of the mythological angel?"

Victor thought for a second. "It would depend, of course, in what context you're wanting. The first mention of angels on earth would be when God sent the Cherubim to guard the Garden of Eden. However in the Bible there are many mentions of the angels before the creation of the earth, such as the downfall of Satan."

Mr. Yakov nodded and addressed the class. "Can anyone then tell me the difference between the mythological angel and us?"

It was a question the students were used to. For some reason, they had been forced to take classes on angel mythology since they had started school, which began when they turned five. Every year they were challenged with the same question, as if the teacher's wanted the students to figure something out.

"They're not real and we are?" And there was Christophe, with the same sarcastic answer that he supplied every year. He smirked to himself, not seeming to realize that everyone else had stopped finding it humorous years ago. Yakov pretended he hadn't asked and that Chris hadn't answered.

"It is believed that every strain of non-human, yet humanoid being is descended from the original Cherubim. Though no one is quite sure the validity of the mythology behind the Cherubim, every species tends to agree that they are most likely the original ancestors.

Angels tend to lean more to the heavenly mythology, mermaids to the Greek and Roman, shifters to Native American lore and even I don't truly know what the vampires believe. They're much more secretive than the rest and frankly I don't know that I'd ever want to actually converse with one."

Some of the girls in the class shuddered, their skin crawling at the thought of the Night Walkers. It was a commonly, well as common as angels actually cared about (meaning that only angels actually believed it), that angles were more directly descended from the First Order, as the Cherubim were referred to. Meaning, in the hierarchy of humanoid beings, angels sat near the top. It wasn't a popular belief for the other species, seeing as it gave the angels a sense of self-righteousness. In all honesty this may have helped the way each species was seen in the lore, as every other species seemed to have at least some negative aspects in their mythology, while angels almost constantly remained pure and benevolent beings.

"Class is dismissed for the day." Yakov said, and the room was filled with the sounds of chairs scraping across the floor and bags being picked up. Victor made his way out into the hallway, a cavernous place full of golden arches and marble floors.

The Academy was a huge building, as it housed class rooms for all of the angels between the ages of five and eighteen. Victor was of the latter category, as were all of his classmates. The Academy, like the rest of the land, flew high in the air, held up by some sort of mechanical wonder the angels had invented before anything of the sort would occur to humans. The hall was filled with older angels, as the younger classes got out earlier. It was a sea of white, white hair, white clothes and large white wings tucked against each student's backs. Wings could be internalized, the folded into an angel's back in a way that Victor didn't truly understand (his daydreaming passed from his mythology classes to his anatomy classes) but it wasn't the most comfortable. Whenever his wings were away, he could feel the pressure on the skin of his back, like it would burst open at any second. Not to mention the way it itched. Victor didn't know if it was the subconscious thought of the feathers beneath his skin but putting his wings away made his back itch horribly.

A hand clapped onto Victor's shoulder, and he looked up to see Chris standing next to him. "You want to head out to the flying field?"

Victor sighed, thinking of the wide open field covered in pale grass. The place was mainly used to teach young angels or run training for the Guard, but every once in a while it was empty and the high schoolers used it to play games or race.

"I really want to, but my father has insisted I return home right after school. He thinks I need extra tutoring if I'm ever going to take over." Christophe flashed him a sympathetic smile and shrugged.

"It must be tough being a prince."

Victor didn't answer, simply gave a short nod and turned towards the exit.

The Academy was on a separate piece of land, ensuring that the only way to reach it was by flying. This prevented anyone from sneaking out, as one would be completely visible while trying to cross over the space between the school and the rest of the land mass. The only other piece of land separated like this was the castle, which was an island in the very middle. Victor made his way through the doors of the Academy and onto the large open space set aside for landing or taking off.

He spread his wings, massive even for an angel his age, and they stretched out magnificently behind his back. Taking a running leap off of the land mass, he launched himself into the open air. There was a wonderful feeling of freefall before his wings caught the currents, lifting him high. He gave one large flap and he danced gracefully through the sky.

It was easy to spot the castle from this high up, it towered above the rest of the white buildings, though its height is about the only thing that set it apart. Underneath Victor flowed bunches of white marble houses that blended almost seamlessly into the clouds surrounding them. The palace itself was crafted with white marble, though it had spires that stretched into the sky. He landed easily in front of it, his feet settling onto the pale grass as though he had only made small step across the sky.

His father waited in the throne room, a large barren room whose only color came from the two simple thrones that were crafted from the same gold as the arches in the Academy. The walls and floor were the same material as the outside, and the only thing on the walls were the portraits of the wings of every past king. Every set was unique, as no two angel's wings are exactly alike, though the only thing distinguishing the portraits from the stark white walls were the simple black frames surrounding them.

Alexei Nikiforov wasn't am imposing man at first glance. He wasn't much taller than Victor and he shared the same slim build. His silver hair, which used to be the same color as his son's but had dulled with age, ran down past his shoulders in thick waves. It wasn't until one looked in his eyes that they got a sense of how powerful this man was. His eyes were blue like Victor's, but they were hard. His eyes did not sparkle with laughter or happiness, they were stern and demanded respect. Alexei's lips were pressed together in a thin line as he watched his son cross the throne room to approach him. His son had sheared off his long hair years ago, but the look still displeased him. It wasn't a proper look for someone of royal birth but Victor rarely did what anyone of royal birth was expected to do.

"Father." Victor kneeled in front of the king, his head bowed and waiting.

"Victor."

Victor rose and looked his father in the eye. The two men looked so similar and yet were so different, and the difference didn't escape Victor. He wondered if his father would ever be truly proud of him.

"Victor you will be traveling to the ground with a few members of the guard." Victor had to bite his tongue to remain silent. Excitement bubbled up within him, thick and palpable, and it made him want to leap with joy.

"What am I to be doing on the ground?" He asked, his voice barely containing its respectable tone. His mind was already reeling with all of the ideas of things he wanted to see and do.

"You are 18. In a few months you will be crowned king and yet you know almost nothing about the world we live above. You will go down, you will experience the humans and while you are down there you will also meet with some of the other species. You will leave tomorrow morning." His father flicked his hand, a clear sign that the conversation was over and Victor was to leave. "Lillia will have all of the details."

Victor nearly skipped across the throne room, his heart beating wildly in his chest.

"Victor." His father's stern voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Don't disappoint me."

Yuuri Katsuki had never known anything but the sea.

Of course merfolk could walk on land for short periods of time, but as a prince of the sea, there was no way he'd ever be allowed to go to the surface. He'd quickly peeked his head up above the water a few times on hunting trips, but they were usually too far out to be able to spot anything more than a green smudge of land. He knew some of his friends had gone to land for their birthdays, enjoying what mankind had to offer for the few hours they could remain on land.

But Yuuri would never get to leave the sea. His father forbid it and his mother was afraid of it. They were worried about a lot of things. That humans would see Yuuri leaving the sea and capture him, that he would spend too long on land and whatever happened to merfolk who didn't return to the sea would happen. No one quite knew the consequences of staying too long, as no one who did had ever returned. Some rumored that they would dry up and die, while other simply said that their gills permanently closed up, making it impossible for them to return to the water.

Yuuri didn't really care about the consequences, he just wanted to walk on land.

Yuuri was beautiful, in a dark sort of way. His tail was a dark blue, speckled with dark purple and red scales that reflected beautifully when he swam. A mop of jet black hair adorned his head and matched his dark eyes. Unlike most merfolk, he didn't care.

The majority of his kind were vain, constantly adorning themselves with jewels found in ship wrecks, sparkling shells or trinkets brought from adventures onto land. They adored beauty and adored Yuuri because of that. But to him, his beauty was nothing and he didn't put much stock into it. Most of the mermaids wanted to sleep with him and most of the mermen wanted to look like him, though a good portion of the merman also wanted to sleep with him. None of it held much stock for him though, which his friends thought was a shame.

The one person who didn't care much about looks got all the good ones.

The merman flicked his tail which propelled him through the water. He was headed to the palace to talk to the King, his father, about the state of the reefs. They were dying at an alarming rate, despite the merfolk's best efforts to heal them. Yuuri had been out with a patrol to investigate one of the biggest reefs in their immediate territory. He loved the humans but seeing how they treated his home made him sad. He knew that the homes of the merfolk who inhabited the freshwater were even worse off.

Yuuri passed the houses that surrounded the palace, each one made out of hot lava from under sea vents and desperately trying to look more ornate than the one next door. Much like their inhabitants, the houses were painted with brilliant colors and decorated with the best shells and treasure that the merfolk could get their hands on.

Nothing compared to the palace, a beautiful building covered in deep sea gold. It shimmered in the water and colorful fish darted in and out of its openings. Yuuri had lived here his whole life and it felt more like a prison than a palace.

Had he been born where his friends, Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo, had been born, he could do anything he wanted. He could become a part of the Royal Guard, he could become a healer or even a shell salesman if that was what he wished. But instead he was destined to take his father's place, which was not something Yuuri was sure he could handle.

As he approached the palace, he could see members of the Royal Guard training outside the east entrance. He recognized Otabek and Mickey sparring with a set of long spears with Celestino, the lead trainer for the Guard yelling advice from the side.

The Guard stopped and stood at attention as he passed, their fins pressed into the ocean floor to keep them still. It was a habit that Yuuri had tried to break them of many times, but Celestino insisted it was the only proper way to greet their future king. He nodded to the Guard and swam into the palace.

The inside of the palace was just as ornate as the outside. The walls were littered with pieces of shells and gold flakes, glittering in the light of the brightly glowing rocks that his people had found centuries before. They lit up the entire palace, making it seem as though the walls were liquid sunshine. Yuuri swam through the familiar hallways, winding his way past servants and palace workers, all of whom he greeted warmly and by name. He had been raised to always respect the people under him, and in turn all of the workers loved the young prince.

Part of the beauty of the palace was the colorful fish that swam through it as well as the diverse corral that grew in all of the nooks and crannies. The fish swam alongside Yuuri, smaller ones twining through his dark hair. He arrived at the throne room, called so more for the fact that it was where the king met with his people rather than the presence of actual thrones. When he swam through the archway he found both his mother and father in the room, and they smiled brightly at their son.

"Yuuri!" His mother slid gracefully through the water to him. "How was your patrol?"

He hugged her quickly and shook his head. "The reef is still dying, despite our healers best efforts. Every time the reef starts to recover, more pollution gets brought in by the currents."

Queen Hiroko looked saddened, she had after all been a healer before she had married King Toshiya. Despite the fact that she hadn't been a healer for years, she still felt the death of her beloved reefs in her heart.

"Yuuri your father and I need to talk to you about something." She pulled back from him and grasped her husband's hand.

Yuuri paused, his hand going to rub the gills located right below his ears, a nervous habit he'd had since childhood. He was hoping that his parents wouldn't ask him to stop going out with the patrol, it was one of the few things he actually got to do outside the border of the town that surrounded the palace.

"There's to be a meeting," Toshiya began, "with the young leaders from many of the species."

Yuuri's heart began to race. They couldn't be letting him go…could they?

"We think you are old enough and that you should attend. You are the future king and you should know the other leaders." His father finished, looking at his mother who was smiling slightly.

"Really?" Yuuri almost yelled. He couldn't believe his ears. He was going to get to go to the surface!

Better yet, he was actually going to get to walk on land!

"Really." His mother chuckled at his excitement. "You'll make sure to be very careful though? And stay with the Guard the whole time?"

"Of course!" He hugged his mother and then his father who ruffled his hair affectionately.

"I have selected a few of the Guard to escort you. You will be meeting with at least the young leaders of the vampire and werewolf clans, though some of the other species have said they might present their young heirs as well." Toshiya smiled at his son who was bursting with excitement. "You will leave tomorrow morning and I have already arranged for there to be a case of human clothes at the place where you will go onto land."

"I have to go tell Phichit!" Yuuri yelled, already darting towards the throne room door. He was gone in a whirlwind, leaving his mother and father alone.

"I hope we are doing the right thing in letting him go. I hope he will be safe." His father said slowly, knowing that the land could be dangerous for such an inexperienced merman.

"He will be. I have faith in our boy."

Please comment and let me know if you want me to continue!