I know there are a lot of merman Yuuri and Victor stories out there, but since a lot of them suddenly stopped halfway the story, I decided to write one myself :D

Anyway, enjoy reading.

1. Cast Out

The waves crashed softly onto the shores of Hasetsu, a small coastal town in Japan. It was a chilly Mid-February day and despite of the sun trying its best to bring the temperature a bit up and lure the residence of the small town, the beach was empty. All it did now was sparkle playfully on the waves, reflecting colorful sparkles and shapes on the quiet ocean floor. Colorful fishes and other creatures that inhabited the waters enjoyed the quietness as they swam through the colorful reefs, either just swimming around or searching for food. However, the calmness was short-lived when suddenly two torpedo-like shapes sped through the water, leaving a trail of bubbles and 'chaos' behind.

The two torpedo-like shapes proceed speeding around and chasing the creatures away for another few minutes then make way up and break the surface with their heads. The two torpedo-like shapes happened to be two young mermen.

The youngest of the two, Phichit, is a friendly and cheerful 17 year old merman, and always optimistic. He has a tanned skin, dark grey eyes and short black hair with a fringe that reaches below his eyebrows, something he truly hates. Phichit loves racing with his friends and sometimes he even challenges dolphins. He's even capable of beating some of them thanks to his strong, navy blue tail. Even though he's very playful, Phichit can also be very serious, especially when it comes to his studies in mer-school, unlike his best friend, Yuuri.

Yuuri is known as 'the merman with the ocean's biggest glass heart.' He is soft hearted and easily devastated in the face of failure and sometimes the 19 year old merman tends to slip into a depression for months. He then tends to binge eat during that period of time and gains weight. Once his friend, Phichit, pulled him out of one of those depressions and challenged him into a few races, he turns back into top form and even has slight muscles due to those exercises. Nonetheless, his face maintains a soft appearance. His usually short, messy black hair always slid back when he swam fast, which was something Phichit wished his hair would do.

Unlike his friend, Yuuri hates mer-school and rather spends time watching land people, which is against every rule the mer-council had set up. If you got caught you either got banned from the pod or put under strict cave-arrest. Scared to be banned away from his sister, Yuuri obeyed the rule.

Unlike all the other mermen of his pod, Yuuri has a two-colored tail. His is just as black as his hair with here and there some silver-colored dots and stripes. One of the elderlies' a teacher in the mer-school, told him that some say the color of the markings can tell you what color of tail your 'partner' will have. Shortly after, the other mermen and mermaids of his age bullied him, and told him he would stay alone forever, because a silver colored tail was very rare for mer-people.

Even though he's quiet, kind and easily embarrassed, Yuuri can also be extremely competitive and never declines one of his friend's challenges.

"See?! I'm still the fastest swimmer!" Phichit laughed cheerful, soon the both of them broke the surface with their heads.

Yuuri just laughs in return; "One day I'm going to beat you fair and square, Phichit!"

"In your dreams!" Phichit said, emphasising every word by poking Yuuri's chest and the two burst into another fit of laughter afterwards. Their playfulness was cut off when they heard the water splash behind them. They turned around abruptly and found three mermaids surfacing the water.

"Mari!" Yuuri chocked out, looking like they were caught in the middle of a crime. Then again, they actually were. The head of the mer-council had signed them and pod's delinquent, Otabek, up for Full Moon Patrol. It was their job to scare fishermen away so they would keep their prying eyes away from the underwater caves below Hasetsu. Tonight it was extra important to keep humans away because it was 'graduation' night for some of the pod members. Mari and her two friends were one of them.

While eyeing her brother with a disappointed look, Mari inhaled a deep breath then said, holding her index finger and thumb slightly parted; "I am this close to receiving my moon ring, Yuuri! If the pod finds you here neglecting their orders, they come at me and then I'll probably have to wait another whole year before I get another chance of graduating."

"But Mari…" Yuuri wailed with a pout on his face. "Full Moon Patrol is so boring! Why can't we celebrate like everyone else?!"

Mari's frustration slowly vaporises and she wraps a comforting arm around her brother then smiles; "Only a few more years, Yuuri, then you and Phichit will earn your graduation gifts and have your own celebration."

"Yeah, right…" Yuuri rolled his eyes. "Phichit maybe, but not me. I hate mer-school, remember?"

"Yeah. Yuuri rather lets his hair blow in the wind as he prances into the sunset…" Phichit chimed in with a grin then quickly dropped his eyes when he saw Mari's scowl. Then he murmured; "Ah, look at the time. We really need to find Otabek and return to our duties."

Yuuri watched his friend dive back underwater and was just about to follow when Mari grabbed his arm and said; "Your schoolwork is another thing I want to discuss with you, Yuuri, and I will, tomorrow. Please keep your head on the job. Tonight is really important for me and the last thing we want is getting caught in the fishing nets."

"Yes, Mari…" Yuuri replied back then dove under and searched for his friend who waited for him near the coral and poked the fish, making them spurt away in different directions. Yuuri tapped Phichit on the arm then beckoned him with a firm pull of his head before they made way towards the surrounding islands where their underwater home was located.

A few minutes later, Yuuri and Phichit saw a light blue tail pointed downwards while the rest of the body, mainly the head, was above the surface. Probably to check the surroundings. Both Yuuri and Phichit quickly surfaced the water and found the back of Otabek's head.

"You're late!" the pod's troublemaker pointed out, not taking the effort to turn around and address them properly. "I will be checking the far shores while you two get the rest! We'll meet back here!"

And with that, Otabek dove under and disappeared. Phichit glanced at his friend then asked; "Who put him in charge?" Yuuri merely shrugged then dove back under followed by Phichit.

The two friends stayed close together as they propel themselves through the water, securely scanning the water surface above them. So far it just looked like it was just going to be another normal full moon without any trouble. Which was good a thing, but it would even be better if they were allowed to celebrate like the others instead of being stuck with the most easiest duty ever.

Meanwhile, not far away from the two mermen, a small row boat with three humans and a brown poodle floated on the water's currents. Two out of three started to prepare their fishing rods while the youngest, a blond teen, scowled angrily while scanning the water. The brown poodle slept lazily on the bottom of the boat.

"You know I HATE the water!" the blond boy suddenly growled, looking mainly at the silver haired 23year old, who merely laughed in return. It angered the teen even more. "I could be in a onsen right now and eat normal food instead of staying the night on the beach and eat fish prepared by an old man who can't even boil an egg!"

The silver haired man, Viktor Nikiforov, also known as Russia's legendary and five time world champion figure skater, grinned as he threw his rod out; "Aw, and here I was thinking cats actually like to eat fish."

"Yeah, and if you hate the water so much, why don't you help us? The sooner we caught our dinner, the sooner we can go back to the tents," Chris, a 22 year old male figure skater said, grinning madly.

"You guys won't catch anything!" the Russian teen scowled. "Hiroko said so herself! She said something lives in these water that chases the fish away. She said fishermen claim they see weird things happening during a full moon. Have I already mentioned IT'S A FULL MOON TONIGHT?!"

"Yuri, relax," Viktor laughed, patting his poodle's head who had woken up after Yuri's loud words. "It's all just some silly make-believe stories. Nothing weird will happen."

Unaware to the three males in the boat, Yuuri and Phichit break the water line behind them, locking their eyes onto their target.

"Can you imagine living without a tail?"

"Hmm.." Yuuri hummed with a dreamily look. To be honest, he had pictured himself without a tail many times and even wondered how it would be like to have legs. Then, when he notices his friend's odd look, Yuuri quickly straightened his face and cleared his throat. "How about we help them catching something?"

Phichit's eyes nearly dropped from his sockets in shock then gasped; "Yuuri, are you crazy?! Our job is to scare the fish away so the land people won't come too close to the underwater caves!"

"Only because we help them catching one stupid fish, doesn't mean they'll get close to the caves. Their miles away from it. Besides, I've heard once a huan got a fish, they'll head back home." A smirk curled up on Yuuri's face. "Let's have some fun, Phichit!"

Before Phichit had the chance to stop him, Yuuri dove back under and swam away towards the small boat. Phichit rolled his eyes then followed. Soon they closed in on the boat, the brown poodle rose up then peeked over the edge of the boat, wagging his tail excitedly. When he saw the two large shape swim under the boat towards the other side, he instantly turned then barked excitedly at the shapes in the water. Due to his weight and playfulness, the boat would have fallen over if Viktor hadn't grabbed a hold on him.

"Makkachin, calm down, will yah? You're scaring the fish away." Viktor laughed then hugged his dog and gave him a quick peck on his forehead. Makkachin however, kept barking excitedly at the water. He definitely wanted to play with whatever the creatures in the water was.

With a strong sudden pull, Chris's bobber disappeared under then kept bobbing up down, indicating he had caught something and it fought to get away. Chris jumped to his feet, then cheered in victory; "Yeah! Looks like a big one, Viktor! I told you I would be the first to catch something."

Yuri, lying lazily in the boat with his feet dangling down the edge, rolled his eyes when Chris tried to pull in his catch of the day. Yet, he's actually catching nothing because below the water surface, Yuuri got a hold on the bait and pulled it up and down while Phichit ordered him to let go by sending frantic hand gestures. Yuuri however, found it all very comical and had to hold his free hand in front of his mouth and nose to not laugh and create air bubbles.

"Yeah!" Chris cheered loudly then suddenly he fell with a thud onto one of the boat seats, grunting annoyed. Viktor laughed loudly.

"Ha! Looks like that one got away!" Viktor also wanted to stick out his tongue to his friend, but he was distracted as soon he saw his bobber go under. The pull was very strong and he had to stand straight to pull back and not lose his rod. Makkachin stood beside his owner barking excitedly. Viktor kept pulling and pulling until he saw something coming to the surface. Something big. "Chris! Get the net! Get the net!"

Chris instantly grabbed the net then launched himself forward and scooped the net into the water where he saw the splashing wrinkles appear. It was quite a struggle but the friends finally managed to get the large fish into the boat.

"Ha! And you said we wouldn't catch anything," Viktor laughed, beaming like the sun. "Look at the size of this animal." Yuri rolled his eyes and Viktor grabbed his phone to make a picture of it, knowing that no one would believe him if he hadn't proof. "Yakov will be so jealous."

At safe distance, both mermen surfaced and glanced at the happy friends in the boat. Yuuri couldn't help but smile and fluster when he saw how happy Viktor was with his catch. Then he saw his friend's look.

"What?"

"You know, a more smaller fish would have worked too."

Yuuri's blush grew. "I know but…he seemed nice."

"Our job is to scare them away, not feeding them!" Both Yuuri and Phichit froze when they heard the sudden voice behind them. After they slowly turned, they met Otabek's angry eyes. Yuuri shrunk half his size in fear.

"S-Sorry…" Yuuri mumbled.

Phichit, not taken back by Otabek's angry glare, said in response; "Look, we thought it would be quicker if we just gave them what we wanted. Humans can be very persistent when it comes to fishing. Even if they didn't catch something for hours, they wouldn't leave until the night sets in. Now they've have their fish, they leave."

Phichit was right. One of the humans, the blond haired one with the brown undercoat, grabbed the oars and started to row the boat around then towards the mainland. He then laughed about something the silver haired man said. Then the blond teen stood up as if he was in charge of the boat and roared to the other human to row faster, because he just couldn't wait being out of the 'awful' water. Otabek wondered why he reminded him of a cat. Playful, yet very dangerous.

Noticing the two stares, Otabek plastered his stoic look back on and snapped; "Everything seems fine! Now we'll just have to get back to the underwater caves and make sure the hatchlings stay inside!"

"Ah, yes, babysit duties…" Phichit sighed when he and Yuuri watched Otabek dive back under. "We'll better get going too."

Yuuri watched Phichit disappear then send one more glance at the small boat in the distance before he followed.

"What's wrong, Makkachin?" Viktor asked when he saw his brown poodle just didn't want to settle back down on the boat floor. While Chris and Yuri argued whether the boat was going fast enough or not, Viktor followed his restless dog's gaze and saw something disappear underwater. It was too far away to tell what it had been, but it definitely had peeked his interest.

The twilight started to set in and both Yuuri and Phichit waited in one of the underwater caves for Otabek to return with the last hatchlings. When he finally did it was almost completely dark. So was the look on his face.

"Those filthy humans are still on the beach, hiding inside little weird shaped objects. I bet they're staying there all night!" Otabek growled as soon his head came above water. "Thanks to you two I will get into trouble with the mer-council."

Phichit knitted his eyebrows into a frown then asked; "Since when do you care about being into trouble with the mer-council. You're the pod's delinquent, remember?"

"Yeah, so?! Those crimes I did by myself! Now I'll get into trouble because you're friend here decided to give a human a little present! Anyway, maybe we should warn the pod and have them cancel the…

"No!" Yuuri cut Otabek off with a determined look on his face. "I will set things right. I will try scare them away with mermen magic."

Before Phichit or Otabek had the chance to stop him, Yuuri disappeared underwater and swam outside the cave. With one quick flick of his fin he activated his fastest speed and headed towards the beach.

Viktor lied in his tent staring at the ceiling while both Makkachin and Chris snored beside him. Sharing his tent with Chris wasn't something he enjoyed, but it was always better than sharing it with Yuri. The teen always had the habit to seep in a star-fish position and flung his arms and legs everywhere, leaving no room for anyone else. It was still odd though that his cat, Potya, didn't seem troubled by it.

The silver haired skater pulled in a heavy sigh when he fingers laced into the curls of his beloved poodle. His mind wandered back to the 'thing' he had seen in the ocean as they headed back to land. He remembered Yuri's story told by Hiroko Katsuki, a lovely and warm human being. Viktor instantly liked her when Yakov asked for rooms in her inn, but some locals said she was crazy. They said she showed up out of nowhere wearing absolutely nothing and screaming three names before she collapsed into a sobbing mess. When Viktor heard those rumours he felt so sad for her. He was very happy that Yakov didn't take notice of the local rumours and took those rooms instead of running to a different hotel with a more 'sane' owner.

Viktor really enjoyed his stay at the inn. It had a hot spring which he bathed in, like all the time. Yuri seemed to take a liking of the onsen too, but always alone. If someone dared to enter when he used it, he would feel Yuri's wrath. The teen once said, if you'll find yourself into trouble, go for their eyes. Those words started to make sense as soon Viktor found himself interrupting Yuri's private space. He had to wear Mila's make-up for an entire week to hide the scratches.

After sleeping at the inn for two nights, Viktor decided to ask who would be interested in camping a night at the beach. Hiroko's eyes widened at the question and even tried to persuade them to not go. A vicious animal lived in the ocean who chased most of the fish away and dragged people into the water when they had their guard down. After hearing the story, Yuri said he wasn't planned to go anywhere near the water unless it was frozen. Yakov gave him a smack to the head then told him to stop acting less a brat and then volunteered him to come along with Viktor and Chris. He said it would be a nice lesson for Yuri to test his 'survival' skills.

So there they were, camping at the beach and Viktor seemed the only one who couldn't sleep. He had an inner debate with himself whether to believe Hiroko's story or not after he had seen what he had seen. Then again, what did he see? Maybe it all had been nothing else than a shimmer of the sunlight on the water.

Viktor pulled in another deep sigh then decided to take a little walk. To clear his head and hopefully get tired enough to return to his tent and sleep. Once he was outside the tent, he realized how chilly it was. He quickly turned back into the tent only to come out again with a thick sweater then started his little moonlight walk down the beach, alone. Viktor didn't really know why, but as he grew older he kept thinking how beautiful the full moon was. It even had something magical. Maybe one day he would find someone who thought just like him and would take long walks with him down the beach. Maybe even in the middle of the night, when they both couldn't sleep.

Viktor halted his stroll for a moment to take in the ocean view. It looked so magical underneath the pale moon. He even started to hear soft melodies in the distance, as if someone was singing a song.

"Ugh, the sleep deprivation starts to give me hallucinations." Viktor slapped against his own cheeks to snap himself out of it. It didn't work. On the contrary, the singing started to become even louder. The voices started to make him feel a tad dizzy.

Suddenly, there was a soft splash near the rocks. Viktor's mind was instantly distracted and his eyes snapped at the spot he thought the splashing came from. Had it been the waves? What else could it have been? But most importantly, why did he suddenly feel like being watched.

Just as suddenly Viktor had heard the splash he now felt a cold gust of wind. It was so strong it made his long, silver hair fan out into the wind and he even would have tumbled over like a tumble-weed if he hadn't planted his heels deep into the sand. Just before it happened there hadn't been any wind. Was it normal for sudden gusts of wind?

The wind laid down as suddenly as it came and Viktor's mind was starting to become hazy when the soft, beautiful melodies found its way back into his ears. He tried to turn around and walk back to the tents, but each step seemed heavier than the first one. Viktor gave up eventually and sank through his knees into the sand, curling himself up like a tiny ball.

How long he had been lying there, Viktor didn't know but it seemed like he had fallen asleep without knowing it. But why on Earth wasn't he in his tent? Oh yeah, he was out for a little stroll. Viktor rubbed his sleepy eyes as soon as he remembered it then scanned the beach. Suddenly, something disappeared behind the rocks with a soft splash.

Viktor locked his eyes sharply onto the spot and kept them in place for quite some time, waiting for whatever it had been to become curious enough to take another peek at him. It took a few minutes but then Viktor saw another tiny glimpse of a face peeking around the corner of the rock. It vanished just as quickly.

"Whoever you are, please come out! I won't hurt you!" Viktor called out then waited to catch another glimpse. Instead, he felt another strong gust of wind that nearly tumbled him over. Again, it was gone as quickly as it came. Viktor started to wonder if the sudden wind had something to do with the mysterious face behind the rocks. Was it scared? Did it live in the water and did he try to keep him away from the water so he wouldn't be dragged in and eaten by Hiroko's mysterious monster? Was it, or he, still there? "My name is Viktor Nikiforov. You don't have to come out, but could you please tell me your name?!" Viktor waited for a reply, but there was none. He then pulled in a sad sigh, thinking the mysterious person had disappeared.

Viktor rises to his feet then dusts his clothes off before heading back to the tents. But before he did, he quickly glanced at the rocks. It was too dark to tell whether he saw what he thought he saw, but it almost looked like he saw the silhouette of a person. His bottom half was hidden in the water while his upper half was pulled up onto the rocks. Another reason why Viktor wasn't sure he was hallucinating or not was that the silhouette didn't move, at all.

"Probably just the setting of the rocks and shadows created by the moonlight," Viktor thought to himself. But then again, he had seen a face. Or had that been a play of shadows as well?

"H-Hello?" Viktor heard himself whisper, narrowing his eyes till they were almost closed and glanced through his eyelashes at the silhouette or hallucination. Tiny chills started to move down his spine then another conclusion came to mind. "Yuri! If that is you trying…

The silhouette suddenly pushed himself fully in the water with a loud splash. Viktor instantly raced towards the rocks, mumbling under his breath; "I knew it, you little punk." Viktor reached the spot then climbed between two rocks over to the water, yelling; "I will get you back for this, Yuri! Get your butt over here so I can…

Viktor's words froze on his tongue when he saw something big, something dark, something with tiny silver dots and stripes shoot away underneath the water surface. His heart started to pound in his throat and ears. What was it? Hiroko's monster? Viktor instantly shot back, away from the water, trembling frightened.

As soon he had some control over his trembling body, Viktor scurried back to the water, quietly then peered into the water but saw nothing. He decided to climb a few miles further down the rocky shores to see if he could catch a glimpse of whatever he had seen, but he found nothing.

Viktor halted for a moment then stared over the ocean and pulled in a deep sigh before he slowly started to turn around and walk back the way he came. But then, instead of watching where he was going, Viktor stepped into a hole between two rocks big enough for a person to fit through. It was exactly what happened to him when he felt no ground, lost his footings and fell.

"AAAH!" Viktor screamed as he felt himself fall a few meters down before hitting a hard surface. The sudden impact made him feel dizzy for a moment then wet and cold. It didn't take long for him to realize he must have fallen into an underwater cave somehow.

Instinctively to not drown, Viktor tried to fight against the foggy feeling in his head and swim back up, swaying his arms and kicking his legs. Then, it felt like several hands lifted his body up back to the surface and kept him floating. For a moment all he could do was staring up into the hole he had fallen through. He wasn't entirely sure what he saw was because of the sudden blow to his head and body, but he saw the full moon high in the sky while tiny water bubbles floated around his head up into the air.

"How…" Viktor tried to say but then his eyelids fluttered before they shut completely and lost conscious.

"VIKTOR!"

"W-Wha…"

"VIKTOR!"

Viktor opened his eyes slowly when he felt a sharp pain on his cheeks. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the bright morning sun but then he finally saw Chris's and Yuri's worried faces looming over him. He felt something wet lick his ear.

"Makkachin…" Viktor whispered, slowly reaching his hand out to touch his beloved dog. "What happened…?"

"That is something we want to know as well!" Yuri growled. "Chris woke up and found your sleeping bag empty. We waited for like ten minutes hoping you were just taking a leak, but when you didn't come back we practically scanned the entire beach. We finally found you, unconscious."

Viktor tried to think. There were tiny bits and pieces, but nothing solid. Then he stroked his hand down his waist and mumbled; "I feel sore, like I hit something hard. Wait, why am I still damp? Did you guys pull me out of the water?"

"No! We found you like this," Chris replied. "You don't remember anything?"

Viktor thinks again. "I…remember taking a little walk because I couldn't sleep, but then…" Viktor swallowed. "I think I heard someone sing and I saw a face…just around the corner of those rocks." Chris and Yuri both look into the direction Viktor pointed at then shared a worried look. Viktor pulled in a heavy sigh. "Then…I saw a silver shimmering in the water…"

"Definitely sounds like you fell asleep and dreamed.." Chris chuckled, trying to lighten the tension. "How about we just get you back up your feet and to the tents. We'll make some tea to warm you up then head back to Y-utopia."

Viktor looked at his friends then at the rocky shores. Maybe Chris was right. Nothing in his head made sense at all. Maybe it all had been a dream.

Viktor wrapped an arm around Chris's shoulders for support but as soon as he tried to move up, he felt a sharp pain going through his body and he hit the sand again, grinding his teeth in pain.

"I don't think I can walk."

"Sure you can. You're just a bit sore, stiff and cold. Soon you're warmed up you'll feel better," Chris said.

While shaking his head and clenching his teeth, Viktor lifted up his damp shirt. A big bruise ran down the right side of his waist.

"Well, it looks like we need to get you to a doctor as well," Chris sighed worriedly.

"Great! Yakov will be so pissed!" Viktor winced, clenching his teeth when Chris and Yuri dragged him onto his feet then supported him as they head back to the tents.

"I feel bad for just leaving him there, unconscious," Yuuri said, resting his head against Phichit's arm. "He looked like he was in pain and…

"Just stop, will yah?!" Otabek growled. "Just stop worrying over the stupid human for a minute and worry more about what will happen to us, to YOU, when the mer-council finds out what happened!"

Phichit frowned. "He just fell in, right? He lost conscious soon after, so why would the council be mad? It's not like he saw anything."

"You really don't know, do you?" Otabek growled then rolled his eyes when he saw the two confused looks. "When a human enters this particular underwater cave during a full moon, the person will sprout a tail every time water touches the skin!"

"NO!" Phichit and Yuuri gasped, their eyes widening in shock.

"Yes!" a stern female voice echoed through the cave. The three mermen turn around and find the head of the mer-council swimming inside followed by the other council members. Neither of them looked very pleased.

Phichit, realizing he had to defend themselves somehow, quickly said; "We didn't let him in! He fell, through there."

"Him?" the head of the council asked while her eyes shot briefly to the opening in the ceiling. "Someone said they saw you three dragging a human with long hair onto the beach!"

"Yeah, a guy with long hair. Humans are weird," Otabek said. "I told them it would be easier to kill him instead of…

"If what you say is true, and something has happened to him I fear for us all!" the head of the council said, cutting Otabek off. "You three stay in here and don't talk with anyone! We will discuss what to do with this threat and with you!"

The two council members and the head of the council dove back underwater and disappeared. The three mermen slowly started to realize the outcome of the council's discussion wouldn't turn out good for them. Especially not for Otabek, who by now had broken many mer-laws and this one might be the last straw.

It seemed like hours before Mari entered the cave, looking very sad and hurt. The look in her eyes said she had bad news.

"Mari, I can explain!" Yuuri chocked out, fearing his actions might have damaged her status in the pod. He would never forgive himself if they punished her for what he done.

"I'm sorry, Yuuri. It's too late…" Mari said, barely louder than a whisper. "You neglected your duties. You let a human, a male, wander too close near our home and you let him into the pool."

"We didn't want him to get powers!" Phichit exclaimed in defence, even though he already knew it wouldn't work.

While dropping her eyes down to the water, avoiding the three pair of eyes, Mari whispered; "The human and this place are now connected and we fear nothing good will come out of it. He won't be able to hide his tail for long. Humans are around water all the time. They wash their clothes in it, they wash themselves in it and they even drink it."

"That's just silly, not to mention disgusting!" Otabek said with a sickened look on his face. "They better not do it in that order."

Mari ignored Otabek's comment and said, not lifting her eyes off the water; "We have to leave."

"We can't! This is our home!" Yuuri gasped and turned pale of the idea of leaving the place behind where he was born. The only connection he and Mari still had with their parents. What if they were still alive somewhere and returned?

"It's not safe here anymore. The other humans will find out what happened to the human who fell in. And once they do, they come after us," Mari said and tears started to pour from her eyes.

Both Yuuri and Phichit felt a hard lump in their throats and felt tears sting behind their eyes. Even Otabek looked like miserable, but he quickly fought back his tears and asked, as bravely looking as he possibly could; "They are right. It's not safe anymore, we must leave. Where will we go?"

Mari felt three pair of eyes lock onto her after Otabek asked the question, forcing her even more into delivering the most painful news. She knew she had to, even though she didn't want to. She was a fully-fledged mermaid now. She officially belonged to the pod, something she had studied for, for years. Something she now wished she hadn't. Now she wished she had taken Yuuri somewhere else instead, raising him on her own.

"I'm so sorry…" Mari finally choked and though she rather not wanted to look her brother in the eyes when delivering the bad news, she felt obligated to do it anyway. She wanted him to know that she wished it was different. She wanted him to know that leaving him ached her heart, but had no other choice. "You've all been cast out."

The news hit hard, Mari could tell. She couldn't help herself and started to cry loudly when she grabbed Yuuri's arm and pulled him into an embrace.

"I tried to speak on your behalf, but they wouldn't listen…" Mari said, hugging her brother while tears streamed down her face. Yuuri didn't move at all, neither did Otabek or Phichit. They all had the same pale look on their faces. Even though it pained her heart, Mari knew there was no other option. She squeezed her brother a bit tighter into her arms then said; "The pod is waiting. I have to go."

"No!" Yuuri exclaimed, tears running down his face as soon his sister released him from her loving arms. "Mari, don't leave me!"

"I'm so sorry, Yuuri…" Mari choked out then removed her graduation gift, a blue ring, from her finger and handed it to her brother. "Here. You might need it more than me."

"No! I don't know how to use it," Yuuri cried, refusing the gift his sister studied for and finally earned it.

Mari grabbed her brother's hand and pressed the ring into it then hugged him one more time before she whispered; "Find somewhere safe."

And with that, Mari touched her brother's face one more time before she slowly moved towards the entrance. Right before she dove under she could hear his cries.

"Mari, don't…don't leave me!"

Both Phichit and Otabek were fighting against their own emotions, not knowing what to do.

I am sorry for this sad, sad cliff-hanger, guys, but it felt better to save Viktor's reaction to his new development for the next chapter.

Anyway, just let me know what you think so far. Reviews/fav/follow if you're curious for the next chapter :D