Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea and this manifestation.
Warnings: Unbeta'd, slightly edited story; angst; a bit stream of consciousness; fluff; happy, sappy ending; a bit of Bella bashing… sort of; the abuse of semi-colons and em dashes. MPreg… sort of. Twilight crossover. AU. Creature!Harry. Creative license on sea-based entities (sirens and mermaids, possibly selkies). Slash.
A/N: Read the FAQ (second chapter) before leaving a review.
… x … x … x …
He was cold skin with warm voice. He was safety. He was home.
He was mate.
He was also a wasteland — empty on the inside — sterile, incapable of fulfilling the needs for the season.
Something's wrong.
He was pain, devastation, disappointment.
Where were the eggs?
Yet, I remained. My heart bid me not to leave. I trusted him with that organ.
He cruelly crushed it.
Humans did not deserve the time of day. They don't deserve to live — the mundanes more so than the others.
They ignore their nature; they know only to destroy, never to bring life — to preserve life.
They pollute the waters, the air, the earth — Gaia. They bring tears to our mother and her sisters; they bring heart-ache.
They steal mates.
These uncivilized barbarians heed not the doctrine of the seasons, the rules of the games. They live in ignorance.
I hate them.
"Edward? Where are you going?" Shivers traveled through my cold vessel; those eyes — too cold.
"Go back to sleep. I'll be back when you wake." He pressed a quick kiss to my lips. Chaste. Cold. Detached.
Tears well up as he leaves through the window.
Lie. The first lie.
Where's my skin? Why so cold? My skin will warm me?
I remained awake, too cold to sleep. He did not return until the first rays of the sun breached the horizon.
The rays tried to warm me — chasing the cold away.
His cold arms wrapped around me. Those cold lips touched me. Those cold words passed over me.
Cold. So cold. All cold.
Where's my skin? It will warm me?
… x … x … x …
So happy. So energetic. So warm.
Why?
"She's cute. You'll love her, Esme!" The mother looked confused, angry. She was warmth, a reminder of the past. She was safe; she loved.
She understood the pain, the disappointment. She understood the emptiness — she cried for my missing eggs.
Where have the tadpoles gone?
She was righteous anger and maternal affection. She took the feeble embers of hate from my heart and nurtured them in her own.
She met this girl but did not touch her, did not force her to eat - did not love her. She couldn't, not when she loved me.
"Oh, my little one. What are they doing to you? Do they not know of the heart that resides here, the fractured organ?" She placed her head over my chest, the tears in her voice raining down upon me; trying to imitate those of a phoenix, to heal, to fix, to mend - they could not.
"Carlisle will help you, my child. He must!" So crazed, hysterical; all for me.
"Shed not a tear for me. I knew this would happen. I could not fulfill the duties of the season so he's found someone who can." Lies.
So cold. My skin, where is it? Too cold.
… x … x … x …
Carlisle was warmth. He was safety. He was affection.
He chased the cold, kept it at bay. A temporary release, a quick fix that will only stay as long as I'm in his arms.
Curled against him, his nose softly nuzzling my neck, it was nice to feel warm again.
Is he my skin?
Buried against him, I sighed. My mind at ease, for those precious minutes.
"I must go. Return. To what, I can't remember."
"Stay for now, rest your mind, your soul. I will escort you to where you desire, in the morning. For now, stay warm."
Esme — so kind, so considerate, so affectionate —said not a word as she walked in to change. She merely brushed a hand through my hair, placed a kiss on my brow — warmth — and quietly left to rejoin the rest of her children — eggs from another nest, but hers all the same.
As the sun rose, Carlisle took me to the place I desired in my heart; he carried me as my body was too weak to allow me to walk.
Mother greeted me, happily rolling around; crashing against my legs in welcome.
I thanked him — a kiss upon his lips. Chaste. Heartfelt. — and donned my skin without a thought.
"We love you Harry. He may not, but we do. Never forget that." His words warmed me as I dove beneath the waves, falling into mother's embrace, returning home.
Children of the sea, and children of the land do not mix, I believe.
Too different. Warmth and frost. Incompatible.
They ignore their nature, the doctrine. A childe of land that does not is the only option, but they are few and far in between.
… x … x … x …
He was one.
He loved my mother, and she him.
He knew the doctrine; followed it; lived by it.
He was warmth. He was life; an oasis.
He was perfect, my Jacob.
There you are, my darling eggs. Disperse that shy air, let your father gaze upon you. Let him admire you, his children.
… x … x … x …
They came, my family. Carlisle embraced me. Esme held me. The others merely watched.
Edward is getting married and I'm invited.
I accept.
"You're going to show up the bride and I think there's some rule against that." He laughed — a warm bark — and nuzzled my neck.
We have no gender; we are both and so I was compelled to wear this dress, to put the children of land at ease.
The neckline was wide and open; easy access for Jacob who held an odd attachment to my neck. The dress was lightweight — flowing. It reminded me of my tail. Solid and scaled on top, sheer — silky — and fanned out on the bottom, but with a solid layer beneath to preserve modesty.
My tail.
Jacob knows me so well.
… x … x … x …
People stared.
The crowd was odd and a tad humorous. Vampires and humans — predator and prey — sitting side by side.
A mermaid and shape-shifter in their midst.
What a queer gathering.
Esme hastened over, embracing me, complimenting my dress and exclaiming over the sea shells and pearls in my hair.
She greeted Jacob just as warmly and I let out a breath, unknowingly held.
She held my child, Aeria, in gentle hands. My little girl captured Esme's heart with a glance of those sea green eyes.
Jacob, sweet Jacob, allowed his former enemy to hold his pup. He clutched his son all the more. I smiled.
"She's family. It's ok. I swear." I rewarded him with a kiss as Esme beamed, touched.
We found our seats and I saw Bella for the first time.
I was unimpressed.
Edward left a siren, a mermaid, a child of the sea, for this pathetic mundane?
She'll be disappointed when she sees her empty nest.
I smiled, content.
It was nothing more than she deserved.
"I love you." I sighed, leaning into Jacobs hold. He beamed, snuggling against me like the puppy he truly is.
He has time to grow.
I glance into sea green eyes — Aeria — and amber — Remus.
There was still a long way to go before these two grew their tails. Until then, he's safe.
Warmth. Contentment. My skin is unneeded for the time being.
Besides, I have a wolf pelt if it gets too cold.