Written for Screaming Faeries. Never wrote for this pairing before, but I hope you like it, Sophie.
Silver Eyes
He loves to walk alone on the beach. It is lonely here, too, but somehow the loneliness doesn't catch up to him here like it does at home. The house seems too empty without the smell of his mother baking, the sounds of her singing. It seems as if her death has left it cold.
His father, as always, is never home. Barty's lips curl in a bitter smile. In his sixteen miserable years of existence, his father has taken exactly one leave from office—on the day of his mother's funeral.
The feet dig into the soft sand, and the grains of sand fall through the gaps in his toes. For some reason, this fascinates him. He watches as this happens, over and over, each time he takes a step.
He is so busy in his observation that it takes Barty a while to realise he has walked farther along the beach than ever before. And that the only sound around is not the soothing splash of the sea-waves on the rocks.
The other sound that wafts through the air can only be described as heavenly. It is a song, in a language he has never heard before, and for some reason, Barty feels drawn to it.
He cannot see the person who is singing, but there are cliffs ahead, where the voice is coming from. His feet carry him in that direction. Minutes later, he finds himself climbing the rocky terrain.
He is at the topmost point that he sees her.
It is a girl, her hair long and golden like rays of the sun, her skin pearly white. She is sitting with her face towards the sea, gazing intently at the setting sun and singing to where the orb of light is dipping into the horizon.
The scene takes his breath away.
He is just a few feet away from her when he realises he has been wrong about one thing. She is not a girl. She is a mermaid. His father often talks of merpeople nowadays, but Barty always thought he was either messing with him or was going senile.
Before he can say anything, she stops singing and turns. Her eyes are wide, and silvery grey like the moonlight; for a moment, Barty finds himself lost in them. Then, she speaks, her voice airy like that when she was singing. "Hello." She gives him a slight wave. She pats the space next to her on the rock she is sitting on. Barty shakes his head, still feeling a little lost, and sits by her side. "I'm Luna," she says.
"I'm Barty." He gives her a quizzical look then. "I always thought mermaids were a thing of fiction."
"Oh, I am just as real as you are," she says.
He turns to stare at the sunset. "Yes, I can see that now. I don't know, but my father has been speaking about the discovery of merpeople for a few weeks now. He doesn't sound too happy about it."
"Oh yes," she says, "we have been discovered. The humans don't like us too much, I think. But I don't think you are like that."
He nods. "So," Barty asks, "shouldn't you be, like, in hiding or something now, if there's some kind of danger?"
Luna shakes her head and her expression turns grim. "It doesn't matter. The humans have turned our home into a battlefield. My mother died in an explosion some days back. My father was injured; he's still fighting death." She falls silent for a moment, then says, "I don't think he'll make it."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Barty says.
"No, don't be. I feel like if there are no people left alive, then I'll never have to love one of them again." Her eyes are so full of sorrow, and there is nothing he can say to reduce it.
"My father is one of the people who want your kind dead," he finds himself saying, "and I hate him for that. I won't let him harm you. I won't let them harm you."
Luna places two fingers on his lips. "You shouldn't say that, Barty," she says, her voice just a whisper of the wind. "But thank you."
Barty visits her every day, and he slowly finds himself falling in love with that airy voice; those wide, silver eyes. She has become a beacon of hope for him.
Until one day, when he walks towards the cliff, silence assaults his ears. Barty finds dread growing in his chest and runs.
There, lying sprawled on their rock, is she, her golden hair framing her angelic face like a halo. Her eyes are closed, but her chest rises and falls. Her torso and tail are covered with blood.
A cry of anguish escapes his lips as he runs and kneels by her side. Her eyes flutter open. "I—" she speaks with difficulty and her breathing is shallow. "I wanted to—to see you o-o-one last t-time." She falls silent, her body unnaturally still, her gaze fixed on him. And then, ever so slowly, her eyes close for one last time.
That night, Barty slits his father's throat while the older man sleeps.
Word Count: 865
Prompts used:
From Library Lovers Event
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
• AU: Mermaid!AU
• Word: Sing
• Plot Theme: Humans discovering the existence of mermaids and being less than happy about it.
• Quote: "If there are no people left alive, then I'll never have to love one of them again."
• Word: Battlefield