Just a little side story I've had nagging at me for awhile now, and since I'm currently stuck in May I hell I figured I'd get it off of my chest. It also gives me a chance to explore a different sort of narrative than I use in May I, so I hope you all enjoy!

Title and chapter names taken from "When You Close Your Eyes" by Night Ranger, great song!

An index of all the character descriptions exist here:

archiveofourown

.

org

/works/13210260/chapters/30218163

(this website hates links)

...xXx...

The pod swam faster with the current, hoping to get to their destination by midday at the latest. They'd left their cavern as soon as the beams of sunlight hit the sands and coral that morning, much to the chagrin of most of them. The ocean life around them was a blur as they passed by colorful reefs and swirling meadows of seaweed, heading towards deeper pastures. Feelings of a shared annoyance were bouncing around in the pod's collective mind.

Roderich smoothed out his pelvic fins slowly and thoroughly as he brought up the back of the pod. It was unusual for them to leave the comforts of their home so early in the morning. Scratch that—it was unusual for him. He was always the last of his family to awaken and, thus, charged with keeping an eye on their rocky dwelling while the others left to hunt or patrol. So being forced out of his kelp nest this early in the day was certainly enough to ruffle his scales. He huffed and continued his daily routine of making himself look presentable as he struggled to keep up with his pod mates.

A silver and black striped tail flicked in front of him, catching his attention quickly. He swatted the irritating fin away and fixed the perpetrator with a firm look.

"Gilbert, stop."

"Oh, come on. Keep up, slowpoke." Red eyes and sharp teeth grinned at him brightly, too bright for such early hours.

The indigo merman worked on binding his sash and pouches securely around his waist, doing his best to hide just how tired he really was. Gilbert drifted easily beside him, making sure the purple male's bone dagger was tucked safely against his hip. Roderich shooed him away once more. "I am keeping up."

"You're falling behind," Ludwig called back to them, quite a distance ahead.

He'd stopped the pod to wait for the two to catch up, clearly frustrated with their pace. They were one of the larger family groups in the area and being the one in charge of guiding everyone all at once was already taking its toll on his patience, not that the silver and blue striped male couldn't handle it. There was a reason he was the one in charge this morning.

Roderich took a moment to breathe as the pair finally caught up to the others. The rest of the pod was lazily drifting around in circles or quickly eating a slight breakfast. Some of the smaller ones dozed on the backs of a couple of the others, and the violet male was infinitely jealous. Elizabeta would normally help tow him along during long distance trips such as these, but she was currently one of the ones being leeched upon by one of the younglings.

He eyed the silver male beside him once more, wondering if he could somehow bribe him to carry him the rest of the way. His pride caught up with him, though, and he dismissed the thought, straightening up in front of his two brothers.

"I don't understand why we had to leave so early. It's a bit suspicious if you ask me," he voiced, combing his hair back as it floated in front of his face.

Ludwig sighed and placed his hand on his shoulder, pushing him forward as they began to swim again. The others followed automatically in sleepy obedience.

"As I've stated already, father gave me specific instructions last night to bring us to meet him at the edge of the southern shipping graveyard today."

"I just don't understand why we all had to come," Roderich huffed. He was definitely starting to feel an ache settle throughout his tail.

"He said everyone." Ludwig swam forward to the front and that was final.

Even Gilbert and Elizabeta glided past him to catch up with the larger male, a few of the others following suit. Roderich prickled at the lack of empathy his family had for him. Didn't they know how hard it was for him to keep up with their brutal pace? He wasn't nearly as beastly in build as some of his brothers, and couldn't understand how they could just swim so damn fast. He was longer and lithe, built for quick bursts of speed and elegance—not for trekking across half the damn ocean!

As he gradually fell to the back of the pod once more, as expected, Roderich just focused on his breathing and keeping his tail at a steady rhythm. The last thing he wanted was to get lost in some other pod's territory. He'd probably be killed or held for ransom, or be chased away at even more egregious speeds. That ghastly thought helped him keep pace for a little while longer.

However, as the rocky reef terrain began to change to wide open meadows of seagrass and algae he quickly began to fall behind again. Ludwig paused the group at the edge of the grassland and was gesturing towards his brother, deciding to split them up to effectively hide their larger group from being spotted by predators. The brothers' voices were faint as Roderich struggled to catch up to the group while they were still stationary; hoping they'd stay put long enough for him to take a breather.

"I don't want to be here any longer than we have to be. This area is controlled by a wacko."

"Well, we wouldn't have to worry about running into him if we just went around."

"The meadow is too large. This way is faster."

Gilbert didn't hesitate to lead half of them deep into the grass a little ways away while the blue-silver male continued to lead the rest of them forward.

The purple merman hoped a couple of the others could sense his distress as he reached the edge of the grass just in time to see the last few tailfins disappear out of sight. He looked between where the two groups had entered the green field, panicking as he tried to decide who to follow. Oh, why wouldn't they just wait for him?

Chest heaving, limbs throbbing, he dived into the grass after Ludwig's group. If anyone was going to notice his suffering through their instinctual connection, certainly it would be him. Or Elizabeta. Whoever came first to help him. Surely they must notice just how far behind he was falling. Just in case, he gave a small cry to alert those ahead of him to please, for the love of all that was sandy and soft, slow down!

No reply. He felt no response in the back of his mind, either, and that was more than a little disconcerting. Maybe they just couldn't feel him. No, no, that's not right. Ludwig was always on top of these things; his sense of the threads connecting all of them was impeccable, and he never made mistakes or lost one of them. Even Gilbert always made sure to look after them, though Roderich was grudging to admit that.

And the little one Elizabeta was carrying around, young Killian, seemed to have a strange connection to him. That kid always knew where he was. He would constantly catch him in one of the deeper caves practicing his music, no matter how deep he went. Oh, why couldn't the boy wake up and tell the others that they were leaving him behind?

Perhaps they were ignoring him, then. That thought nearly made him choke on the anger that followed it. He knew he was slower than the others, and maybe they were annoyed at him for it, but that was really no reason for them to leave him behind!

The merman gave a quick burst forward with the last of his strength, desperately pushing the grass and kelp out of his face.

Roderich thought he caught a glimpse of something silver glint through the green and immediately headed for it. Ludwig! This was the direction they were headed in anyway, right? It was hard to tell among the thick strands of algae.

The violet merman burst into a small sandy clearing and smacked into a large chunk of granite. He was just able to bring his arms up to protect his face as he collided with the stone, skin and scales scraping on the sharp surface. Roderich floated there a moment, dazed. He rubbed his forearms with a wince, looking to see a couple of scratches along the pale flesh there. Small clouds of red began to seep out as his blood tainted the water.

Oh. Oh, that wasn't good.

Roderich looked past the large rock, treading around the small clearing wildly for any sign of his brother; to prove to himself that he hadn't just mistaken a boulder for Ludwig and ran into it. That would just be absurd. He even dared to swim upward a ways to stare out over the endless viridian pasture, straining his eyes for any sign of his pod whisking through the grass surrounding him. They couldn't have gotten too far—he hadn't been that slow.

Nothing.

He even tried to feel them through their bond. And while he could sense that his pod mates were alive and well and definitely not near him, he couldn't quite pinpoint what direction they'd disappeared in. Touching upon the threads, he attempted to once more send his obvious anxiety through—and he thought he caught a small ripple of recognition in response before more silence.

Easing himself gently upon the top of the rough stone in the center of the clearing, Roderich spent a few moments gazing around at the large meadow surrounding him as he allowed his aching body to rest. His chest was still heaving, the gills along his ribs rippling as he caught his breath back. His tail ached immensely and dull pains were shooting up his spine and along his fins. Oh, how he wished he was back home in his soft bed!

The never-ending green grass around the merman ebbed and flowed in a hypnotic, calming manner—contrasting with the worriment swirling around inside him. The grassland was much closer to the surface than the rocky caverns his pod lived in, the morning sunlight dappling through the waves onto the sea grass. A large kelp forest sat to his right a ways away, the long tendrils reaching all the way up to float upon the surface.

Settling onto a patch of spongy moss on top of the rock, Roderich turned his attention to stopping the bleeding from his arms. He very, very reluctantly tore off a few pieces of his sash, already mourning the loss from the beautiful wine colored material. At least he couldn't see the blood seep into the dark cloth as he tied the pieces tightly around his arms. The smell was already atrociously thick around him, and he prayed that no predators caught the scent. None of the small vials of ingredients he had on him would help, either, unless he felt like seasoning himself for any nearby sharks. He momentarily thumbed over the bone dagger on his hip, loosening the tie just a bit.

Once he was done bandaging he began to pull strands of grass and kelp off of him. Several long pieces had gotten caught on his pelvic fins, yanking on the appendages terribly during his exertion. He had to curl his tail up around him on the rock in order to reach the kelp tangled on his dorsal and tail fins.

Roderich sat there awhile, petting his scales to smooth them out and to alleviate some of his heartache.

A twinge of something creeped into the back of his mind, like a flash in his peripherals, and he whipped his head to the side. Was it . . ? He gave a few soft clicks and calls, hoping for a response. Nothing. Again. He huffed and called out once more, this time holding the note out longer, pitching it lower than he normally would in a plea for help.

Some sea turtles basking lazily among nearby warm sunrays tilted towards him in interest.

After quieting for a few moments to check that his surroundings were, indeed, still predator free, Roderich settled into a song. Both to calm himself and to hopefully summon his pod back to his side. They really couldn't have gotten too far, could they? He picked up his tone to distract from the trickle of something budding at the base of his neck; not recognizing the phantom emotion and not caring.

His singing was unmistakable.

There's no way that his family wouldn't hear him.

...xXx...

Roderich - Austria
Gilbert - Prussia
Ludwig - Germany
Elizabeta - Hungary
Killian - Kugelmugel

Also, since I will be using human names in this story it's a good thing to mention that not all of the 'countries' featured here have official names yet. I will take the time to clear up who's who at the end of each chapter.

Killian is Kugelmugel, and it means "little warrior."

A small bit of The Little Mermaid rules apply, whereas many of the merfolk will have stuff they've scavenged from humans (like instruments and cloth), or made themselves (like bone spears and daggers). Along with some old myths, like how mermaids could make potions, have seductive siren-esque singing, and how some can practice magic.

And soulmates are totally a thing, and they can usually tell by singing to one another—since I'm such a sap for that sort of thing! Anyhoo, I hope you guys enjoy this little experiment of mine.