Written for RivaMika Week 2.0 Day 7, February 2014
Prompt: Alternate Universe – Mermaid!Mikasa
Based on the Mermaid fanart by Laedyos on Pixiv (member id 5507391) and some needling by Mika60
"So, you're the hideous monster, huh."
At least, that's what he'd been told. The slimy, gilded tail and feathery appendages radiating from the beast's arms and ears were indeed disturbing, but they seemed almost out of place with the delicate beauty of her face: two dark mirrors shimmering in the moonlight, set into a halo of the purest white marble and draped in silky shadows.
"Is that what they are calling me these days?" The creature laughs bitterly, filling the salty air with echoes of a discordant melody. "And you, you must be the sorry fool they have sent to get rid of me."
"I don't like to get my hands dirty," Levi intones, advancing stealthily into the shallows. "But I will do what is necessary to finish the job."
"Is that so." Its subdued words are punctuated by a serpentine flick of water. "And what may your job be, lonely warrior?" Her fingers dip languorously into the glassy lagoon, tracing uneven circles on its surface. Tiny, fleeting waves coil and flutter with each caress, dancing along to her sinuous tune and congealing in fetters about his ankles.
"The children," he spits out, tearing his traitorous eyes away from the translucent porcelain undulating before him. "Give back the children you have stolen away, or I will kill you."
"Children?" The nymph stiffens as agitated ripples skitter towards his sodden boots. Stepping back, he shuts his eyes tight against the eerie silence of her treachery.
"I have none," a lifeless voice whispers in the hollow of his ear. "And certainly none belonging to those pitiful villagers..." Seduced by the vapid breeze, he steals another glance sideways, but soon curses his miscalculation as his soul is tainted by the dewy starlight scattered across her cheeks.
"Besides, you cannot kill me," she adds, almost wistfully. "I cannot die, even if I wanted to do so. Did they fail to tell you that, amidst their cowardly accusations and false promises? You would hardly be the first to be deceived."
He had been given ample warning of the sea witch's terrifying enchantments, but not of her insidious honesty. Doubt claws the back of his scalp in the pale light of her sorrow; he subjugates it with the dull roar of iron as he draws his swords in retaliation.
"It matters not," he says, pointing a steely tip at the ephemeral vision. "Even if you cannot be killed, I will be sure to carve the pain from my blades into your memories."
"Is that the most grievous wound you are prepared to offer me?" she asks, looking solemnly past him into the distant, swirling currents. "Surely, there is no pain greater... than the one granted by the infinite depths of solitude."
Her words hang thick in the melancholy air, stifling his breath as he is cast out into the tumultuous seas. She reaps him swiftly and he shudders, crumbling as she sifts through the layers of chaff in search of his truth. The blood screams and curdles in his veins, forcing him to choke up secrets he had drowned beneath the unshed tears of his past.
His skin burns in the aftermath of her assault, raw and stung by the frozen brine.
"Few bother to look, and see what lies beyond," she laments, cloaking his fractured spirit with dignity once again. Around her, the waters recede, preparing to return her to her watery grave. "There is nothing more for you here. Now go."
He rejects her mercy; there can be no turning back for him now.
"Wait," he says, scrutinizing her with hollow eyes of his own. Shunning her lucent mask, his gaze falls instead to the veil of her despair, strewn about her neck like a bloody noose. "What else... is there to see?"
The corners of her mouth dip at the challenge that none had ventured before. "You are not afraid."
"There are more terrifying things in this world," he grinds out, "than mermaids who devour the hearts of men."
A curious hand unfurls before his feet, inviting him to test the dreadful limits of his conviction; he steps forth into her palm, as the black tempest rises anew.
"Come then, and I will show you."