This is actually part of the collab with Eylenda, too, but I decided it was way too long to be fit into one chapter, into a oneshot, so this will most likely be a twoshot, or more.
Prompt: Lull and Storm.
This is AU. Hong Kong and Iceland belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, I take no credit for anything but the story itself.
It was a dark and stormy night, as nights like these usually go- lightning, thunder, rolling waves that could turn a ship over and dash it to pieces against rocks, sharp, huge rocks that loomed over the small harbour there, lighting up for seconds as lightning flashed, made more ominous by the storm and the waves. The lighthouse, hidden in the trees, which had grown taller than the building since the building had been built, flashed its light weakly, barely cutting through the thick sheet of rain and cold fog.
A lone ship, tall and proud against the storm, struggled to make it into harbour, her sailors rushing to and fro, shouting orders that were quickly lost in the wind and thunder, taking sails down and pulling ropes. Their first mate, a tall, lanky young man with dark hair and dark eyes, called orders, even as he ran back and forth, unusually quick, his footing steady, on the slippery wood that made up the forecastle. His long bangs stuck to his face, got into his eyes, not that it really complicated things, since the rain made it impossible to see, anyway... The wheel, under his hands, kept the ship steady, or as steady as she could be, buffeted on all sides by rain and wind and storm.
Another boy, a mer-boy, lounged on the slippery, sharp rocks the human boy was so keen to avoid, watching impassively. He was interested, of course, more interested in the upper world than he had a right to be, according to his brothers, and thought the weather was bad, he couldn't help but watch the ship, and especially the human who seemed to be in charge of everything. Besides, he reasoned to himself, short of getting struck by lightning, he had nothing to fear. Water was his natural element, after all.
The sea heaved once again, and a sail not yet taken down caught an unwanted wind, and the ship lurched towards the merman, and the human boy swore, wiping his face of rain with an equally wet shirt sleeve, his eyes widening in shock when he saw the mer-boy, sitting there, lit for a moment by a flash of lightning, white hair whipping about in the wind, blue-purple eyes piercing even in this gloom, and the unmistakable fishtail, long and sinuous, pale blue-green-purple-white scales glittering. And he swore again, jerking the wheel to the side, because, of course, his ship was set to hit the creature, whatever he'd seen.
The mer-boy's own eyes, framed with white, frost-like lashes, widened at the unexpected closeup of the human he'd been watching, and as the lightning faded, he turned and dove into the waters of his home, swimming away as fast as he could, reeling in shock. A human had seen him, a human, a human boy... it was forbidden, one of the oldest rules of his people, and he'd just broken it...
Above the turbulent waves, the human boy fought to keep his ship under control, yelling orders until his voice was hoarse, and then he kept yelling, praying silently to whatever gods were up there, anything that could help, anything at all, to save his crew, save his ship, save them all. The strange boy... mer-boy? had completely slipped his mind.
But the storm just got worse, and the ship wasn't getting anywhere, especially as it was blown the opposite way of which it wanted to go, and the crew grew exhausted with trying to stay alive, by this point running only on sheer adrenaline. And the human boy knew that they didn't have much longer, even with their best efforts, and ah, it was so hard to see, and think, and hear, by this point... The storm had effectively deadened everything.
And a especially strong gust of wind blew the ship over, and the waves dashed it against the rocks, over and over... The crew struggled to escape, it was every man for himself now, see? Their first mate ordered them to go, go, save themselves, making sure they were all out before he himself kicked his boots off and dove over side, crashing into the water with a spray of bubbles, and then he knew no more.
From a safe distance away, the mer-boy watched the ship, doomed from the first raindrop that had fallen, crash, rather impressed with the dark-haired human's efforts. He must have been strong, to hold it together for so long... For the mer-boy knew the sea, had known the sea all his life, and knew that when she wanted something, she got it, and everything she wanted would fall into her waters, sooner or later. And the human boy was certainly hers to claim... But what was this? Curious despite himself, the mer-boy swam out to where he'd seen the human fall into the water, so clumsy- all humans were so clumsy in the water, none of them had the grace and the beauty of the merpeople- and searched for him, and found him, floundering like a fish in a net, screaming underwater for air, air that wasn't there, struggling to stay alive, kicking and flailing.
And the mer-boy, against everything his people stood for and against nearly every single rule he'd been taught as soon as he'd been hatched, because merpeople were born from eggs, as fish were, the mer-boy saved the human one, pulling him from the water into a sheltered cave, watching in fascination as the human boy coughed up water- ah, so it was true, humans couldn't breathe both air and water, the silly things- and going for an occasional swim, because even though he could breathe air, it was uncomfortable and difficult, and he much preferred breathing water.
The human boy woke around the second day, and blinked up at the blue, blue sky, seen from the mouth of the cave, though it was more of an opening in the rocks, lightheaded from lack of food and water. The mer-boy watched from a safe distance, frowning a little, wondering if he should have just gone with the conventional way and pulled him down to drown... But this human was interesting. Mesmerising, in a way. Considerably more interesting awake than unconcious, at any rate. The sunlight sparked off of his eyelashes when he blinked, and the dazed look in his eyes was rather... cute. Not that the mer-boy was thinking, anything of course. They were different species, after all.
"Who are you?" The mer-boy looked up, startled, at the human boy in front of him, too surprised to speak. Yes, he understood human speech, having been around them for so long, but he'd never expected to be actually talking to one. The human raised an eyebrow- very curious eyebrows, he had, thicker than most the mer-boy had seen- and frowned a little. "Who. Are. You?" he repeated.
"...I think you owe me a name first," the mer-boy retorted, backing away into the water, taking care to hide the lower half of his body, not that it really mattered, since his fingers were webbed, and he bore the telltale pale grey-blue spots on his shoulders and elbows and cheeks near his ears, stark against his pale skin, that most merpeople had. Not to mention he had gill-slits, along his neck... "...After all, I saved you from dying." Was that a smile on the human's face? He wasn't... disgusted, after all? Most humans seemed to be disgusted by them. Either that, or way too interested...
"Ah, but I asked first," the boy on the rocks pointed out, seemingly content to just kneel there and talk to his strange saviour. But then, his expression was so blank, really, it was hard to tell... The mer-boy huffed.
"...Ice. My name is Ice," he muttered, considering whether to splash the human or not. Or would it be considered childish? Seeing the distinct look of disbelief in the other's brown eyes, he added reluctantly, "...Eirikur. Call me Ice."
The human boy swept Ice a mannerly bow, ignoring the lightheadedness from two days without food or water. It wasn't that bad, really, from experience, he knew he had two or three more days, at most. "Pleased to meet you, Eirikur. Ice. My name is Xue-Zhong, call me Xue." Ice disappeared from view under the water, and resurfaced a little over a metre closer, studying his human- yes, he had decided that Xue was his human, now- closely.
"Are you pleased to meet me?" he wondered, tilting his head curiously. "...I do believe you are. Humans are so strange." After all, Xue had already seen his fingers, and even his tail, that stormy night. Ice saw no harm in implying that he wasn't human. Wasn't it obvious already?
"...Unless they're jerks, I'm pleased to meet most people," Xue answered quietly, something like a smile in his dark, dark eyes, which vanished as quickly as it'd come. "Besides, you saved me. Thank you for that." The mer-boy studied the human one, amused despite himself.
"...Good to know, then." Xue got up, stretching, staggering a little as his head spun, not that Ice thought it unusual- after all, what did he know of walking? "...I should go, check on my crew and try to go back..."
"No!" The word spilled from the merman's lips before he could think. As the human turned to look at him, astonished, Ice quickly amended, "...Your... crew? are dead, I've seen no other survivors, and, and... your ship is... not sailable, there, see?"
Xue followed the arrow of the merman's slender white arm to look out over the now calm water glittering in the afternoon sun, out at the wreckage of his ship, and his face fell, so quickly, he looked like a completely different person. Ice felt compelled to reassure him, tell him that there would be other ships, but the reassurance fell silent on his lips. No human, not even this one, could be allowed to tell others that merpeople existed. And no one could be trusted. Those were the rules...
As the merman watched, uncomprehending yet touched, the human stood there, head bowed, utterly silent. And it was a long time before that silence was broken.
"...I have to get back somehow," he said quietly, turning to Ice, his eyes bright with tears. "Somehow... there must be a way. Please, Ice. I swear I won't tell..." Ice pulled himself from the water, and Xue knelt to sit by him.
"I can't," he answered simply, raising a webbed hand to brush at the single tear that leaked from the human's eye. "...I broke so many rules just to save you... What is this, Xue?" Ice stared at the little tear on his finger, feeling that it must hold some special meaning, but not understanding what it was... after all, he'd never seen one before, had never known what it was to cry.
Xue stared at him for a moment, then moved to brush the tear away from Ice's finger, shaking his head. "...It's a tear," he answered quietly. "Humans shed them from their eyes in times of sadness, anger, happiness or frustration... Ah, your pardon." For Ice had flinched at the human contact, not used to feeling something so dry against his skin. Ice shrugged, letting his hand fall to dip itself into the sea. Xue looked away, staring sadly at the piles of salt-stained, water-warped wood that used to be his pride and joy, and an uncomfortable silence ensued.
"...I'm sorry," Ice said awkwardly after a while, staring at his long, slim, pale fingers, the blue-grey spots on the tips, the pale, translucent webbing between them. They were so different from the human's strange, peach and honey coloured skin, like the coral that some of his cousins spoke about, in oceans far away... but not quite. This was different. And human fingers were warm... The sea was cold, always cold, even on the hottest days, except for those rare pockets of warm water.
Xue shook his head, combing his fingers through salt-stiff brown-black locks. "...It's fine," he answered with a light sigh, resigned. "I understand..." And, looking at him, Ice felt an unfamiliar tightness in his chest, and his eyes pricked with something, but could not imagine what it was. It was like his heart hurt... But that was impossible. Was it?
To get his mind off of this, he blurted out, "...Want food?" and slipped back into the water and swam away before waiting for an answer before Xue could reply. He returned soon after, with several large oysters, which he flicked open with a slim finger and held out, looking away. "... Humans can eat these, right?"
Xue blinked before taking the offering, prying out the meat inside with deft fingers- almost as nimble as a merperson's, Ice noticed with mild approval- and holding out part of it. "...Do you eat it, too? Would you like some?" Ice shook his head.
"...I don't like oysters," he lied. The human looked so hungry, and Ice himself had had meals over the last couple of days. "You can have them." Xue regarded him for a solemn moment, then placed an oyster beside the merman.
"...We can share, I'm not that hungry," he answered quietly. "It's good for friends to share food together..." And with that, Xue devoured his own share, movements quick and precise and careful. Ice watched him for a moment, seeing that the human clearly wasn't going to touch the oyster he'd singled out for the merman, then took it, eating slowly.
As Ice finished up, Xue tapped his fingertips against his tongue, savouring the last bits of oyster, perfectly seasoned with the salt of the water. Ice stared for a moment before flushing and turning away. What was this heat in his cheeks? It was at once embarrassing and unfamiliar... Xue blinked at the merman, slightly confused, then turned to watch the sun set.
"...Look, Ice," he said softly, noticing. "There are no clouds on the horizon..." His companion turned to stare at the west, uncomprehending. What did he know of the surface world? Xue saw this, and explained quietly, "It's rare when there are no clouds all the way to the horizon... on evenings like this, you get to see the sun just... disappear into the waves. Beautiful, isn't it...? This is only the third time I've ever seen this, and... I've been on the waves nearly my entire life."
Ice nodded quietly, and lay in the water, watching the sun sink slowly into the water, its brilliant rays glittering over the waves with no clouds to hide its glory. And the two of them sat, human and merman, side by side, watching, until the last of it disappeared, and then there was darkness, and they went to sleep.
I have no idea how long this might be, twoshot, threeshot, maybe more, it really depends... But, I hope you like it, and review, please!