Linnea...Or Rather, Jack
By: CrystallicSky
Title: Linnea...Or Rather, Jack
Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters; the same goes for Linnea.
Warnings: Blood, one curse word, otherwise okay.
Jack climbed onto Aegina's deck and thrust his sleepy face into the evening breeze. Shaking off the cobwebs of dreams, he looked up at the sky which was glowing orange to the west and blending to a velvety-looking midnight blue in the east.
"Jack!" His father's deep voice called from the back of the boat. "Come sit with me. You've been belowdecks so much lately that I've forgotten what you look like."
Picking his way through the coils of rope and sacks of net, Jack walked around the side of the cabin to the stern. Brude was sitting on an upturned crab trap, and the dying twilight cast a harsh scowl on his face as he muttered impatient words at the net in his hands.
"Hey, dad, what are you working on?" he asked. He sat down next to his father and leaned over his knee to see the source of his curses.
"It's a net-of-thorns," the man said, gently fending his son off with an elbow. "Keep your distance, little prince. This brute will cut flesh to the bone." He lifted it gingerly. "It's very dangerous to the fish it seeks – and to the fisherman who doesn't show it proper respect."
Jack examined its strange texture. The mesh was thin and spiraled, unlike the thick hemp of the other nets. "What's it made of?"
"Eel kelp." He laid the net-of-thorns down carefully and pulled a fresh length of shiny line from a sack between them. "I could haul this boat to shore with a single strand."
"What are these?" the youth asked, pointing at the gleaming shards knotted in the line. He gasped, and jerked his finger back. A bead of blood swelled out of his fingertip and trickled toward his palm.
"I told you not to touch it. Let me see, boy." He took he finger and examined the wound. "It's not deep, but it'll be sore for a while."
"I didn't mean to touch it; it's like the net reached out and bit me…"
"That was the bite of a cuttle rasp."
Jack grimaced. "Won't rasps destroy the net's catch? Dad, what's this net for?"
"A doomed sea, little prince." The fisherman picked up the raw edge of the net from the pile and squinted at the next knot to be tied. "It's changed this season. I have known these waters since-" He hesitated and then sighed. "Well, for a very long time, but now they are strange to me."
Jack looked at his father, the boat, and the sea. He shrugged. "It looks the same to me. What are you talking about?"
"Something has come. The good fish are leaving, and the few we net are sick or dead. As they disappear, the foul breeds – eels, snakes, and sharks – multiply. I believe this sea is cursed, but it's been mine so long, it's difficult to let go."
"Go? Dad, this is the first season I've felt like I sorta belong here. It's like it…calls to me. I don't want to leave."
Brude looked up from the net, a storm brewing in his eyes. "Who calls to you?"
"In my dreams the sea talks to me. It tells me I belong here." Jack looked at his father who was staring at him, aghast. He stood to leave. "I shouldn't have told you. They're just stupid dreams."
The fisherman looked at the net in his hands and shook his head. "This disturbs me, Jack. Now, I'm sure we must move quickly – we'll sail at dawn."
"Dad, we belong here. Why do you want us to run away?" When the man didn't answer, he turned and headed back to the cabin.
::-::-::-::
A long shadow slid just beneath the sea's glinting skin. The sickle-shaped tail pushed the water left, then right, as it propelled the huge shark forward. Its mighty head, horrible jaws sawing open and closed, swung side to side as it patrolled its domain.
Suddenly, it thrust its snout up and broke the surface. Its slate-colored sides paled as the moonlight struck its dorsal fin – a gleaming silver knife cutting the water like fabric.
The fin disappeared and two gray-blue human feet followed the surface dive. The tail split into legs, pectoral fins shaped into muscular human arms, and the ugly snout shrunk into a smooth human face. Treading water silently, he watched the boat. Nothing of his vulnerable human body resembled the shark, except the gray sheen of his skin. And his eyes. Menacing gold with slit pupils, they watched the boy on the boat.
::-::-::-::
Jack lay in his bunk, staring at the swirling grain in the wood that separated him from the world of water. When his father's deep, even breathing on the other side of the cabin told him the man was asleep, he pushed himself silently from under his blanket and crept to the stairs.
A cool wind whipped the clouds past the moon as he walked up the foredeck. Squeezing though the narrow gap in the railing at the bow, he crawled out to his favorite spot on the boat, the triangular wedge where Aegina's sloping sides curved upward, met, and reached out over the sea. Jack loved the prow. Flying above the water's jeweled surface, he could imagine he controlled the boat, the sea, and the sky.
Now, anchored on a restless sea, the tricorn perch bobbed and ducked. Jack absorbed the roll expertly and pulled his arms inside his nightshirt, hugging himself to keep from shivering.
Hello.
He jerked around, expecting to find his father behind him, but the door to the cabin was still closed.
Look to your future, not your past, Jack. The voice filled his head, but this time he recognized it and knew it came from the sea. Leaning forward, he peered out over the water until a splash drew his attention down, and he saw him.
Moonlight seemed to wash the color from his smooth features. His skin was ashen, and thick dark hair fell past his shoulders into the water. He was handsome, but his eerie golden eyes repelled Jack as the creature stared at him without blinking.
"Do…I know you?" Jack asked as he stepped back from the prow.
You have heard my voice before.
Jack heard him clearly, though he didn't speak. Instead the creature smiled, revealing large, menacing teeth.
You came out to find me and here I am. He pointed up at Jack and the young man felt paralyzed, like a rabbit frozen by the baying of hounds. You feel a hunger to be free. Now I offer you a feast. Step up.
Horror-struck, Jack felt his foot lift. Summoning all his strength, he forced it down.
Why do you fight? the man in the sea hissed impatiently. Step Up!
Jack pushed his feet against the deck, but they moved with a will of their own. One foot stepped forward and then the other, and impossibly, he was teetering above the sea on the prow's edge.
Dive.
Terror tore loose inside him. His heart pounded frantically as he fought to keep his toes wrapped around the wooden trim.
Dive!
The command snapped like a lash and his body leaned out over the black water.
"Jack!"
Brude's voice roared from deep in the cabin and Jack's body awakened with a start that almost pitched him into the water. He windmilled his arms and caught his balance, then leapt back from the edge. Grabbing the rail, he turned to call his father when a wall of wind slammed into the boat. Aegina reared back on her stern and then crashed forward, plunging her prow, and Jack, into the sea.
A fist of water smashed his face, and his lungs were crushed flat as a rushing undertow forced him deeper and deeper. He writhed, desperate to breathe, but couldn't pull his arms from his sides. His flesh shrieked for air and something in his chest exploded.
This is death, he thought grimly.
Struggling to pull his arms forward, the boy fought to remain conscious. Then his fingers met something hard. A large hand seized him and a vice-like grip threatened to rip his arm from its socket as it dragged him towards the surface.
Dad?
Still blind in the inky depths, Jack longed to feel his father's beard and know it was he who held him, but another hand pulled him up against cold skin as he was tucked under a strong arm. Jack stopped struggling and the fire in his chest ebbed. His lungs no longer begged for air.
We're still underwater, he thought, vaguely disturbed. Am I dead?
Moonlight from above cast a purple-green glow into the water. He turned and looked into golden, catlike eyes.
Jack screamed and water filled his mouth. He kicked and twisted, trying to escape from the man, the monster, who'd forced him into the sea, but the creature held him tight.
I am Chase, he said. This sea is now your home. Do not try to leave it or you will die.
He let the youth go and disappeared, as if slipping behind a black curtain.
Although he had no urge to draw a breath, Jack panicked when he felt himself being dragged down again. He clawed his way out of his wet nightshirt and tried to kick, but his legs felt bound at the knee and ankle. Using only his arms, he climbed wildly toward the moon until his face breached the sea and he floated, letting the waves massage his aching muscles. Rolling over to his belly, he scanned the dark horizon, but his father's boat was nowhere in sight. He saw the small, indigo silhouette of an island loom and then disappear as the moon slid behind a dense cloud cover. Jack paddled toward it, sculling awkwardly as he tried in vain to kick his legs free from whatever was binding them.
Hours seemed to pass before the beach came up under his belly like a welcome whisker burn. He settled on his back with his shoulders in the wet sand, letting his body bob in the water's gentle ebb and flow. As he rested, the moon slid from behind the clouds. Jack lifted his head, and he screamed when the light, glinting iridescently, struck him. Beginning at his hips, a thick white fish's tail curled up out of the water and ended with a filmy fin.
"No! That's…impossible!" He gaped at the alien appendage.
Flipping onto his stomach, he hauled himself out of the water until his arms, already exhausted, collapsed. Hysterical sobs wracked his body as he flailed helplessly in the sand.
I WARNED YOU NOT TO LEAVE THE SEA.
Jack rolled over and sat up. Chase was in the shallows, watching him.
"Change me back!" he wailed. "I want to go home!"
This is your home. If you leave, you and everything precious to you will die.
"I never asked for this!" the boy protested hysterically. "Why did you do this to me?!"
Chase looked at him blankly from the sea, showing no concern for his plight. All in good time, Jack, he assured. All in good time. With that, he disappeared once more beneath the waves, leaving the poor youth alone.
Jack sniffled, staring warily at the dark water only just illuminated by the moon; he did not want to go back in there, not with that…that…thing lurking about, waiting for him. He couldn't drag himself any further inland, either, his arms practically burning from exertion already and protesting the grueling treatment with total unresponsiveness.
A whimper escaped his throat as he flopped back to the beach like a gutted fish, making the sand as comfortable as it would get and allowing the repetitive lapping of the waves at the fin of his tail to lull him to sleep.
::-::-::-::
The sun shone on Jack's face, slicing through his eyelids like a bright knife. He shook his head sleepily and, without thinking, pushed himself back down the beach, into the water.
I wonder… he thought, and then remembered the same beach under moonlight. Ghastly images flooded his mind, memories of the previous night, and he dove and fled. The tail wagged furiously behind him and terror sizzled down his spine, making the fin pump even faster. Its power thrust him through the water like a bird through the wind, and he realized it felt good.
Jack slowed the tail and positioned his arms like wings. Lifting his chin, his whole body inclined to the surface. He tried stronger strokes, up and down, adjusting the angle of his arms at the same time. Then, with his arms back at his sides and just his shoulders controlling direction, he curved up through the shafts of light, bubbles tickling his skin.
An overwhelming sense of freedom rushed through him and with a mighty thrust, he broke the surface, exploding from its foam with a great slap of the tail. He piked and dove. The green water, which had numbed his human feet, glided now over his skin like one hundred silk scarves.
A mermaid…person…thing...I'm half-fish! He named it for the first time and his body flushed with excitement.
His tail's sparkle dimmed, as though the sun had slipped behind a cloud, and Jack looked up. A keel cleaved the water above him, drawing the barnacled sides of a large boat through the sea. Elated, he swam to the surface, just off Aegina's port side.
"Dad!" he cried, waving his arms over his head. "Dad, wait!"
Without warning, his tail stiffened and went numb. His head slipped beneath the surface and he watched helplessly as Aegina plowed by and disappeared.
Good morning, Jack. Chase's voice purred in his head as his gray-blue body slid out in front of him.
You! Jack forced down the panic that flared at the sight of him. Let me go!
Of course. He smiled. Whatever you wish, ask.
A tingle reanimated his tail and he pushed himself upright.
All right, I wish you'd change me back and let me go back to my dad.
Chase threw back his head and laughed. His mouth opened wide, distorting his face.
You are clever, Jack, but I doubt you are clever enough to leave me. It's lonely in this cursed sea and I have chosen you to change that- perhaps to change everything.
I don't belong here! he protested.
Oh, but you do. You have mastered the water… he paused with a wicked smile…as though it was in your blood. I have plans and they only begin with this sea. Help me and all the oceans will be ours.
I'm not helping you! the youth assured, glaring.
Of course you are, Chase murmured, swimming a lazy circle around the boy. As my mate, you shall obey me. I am now your life.
You are not my mate, and definitely not my life! Jack snorted.
Chase stopped and faced him. Do not defy me. You are the wife of the sea god, Chase Young.
Wife! Jack forgot all fear as his temper ignited. The hell I am! If you don't change me back now, I'll pull myself onto that island and let the sun fry this tail! I'll die before I swim in this sea with you!
Chase's eyes betrayed no emotion, but Jack's skin crawled as an aura of fury enveloped him. The water between them bubbled, and he lost sight of the man for a moment.
When he reappeared, terror withered his rage.
Chase's body had stretched by five lengths. His arms grew and flattened into pectoral fins as his legs fused behind him in a crescent-shaped tail. A cruel blade arched out of his back and gill slits split open at his neck. His nose stretched forward from his cheekbones, forming a sharp snout, and the corners of his mouth pulled down into a grim arch. Hundreds of teeth stood in rows within its frown and the burning golden eyes of a monster shark stared at him with blank menace.
Pumping his tail, Jack fled without any thought save escape. When the sea swelled behind him, he knew Chase was close, but he could find no more speed. Something hard bumped him, pushing him aside. The huge beast surged forward, shredding his soft flesh as the youth pirouetted against his raspy skin. Flames of pain licked across his torso. An immense pectoral fin lifted, avoiding his head by less than a finger's length, and he spun under the monster's belly. The shark's tail swept above him and disappeared in the bubbles of its wake.
Relief washed through him until he broke to the surface. There, he saw Chase's tall gray dorsal fin slicing the water on a direct path toward Aegina…and his father.
No! Chase, please! he cried out. He dove and his tail propelled him through the sea at breakneck speed. He heard a thud, followed by the sickening pop of splintering timbers. Jack spotted the shark thrashing his head violently to wrench a section of keel from the boat's belly. Aegina moaned, her prow lifting out of the water as she began to sink.
Seeing no sign of his father underwater, Jack leapt to the surface. Brude clung to the sinking mast with one arm and held a long barbed harpoon over his head with the other. The sea boiled beneath him when suddenly the mast lurched and snapped, tossing him into the remains of his boat. Jack raced through the rubble, grabbing him as he slipped, unconscious, under the sea. A wound on his forehead clouded the water red and Jack felt the shark approach.
"Chase!" he called to the beast as he struggled to keep his father's face out of the water. "Please, I know you can hear me. I'm sorry. Do what you want to me, but I'm begging you - don't hurt my father!"
The deadly shadow of the shark materialized from the depths and accelerated toward them.
Please! Jack dragged his father away as the monster's sharp snout burst through the floating debris, snapping at fragments caught in his jaws.
"Chase, I'll stay with you if you spare my father! Are you even listening? Please, just…leave us for now and I'll stay in this sea for the rest of my life. I promise!"
The shark stood with his massive head out of the water. He turned slowly until one of his empty eyes faced Jack. Then he slid below the surface. Jack held his breath.
Something seized the edge of his fin, ripping it, pulling him under. Pain shot through his entire tail and he cried out, hugging his father and bracing himself for the next bite that would cut them both in half. Instead, he heard a voice:
Remember my Queen- for the rest of your life...
Jack's tail fanned and curled with a will beyond his own, pushing past exhaustion and misery, to bring his father safely onto the island's beach. Appreciation for his piscine half filled his heart when he pulled Brude out of the water, and then fell back into the wet sand. His arms ached. His head pounded. Each breath stretched the torn flesh on his belly, and at the end of his tail his fin throbbed. Pulling it from the water, he saw a bloodly, semicircular bite.
"You'll be sorry, Chase," he vowed.
Brude moaned.
Jack pushed himself up onto his hips, lifting his father's shoulders onto his scaly lap before the man opened his eyes and looked up at him.
"Little prince! Is it really you?"
"Yeah, dad, it's me," he assured. "Well…mostly me, anyway. You got hurt in the wreck and need to rest. Just…don't move too much."
"Are you all right?" he asked, struggling to sit up. Jack squeezed his eyes closed. He heard his father gasp, and then unbearable silence. Slowly, he opened his eyes. The fisherman was not looking at his son, but behind his son, his head titled and his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"Gods help me, Jack," he whispered, "You're a merman!"
"Oh, so that's the word for it," Jack found himself muttering under his breath. He then shook his head and answered, "Yeah, that shark changed me. He says he's the god of this sea."
"God of this sea," Brude echoed bitterly, "I should have taken you away sooner. Now it will be difficult, but we'll manage."
"He says I'm his wife, now, dad," the young man sourly admitted. "I can't leave."
"His wife! Over my cold body!" Brude tried to stand but fell back with a sharp gasp.
"I told you not to move!" Jack snapped at him. "If you really want to help me, you'll stop making your wounds worse and relax!"
Brude closed his eyes, and the youth's expression softened. "Dad, this…this isn't your fault…"
"It is," he said miserably. "I abandoned my sea. All these years I have waited for this to happen, hoping it wouldn't, but always afraid."
Fear crept into Jack's heart. "What are you…talking about?"
"Son, before you were born, I was the god of this sea."
Jack felt as though the world turned upside down as he tried to make sense of his impossible words. His father, however, had more to say. "This sea is a jewel in the Ocean Realm, and when she was given to me, I never thought I'd want anything else." Brude's voice was distant, as though he was recalling a tale he'd long forgotten. "At first I had to fight to keep her, but with each victory I grew stronger, until it was known I couldn't be defeated. My sea, and the land about her, thrived."
He sighed once before continuing his tale. "One season a farmer moved his family to my shore. He planted an olive grove and, after his first successful harvest, his daughter brought a basket of black olives to me. Her name was Lena, and when I saw her I lost my heart."
Brude smiled as he remembered the woman, his tone giving a clear impression of how dearly he loved her. "Her eyes were gentle, but unafraid, and she made me laugh. She teased me for being so serious. I found I couldn't bear to be out of her sight so I asked her to be my wife, to allow me to bring her into the sea."
He paused and looked sadly at Jack. "I see now she would have been a beautiful mermaid. But it was not to be. Her father was furious when she told him. He forbade her to even approach the water. I raised a hurricane and flattened his olive trees, but still he wouldn't release her. Days went by, weeks without seeing her, and I was so empty, I thought I'd go mad. When I learned her father had decided to leave his farm and settle elsewhere, I knew I had only one choice. I left the sea to lead a human life, to be with her. Her father didn't recognize me. What he wouldn't accept from the water, he welcomed on land, so I married Lena with his blessing and began watching my sea from a fishing boat."
"Didn't you ever think about going back?" the merman wondered.
"I can never go back," his father replied. "I became a mortal when I stepped from the water."
"But you're a sea god!" Jack insisted.
"I am a sea god, trapped in the body of a human," Brude corrected, "When this body dies, I shall spend eternity a prisoner within its bones."
"Dad, that's horrible!" the youth exclaimed in horror, a hand over his mouth.
"If I ever questioned the wisdom of my decision, little prince, all my doubts disappeared when you arrived. You were the only reason I didn't follow my sweet Lena to the grave when the fever took her after you were born."
The man reached out and took his son gently into his arms. "You are more precious to me than immortality or all the seas in the Realm, Jack, but I would rather you'd never been born than have you suffer as a prisoner in a cursed sea. You are trapped with a monster, because I made a terrible mistake."
Tears spilled down Jack's cheeks. "Dad," he whispered. "I'll think of a way to make this right. I promise." He hugged back as tightly as he could, enjoying the rare moment.
When Jack finally left the beach, his father was sleeping and, without a splash, he swam toward the site of Aegina's wreck to collect supplies. He expected to see Chase every time he looked up, but the shark didn't appear.
Maybe I can reason with him or something, he thought. He can't be totally heartless, right? I mean…dad said he was evil, but maybe…
Jack spotted Aegina lying on the seabed, and his blood froze.
The boat lay on her side, her mast snapped like a broken bone just about the deck. Her backbone had been crushed in two places, and splintered debris littered her grave. Jack paused at the bow. Where he had once perched, poised to fly over the waves, a gaping wound opened the boat's belly to the sea.
Aegina hadn't been sunk, she'd been devoured.
Jack realized he was a fool to think he could find any compassion in Chase. I'd have to kill him, he realized, feeling sick. That'd be the only way to get away from him. He could hear his heart pounding as he swam through the torn bow, into the fishholds.
Located beneath the fore and aft decks, and separated by a smaller pantry hold, two enormous fishholds served as storage compartments for Brude's catch. Now the forward fishhold lay exposed, empty save for a few scavenging carp, which Jack chased back out the bow. Large portions of Aegina's underside were shattered, but his cabin, at least appeared unharmed. Jack entered through the door and glided down the stairway.
Sunlight was strained to a dim glow this far beneath the surface and, inside, the cabin was so dusky, objects appeared and disappeared like ghosts. Heavy items lay scattered along the port wall, which now rested on the bottom. One of his father's barbed harpoons had wedged its vicious tip through the metal ring of the trapdoor to the pantry. Jack pulled it free and leaned it against Aegina's ceiling, which now stood as a wall next to him.
Just in case, he thought.
Without warning, white-hot pain flashed across his tail – and only burned deeper with his instinctive recoil. As his frantic hands felt along his hips, toward his fin, something attacked his fingertips. Jack froze when he realized he was in the net-of-thorns. Carefully pulling his hands free, he reached up and grasped an open porthole. The cuttle rasps dug in with each movement, but his mind screamed at his tail, ordering it to relax. He hung motionless and the net slowly clawed its way down his scales, snagging just above his fin and refusing to go any lower. His tail begged to snap back and forth, to fling the net away, but Jack held it still. His reluctant hand reached down, hoping to touch eel kelp, not spine, but a sharp sting shot through his thumb and he pulled it back. Reaching down again, he forced his trembling fingers to search for a safe place, and the heel of his hand twitched as it was pierced. He tried again and when a smooth line brushed his knuckle, he caught it between two fingers. Lifting gently, Jack tugged the eel-kelp strand back and forth until the rasps released him and he was able to stretch his tail away. He held on to the deadly net, afraid to let it disappear again. Its weight told him this was only a corner of its length – swimming into its center would have meant an agonizing death.
Jack looked at the net and thought of his predicament with Chase.
The light had almost completely disappeared when Jack finally swam out of Aegina's forward fishhold. As he headed toward the island, he tried to analyze his plan. It was difficult to imagine this game ending with him its winner, but the alternative was certain death for him and his father.
Oh, Chase, he thought grimly, Have I got a surprise for you...
What is it?
Jack whirled to find the shark's human face inches from his. A scream rose in his throat, but he choked it back.
I heard you call, Chase said by way of explanation, I came. What do you want?
Jack willed his body to relax and his mind to think. I…I wanna know why you bit me, he swiftly came up with.
The sea god reached out and took the youth's fin in his hand. I was angry, he said unapologetically. I shall do it again if you disobey me. What are these? he inquired, tracing his finger around the wounds from the cuttle rasps.
I'm as much of a klutz in the water as I am out of it, he answered quickly. Maybe if you'd actually been around to teach me to swim with this thing, I wouldn't be all cut up.
Jack pulled his tail out of the shark's hand, but his touch seemed to linger upon him. Chase seemed amused by his discomfort, and took the youth's hand.
You have been playing with something nasty, he said with a sharp, teasing grin, examining the swollen cuts upon the white fingertips.
Never mind! Jack pulled away from him, folding his arms across his chest. Do you know my father?
Chase circled him once in the water, then turned away.
Wait a minute, the merman said, where are you going?
I am bored, he answered.
Or maybe talking about my dad scares you, Jack theorized boldly, swimming past the shark in trying to set a casual course back to the wreck of Aegina. When Chase didn't follow, he tried again to get a rise out of the creature. You're terrified of him 'cause he chased you from this sea a long time ago.
Chase was at his side instantly, grabbing his arm and squeezing.
Your chatter annoys me, he growled. I should think you would know better, after our last painful discussion.
Jack winced and struggled in the bruising grip. Let me go! he begged. You're hurting me!
Chase shoved him callously away, again turning to leave.
Don't go, Jack found himself pleading. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off or anything, I… I only just found out who my father is; who I am, and…I'm curious. His apology affected the shark and the hostility melted from his face. When Jack began to swim, he followed.
What do you want to know? Chase inquired, his long, dark hair flicking behind him as he swam in casual pursuit of his Queen.
I want to know about my powers, the merman decided.
Chase laughed at him. You are a baby, he chuckled. You have no powers.
I have this tail, Jack asserted in protest. And I'm underwater and not dead.
Both of those things were gifts from me, the shark informed.
But I'm the son of the sea god, Brude, the youth reminded. How can you be sure I didn't do it myself?
You are the son of Brude the Fool, Chase said. You could not change wet sand to dry without my help.
Aegina lay just beneath them, now. Jack swallowed; it was now or never. Maybe, he conceded. That's why I want to see you turn into the shark again.
Chase scrutinized him with blank eyes.
Jack quickly elaborated. You said you're the one who changed me – I say I changed myself but don't know how to control my powers yet. I wanna watch you change so I can try to learn how to do it myself and If I'm wrong, then we'll both know.
A wicked smile twisted Chase's features. I do not know whether to admire your courage or deplore your stupidity for such a request. Very well, little Queen. Learn what you can.
The water shuddered and Jack watched the horrifying transformation again. He wanted to swim fast and far away from the abominable creature but forced himself to stay as the beast swam slowly around him. His terror seemed to please Chase in some way. The circles were hypnotic, and became tighter until he was close enough to bump Jack with his pectoral fin. Before he could lose his already dwindling nerve to do what he'd decided to do, the merman darted forward and punched the end of Chase's snout as hard as he could. The big fish drew back, not in pain, obviously, but surprise; Jack took advantage of the momentary shock and dove toward Aegina.
Catch me if you can! he challenged, trying to sound bolder than he felt. I've still got half a fin!
The sea lurched behind him as Chase launched in irate pursuit, and the merman cut a path straight to the cabin door. He flew through it at full speed, yanking his arms up to protect his head before slamming into the wall on the aft side of the cabin. Stunned, he had to fight to stay conscious.
The blurry world around him finally cleared and he looked back at the door. The shark's golden eye and malevolent grin were framed in the jamb. Jack shrank against the wall and watched the monster swim by, his eyes riveted on the dark water where he disappeared.
Nothing happened. He watched and waited.
The wall above him exploded and the huge gray snout crashed through the wood as though it were paper. Jack screamed into the snapping jaws as they pushed deeper into the cabin, forcing him to retreat along the ceiling. The beast followed. Suddenly, his hand rolled across something hard and heavy. The harpoon! Jack grabbed it with both hands and plunged it into the shark's gaping maw. A furious roar shook the boat, deafening him. The metal rod was jerked from his hands and smashed just above his ear as the monster thrashed himself out of the boat. The cabin swirled amongst stars until he heard Chase's smug voice from somewhere in his tumbling brain.
What game are you playing now, my Queen?
I'm trying to kill you, Chase, the youth answered honestly, dazed and unable to keep the nervous quiver from his voice. One of us…one of us isn't going to leave this wreck alive.
Laughter shook the water around him. In that case, I certainly hope you are prepared to die.
Jack tried to sort through the confusion and remember what was supposed to happen next as the boat rocked beneath him. The shark had breached the ceiling and was chewing a path toward him. Fumbling frantically, his hand found the trapdoor ring leading to the pantry hold. He jerked it open and squeezed himself inside, pulling the door shut just as the monster ripped the remnants of the cabin from Aegina's deck. Jack bolted through a torn section in the hold, trying to get out of the boat. Swimming to the bow, he paused and looked back where the shark's enormous tail jutted from the wreckage.
You look ridiculous! He taunted, hiding under the torn bow. Good, he congratulated himself, piss him off more; the more pissed off he is, the less he'll think and the more mistakes he'll make.
Aegina shuddered as the monster pulled himself out from her belly.
Flattened against the wall of the forward fishhold, Jack paused, expecting to see the beast pass in front of him…but the water remained still. Resisting the urge to move away from the wall and find him, his nerves stretched like fishline as he watched the silent sea.
Eventually, he could no longer take the waiting. Chase? His call was quiet and echoed inside his head. Nothing. Jack slowly swam out of the bow and looked back over Aegina. He scanned the smashed cabin, lying in torn fragments across the floor of the sea, but there was no sign of its destructor. Drifting back down, he looked into the forward fishhold – and heard the roar of moving water behind him.
Jack whirled and saw the leviathan bearing down on him, his mouth set in an evil grin. There was no time to escape, and no retreat – if he fled from the boat, the monster would simply veer. He saw the catlike eyes roll back white, and rows of deadly teeth reach forward as the massive jaws opened.
With nowhere to go but forward, Jack charged the shark.
His hands stretched forth to meet the monster's snout. On impact, he arched his back and thrust his fin upward, absorbing the force of the shark's momentum; cartwheeling over his dorsal fin and past his tail. The sea behind him erupted with a hideous scream. Chase had clearly crashed into the hold and found the net-of-thorns.
Jack pulled out of his spin and turned back to the wreck. Shrieks of pure agony filled his ears and the youth felt a startlingly heart-wrenching pang of sympathy. The shark thrashed wildly, lifting Aegina off the bottom of the sea and dashing her to pieces. He swam in circles, sawing his jaws against an invisible foe, slashing his tail with fury and pain, and tightening the net with every move. The creature's long, winglike pectorals were drawn up against his body and dark jagged wounds opened beneath the piercing cuttle rasps. With his mighty fins tangled and his blood pouring into the sea, the shark's frantic fight slowed, and he began to sink.
The merman listened to him shudder and twitch.
Jack, the beast begged, the desperate tone in his voice instantly sending guilt through the boy's heart. help me! I can't breathe!
Quivering, the youth asserted, I…I told you one of us wouldn't leave this wreck alive!
I am a god, and you are my wife, Chase cried indignantly. You cannot kill me!
Jack swallowed hard, trying to hold back the voice in his head that screamed how wrong this was. You're a god trapped in the body of a shark, he corrected, remembering his father. I can kill you.
Jack, Chase said, sounding tired. Please. I can take care of you.
Y-you would have eaten me! the youth protested, almost trying to convince himself more than Chase.
The shark's eye stared at him, lifeless, as his jaw gaped, trying to push water into his gills; he had fallen unconscious, the inability of his current body to close its eyes the only reason they were not so now.
Jack did not feel proud or free as he'd expected to feel with Chase this close to death. He felt like a criminal. The shark had said it himself: he was the sea god's wife, and this…this was a sickening betrayal of his trust.
A low, mournful whine escaped Jack's throat, and without even thinking, his tail propelled him to the massive shark, still slowly sinking in the water. He collided with Chase's side, just above his pectoral fin; immediately he was assailed by the familiar bite of cuttle rasps, but he found no will within himself to care.
His hands picked desperately at the net-of-thorns, heedless of the blood from his fingers clouding the water. It was no use, the deadly thing wound much too tightly around the shark's body for the youth to have any hope of removing it, much less to do so with his vision obscured by his very efforts.
Jack whimpered and gave up, simply pressing himself to the fish's cool body as tightly as he could; cuttle rasps from the net stung his flesh all over, even catching his cheek, but he blocked out the pain. For the first time, it truly hit him that the sea god was going to die like this, and it was his fault.
Please don't die, he begged of the shark. Don't leave me…I never meant…I didn't want… He whimpered again, his eyes clenching shut. Don't die on me, Chase!
A bubbling feeling welled up within the merman and before he knew what was happening, it manifested outside of his body, a burst of bubbles exploding in the water with all the force of a volcano and blocking the youth's vision.
When the bubbles cleared moments later, there was a weight against him, and Jack gaped to see Chase slumped in his arms, humanoid once more. There was no trace of the net-of-thorns.
Holy crap, he murmured, I really do have powers…
The merman shook his head of the thought and got a better hold on the unconscious god. In this form, Chase could not die, but fainted as he was, he could not swim, either, meaning that Jack would have to take him to dry land, where he could try and stop the bleeding of his wounds.
Jack cursed his conscience but hugged Chase tighter, pumping his tail laboriously to reach the surface.
::-::-::-::
Chase hissed at the sun he felt on his face, dragging him from what felt like a very long, dreamless sleep. He wanted to protest further as pain hit him, every last inch of him aching terribly; this was not aided by the sheer dryness of his flesh, and the god was positive he must have been baking in this sun for hours.
With a breathy moan, his eyes flickered open and he hissed in displeasure once more, his already slit pupils recoiling at the blinding sun just above him.
"Easy, Chase," a voice said gently, a hand pressing to his stomach, "just lay still, okay?"
The shadow of whoever it was moved to block the sunlight, and the god opened his eyes again. Jack?
The youth sat beside him on the beach, tail tucked beneath him. His hands wrung in his lap and he was biting his lip, refusing to meet Chase's eyes with his own. He was feeling guilt, it seemed.
The shark scanned Jack's body, startled to see a number of cuts on the white chest and stomach. Despite the aggravation to the still-fresh wounds upon his own body it caused, his hand reached up and made contact with the boy's cheek, tracing the edge of a particularly nasty abrasion. What is this? he asked.
Jack shivered at his touch and his eyes slipped closed as he sheepishly answered, "Cuttle rasps…"
And all at once, Chase remembered everything that had led him to such a damaged state: Jack's request, his intent to kill him and then…that net, that loathsome net that had nearly done him in.
But…he was alive.
He was alive, his wounds dressed in kelp with care, and here was Jack, rather bloodied up himself and watching over him.
On accident, the youth caught his eye. Immediately, he blurted, "I'm sorry, Chase, I…I'm sorry…" The god saw red eyes drifting over his body, and in a mournful voice, Jack spoke, "I thought if I killed you, I…I thought I could, but…I can't. I just thought…" He sighed, frustrated before whimpering, "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry…"
Jack, Chase addressed, at which the merman flinched, why did you rescue me? You had planned to kill me, and yet I live.
The youth sighed, his hands once more wringing in his lap. "I'm not a murderer," he said eventually. "I tried to be; I almost was. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't watch you die, Chase, I just couldn't."
Then why would you even attempt it? the shark demanded of him. Why did you want me dead?
"I was scared," Jack admitted. "You almost killed my father and then you hurt me: I was scared that you were gonna kill me, so I…"
You wanted to destroy me before I destroyed you, Chase finished, frowning to see the youth nod.
"I'm sorry," he blurted again, head ducked in shame.
The god looked at him for a long moment before sighing. Perhaps…I should be sorry as well, my Queen.
The boy looked up, a noise of confusion escaping his throat.
Golden eyes slipped closed and Chase admitted, I was so focused on making you obey me that I frightened you into doing the exact opposite. That is my own fault. He stroked his hand along the youth's cheek, apologizing, I am sorry, too, Jack. A king should not make his queen bleed, and a queen should not need to fear his king deeply enough to want his death.
Jack wordlessly leaned into his touch, and he did not even protest when the hand on his cheek slipped around to cup the base of his skull, pulling him in closer to the shark.
Chase gently took the youth's lips with his own, pleased to be welcomed and not pushed away.
Let us make a deal, Jack, he said upon breaking the kiss, an almost playful smirk upon his features. I shall be better to you, and you shall not try to murder me again.
Jack snorted and grinned a bit. "We could give that a shot," he agreed jokingly.
::-::-::-::
Brude stared hard at the shark that held his son in the sea, a frown on his face. "Come again, beast?"
Chase tightened his grip upon the pale-skinned merman in his arms, reiterating, I want to make the bond I have with your son official: I want your blessing for our marriage.
The fisherman's frown deepened and he turned to his son first before deciding anything.
Jack clung to the shark just as tightly as the shark did to him, a smile on his face that was definitely not a forced one. "Its okay, dad," he assured, "he's on the up-and-up this time, I swear." And this was true, as the newest god of this sea had definitely been keeping his end of their bargain and treating him better.
It was much easier to fall for a guy, it seemed, when he conceded to swimming in coral reefs and watching sunsets with you as opposed to biting off half your tail and trying to kill your family.
Brude was no fool: he saw the affection the youth felt for the beast in his every action, but especially by the way his son's red eyes warmed like a hearth when looking at the shark.
He knew Jack was in love because his Lena used to look at him in that same way.
The fisherman immediately decided that there was no need for further consideration and assured, "You have my blessing, Young, but if you break his heart, know that I'll drag him from the sea myself and harpoon you through the heart before you're even able to protest it."
Jack lit up like the brightest falling star, but now Brude watched the shark's reaction. The beast gave no emotion away willingly by his face; looking closely, however, his golden eyes seemed to express gratitude and the release of tension from his body showed his relief at the verdict.
The mortal man still remembered when he'd been in such a position; the rage and dismay that came with being refused when he knew that no man had the right to keep him apart from the one he wanted. He had taken enough away from that experience to know that no good could come of forcing lovers apart. Nonetheless …
"I still expect to be repaid for the ship you destroyed, beast," he asserted. "And you'll stop letting those minions of yours feast upon all of the healthy fish, else you won't lay a single fin on my little prince!"
"Dad!" Jack exclaimed, embarrassed.
No, my Queen, he is perfectly within his rights. Chase thought of his legions of sharks and eels and admitted, I have allowed them to make pigs of themselves lately. Besides… He offered his wife a toothy grin, purring, A ship is a small price to pay to keep you.
A/N: So, several years ago, I got this collection of stories called Half-Human, and in this book was a story written by D. J. Malcolm by the name of 'Linnea.' Immediately, it struck me as Chack, and finally, I've gotten around to going through it and making enough changes to actually make it Chack.
Now before somebody says its just a rip-off, allow me to say in my own defense that I had to rewrite all of what is now Jack's dialogue to actually fit him (because let's face it, he'd never say something like, "Father, I do not wish to leave.") and I added a lot of my own writing to the story throughout where I felt it was lacking or needed rephrasing (which was surprisingly in a good deal of places).
Besides that, I had to remove and rewrite the whole ending, because if I didn't, Jack would've killed Chase and been happy about it, which does not make for good Chack, no siree! XD
So anyways, I just want it to be known that I cannot take full credit for this story, because essentially, I just made some radical reformations to it and changed the ending; however, I do feel I deserve a split of the credit with D. J. Malcolm in this case because of the fact that I changed a lot of stuff and worked fairly hard on it. .__.
Regardless of that, I hope you enjoyed my take on the story Linnea, and thank you for reading! :D
(Also, if you're ever going to read Half-Human, besides Linnea, I most recommend Princess Dragonblood; its my second favorite in the whole book. ;P)