A/N: New story guys! I'm really excited for this one too. It's long, and the chapters are gonna be long, but I'll update quickly and it's gonna be worth it. Mertalia USUK! RPed with my girlfriend, with her as Arthur and me as Alfred. Enjoy!

Ivan showed his pass to the burly man at the door and was waved through. "Come along." He looked back at the Brit behind him and took his arm, dragging him forward. They stepped into an elevator and then were shooting up to the penthouse floor of the building. As the doors opened, Ivan spread his arms wide. "Welcome to the Black Market."

Arthur looked around tentatively, taking in the stares he was getting with a nervous trepidation. Just because he was curious, it didn't mean he was willing to be caught by the police- but he was more worried about the other people at the market. "You said these guys are alright, right?" he quietly asked, shuffling behind Ivan.

Ivan chuckled. "Da. But perhaps it would be better for you to not leave my side."

"A-Ah... Right. Of course." Arthur stole another quick look around the room and then stopped, focusing on Ivan's back instead- these guys could probably smell fear. And if they did they might kill him or harvest his organs or- something.

The Russian man laughed some more. "Scared, Kirkland? Don't worry, they will not touch you. They see you are with me. Is there anything that interests you?"

"I'm not scared!" Arthur replied indignantly, straightening up and looking around again to prove it. A second later, something caught his eye and he frowned slightly. "...What's in that tank over there?"

"Hmm?" Ivan looked over in the indicated direction. "I don't know. Something new?" He started off towards it.

Arthur followed behind, emerging from the small crowd surrounding the tank to blink up at the creature drifting listlessly within. It was... Well, it was what appeared to be a mermaid - the body of a human, the blue tail of a fish - but that couldn't be real, could it? It certainly seemed to be. It was quite pretty, he supposed - or rather, he was quite pretty - and Arthur tipped his head a little as he thought this, silently regarding the creature with some curiosity.

Alfred had his eyes closed, tail flicking every so often so he gave off some sign of life. If they thought he was dead, well. He didn't want to think about what would happen then. He was sick of all the greedy stares directed at him since that morning. He just wanted to go home.

Then, he felt a different stare on him. He didn't know how he knew it was different, he could just tell. His head shot up slightly and looked around, gaze soon falling on a green-eyed man off to the side.

Arthur blinked when their eyes met, his breath catching for a moment, unable to look away.

Alfred's head tilted slightly to the side and he swam over a bit, resting his hands on the glass and looking at this human. He seemed different, too. Less malicious. I wouldn't mind him getting me... he thought, giving the man a very slight hopeful smile.

Then the loudspeaker crackled to life overhead. "Attention, the bidding for item 050 will now commence. Please make your way over to the tank in the center of the room if you are interested."

A wire loop was lowered into the tank and hooked around Alfred's tail, yanking him up so he hung upside down near the top of the tank. The mermaid thrashed around and cried, but there was nothing he could do so after a few moments he gave up and hung there listlessly.

Ivan turned to Arthur. "Shall we leave? It'll probably go for millions."

"...This is auction based, right?" Arthur asked, his eyes still not leaving Alfred, though he frowned slightly at his treatment- it was just horrible to treat any creature so badly, let alone one that seemed so...human.

"Da. It'll go to the highest bidder." Ivan glanced down at him in surprise. "You are interested? It is...rare for someone to purchase on their first visit."

"Well I'm a rich man," Arthur murmured, slowly approaching the tank, ignoring the bids from around him. When he reached it, he placed his hand on the glass, staring up at the mermaid - for it was definitely a mermaid - for a while. "...Five million," he called out suddenly, silencing the room.

The auctioneer paused before turning to him with a smile. "Wonderful! Do we have any other bids? Come on, folks, this is a real mermaid! Perhaps the only one in existence!"

"Five million one thousand!" someone called from the back.

"Five million three thousand," Arthur said quickly, determined to get Alfred. He was rich enough, he told himself, and his money had to go somewhere. And God knows what anyone else here would do with the poor creature.

There were murmurs from the back of the room, but no other calls. "That's it?" The auctioneer looked around. "Going once!"

Arthur finally tore his eyes away from Alfred to look at the auctioneer, biting his lip as he waited.

"Going twice!" Still silence. "Going three times, and sold! For five million three thousand to the gentleman with the large eyebrows. Please come up once the area clears, sir."

Arthur looked around frowning for a moment, searching furiously for the man who had out-bid him, before he realized that everybody else was leaving him as the only one by the tank, and he blinked and headed over to the auctioneer.

"Congratulations on your buy," the auctioneer told him cheerfully. "I'll need your name, address for shipping, and the amount in cash please."

"Uhh, Arthur Kirkland, W. 72nd Street, New York. I only have a few thousand on me, can I come back later with the rest?"

"You'll need to come back by the end of the day. The truck to ship it in is only here for tonight."

Arthur nodded. "I'll be back."

Two hours later, ten minutes before the end of the day, Arthur was handing over the rest of the money and shoving his empty wallet back in his pocket. "So how is this going to work, then?" he asked.

"There's a truck waiting outside with a smaller tank to transport it." The auctioneer jabbed a thumb at where the mermaid was laying on the floor of the larger tank without moving. "You can either meet it there or go along for the ride. If you do go along, you'd have to stay in the back."

Craning his neck to look, Arthur nodded. "I may as well go along," he said. "Is- Ah, is he all right?"

"Yeah, it's fine." The auctioneer shrugged. "The truck's waiting downstairs if you want to go down. It'll be down in the transport tank in a few minutes."

"All right," Arthur agreed, before heading down the stairs to the truck.

Alfred's head snapped up as all the water suddenly started draining from the tank. He wasn't sure exactly who'd bought him as he'd closed his eyes, but he hoped he wouldn't get hurt too much. Then a small lift, like one used for dolphins and seals, lowered into the remaining water and scooped him up before dumping him into a much smaller tank- he barely fit into it, and he had to curl his tail up uncomfortably so it wouldn't get clipped when the cover was snapped on.

He panicked a bit, not liking the confined walls, but then forced himself to stay still and closed his eyes so he could get at least some escape. He felt himself going down, down, then across and back up a bit. Then it was darker.

Looking up as the mermaid was brought, Arthur's eyes widened slightly at the size of the tank he was in, and he jumped into the truck behind it. He felt the engine rumble, and he sat as they moved for a moment, before deciding to try and talk to the mermaid. "...I'm sorry about all this," he said, referring to the terrible transportation. Then he chuckled. "I don't even know if you can understand me... Or even hear me, through all that water," he muttered to himself, shaking his head at the thought that he was quite likely talking to himself.

Alfred heard the quiet vibrations from the voice, but he didn't respond to it. In fact, he just curled up tighter.

Watching for a few moments, Arthur sighed and shook his head again, sitting at the edge to wait for the truck to get to his house.

After a few moments, Alfred did peek at him. So it was the nice-looking human from before. But the merman didn't allow his hopes to rise too high- now that he had him, the human might turn out to be mean.

Arthur glanced over and shifted slightly when he realized the other was looking, and he gave him a small smile.

Alfred immediately looked away and turned so that his back was to the man. No matter how nice-looking he was or how scared he'd seemed before, there was no telling what he would do now. There was no trusting him.

Arthur blinked at the other, but then shrugged. Ah, well, it was understandable... Still, he let his gaze drop to the floor.

There were only a few more minutes until the journey came to an end, and Arthur jumped out to help unload the mermaid's tank.

"Oh you don't have to do that, sir," one of the workers told him. "Which floor is it?"

"Uh, top," Arthur answered.

"Penthouse, eh? All right, boys, let's get this thing to its new home. Will you lead the way, Mr. Kirkland?"

Arthur nodded and headed to the elevator, leading the men to his apartment.

"Do you have a saltwater pool for it? Otherwise it'll have to stay in this tank."

"Oh, really?" Arthur shifted slightly, glancing at Alfred. "I'm sure I can get it converted."

"Tank it is. Where do you want us to set it down?"

"The pool room should be fine. Can he come out at all?"

The man shrugged. "That's up to you. You're its new owner." He and his companions hefted the tank up and placed it in the corner of the pool room. "But it should be fine as long as there's salt water."

"So he's able to live outside?" Arthur asked.

"Why shouldn't it be? It was caught a few days ago, was fine then and is fine now."

"All right... That should be okay then."

"Right, well that's that, so we'll be off. Oh, do you want the tank covered or uncovered?"

"Ah, uncovered, if that's all right."

The men took the cover off and then left.

After nodding his thanks, Arthur turned to look at the creature in the tank.

Alfred had jerked when his tank had started to get lifted up, and he watched the proceedings through half-lidded eyes. When the top was removed he stretched his tail out, but did nothing else.

"Uh... hey there," Arthur tried, shifting slightly closer.

There was no reply.

After biting his lip slightly, Arthur gave an awkward cough. "Can you hear me...?"

Still nothing.

"I guess not..." Arthur sighed and tilted his head, continuing in a murmur. "Maybe I should get some food or something... What would a mermaid like?" They lived in the sea, right? So fish? Arthur moved into the kitchen to search for something for the other, noting him tensing as he returned. He moved slowly towards the mermaid, holding the plate up. "I got some food. I didn't know if you wanted fish."

Alfred's ears perked up at the word 'fish' and the scent of the food, but he still didn't dare turn around.

"...Do you want it?" the Brit asked, holding the plate higher.

At the tone Alfred did hesitantly turn, his pupils dilating and darkening as they zeroed in on the food.

"Ah..." Arthur offered a tiny smile as he showed the other the plate. "I'll put it down here for you."

Alfred's eyes never left the food.

Placing the plate on the floor, Arthur looked up at the mermaid expectantly, but then realized that he wasn't going to come out and sighed. He had work to get to anyway... After one more look at the plate and at the creature's expression, he decided to leave it there and left the room.

The merman waited for a good time after the human had left before uncurling. His fingers grasped the edge of the tank delicately and he heaved his upper half over the edge in an attempt to get to the plate of food. It was just out of reach. Alfred's fingers curled back into his hand and he slid back. He wanted to cry. Was this some sort of cruel joke? He had two options: either not eat or get out of the tank to reach the fish. But if he hauled himself out, he'd have no way of getting back into it, and he didn't want to be on the floor when the human returned. So he curled back up in the corner of the tank and waited.

After a few hours at his desk, Arthur grew tired of rubbing his eyes against the harsh light of the screen and instead stood to wander about his penthouse. He quickly got to the pool room and moved towards the tank in the corner, though he slowed down as he approached, frowning slightly at the fish still on the floor. Why hadn't the creature eaten it? He'd definitely seemed to have wanted it.

Alfred threw a glance over his shoulder when he felt the vibrations from the door opening and the human's footsteps, though he quickly resumed his curled-up position.

"You didn't like it?" Arthur asked, looking up at the merman's back.

Once more, there was no response.

"I guess not..." Arthur sighed and looked down at the fish, then picked it up to take back. He couldn't really force anything onto the mermaid; he might frighten the poor creature.

Alfred swirled around in the tank in distress, at one point gazing at Arthur with wide, reproachful eyes, before curling up again.

Arthur's own eyes widened at that, and he sputtered a bit. "W-Well then you should have taken it when I was gone!" he said indignantly, mostly to himself, before he huffed gently and left.

Alfred saddened at the words. He couldn't have taken it! He changed his mind then. This human was so cruel... First he taunted Alfred with the massive pool just a few steps away from the tank, and now he was also being mean with food.

Things were much the same over the course of the next couple of days- Arthur would try and look after the mermaid, leaving him food that would never be eaten and plates that stayed full long after he left the creature to himself. He frowned terribly on the fourth day he visited the creature like this- surely he had to eat something?! He looked like he did...

By that point, Alfred barely had the strength to even twist around and stare sadly at the food. He simply lay in as tight a ball as he could manage at the bottom of the tank. And his water was getting dirty and old as well, so he knew he wouldn't last much longer. Another few days until he fainted and lost weight. Maybe two weeks tops until he died.

"Christ, you've got to eat... Don't you like fish?" Arthur looked down at the food before stooping to pick it up, moving toward the tank. He then brought it closer, trying to see if the other wanted it. "Even if you don't like it, you have to eat something..."

Alfred's ears and nose twitched when the scent of the food got stronger and he stared at the plate with ravenous eyes. Was it a trick though?

Brows furrowing further as he got closer- the creature really did look in a terrible state and the water was, quite frankly, getting rather putrid- Arthur then heaved a decisive sigh. "...No, this I getting ridiculous. Come on, you're eating," he said, holding the plate up.

Alfred reached out hesitantly for the food, his hand stopping right before it reached the plate. He still didn't trust it completely.

"Go on then," Arthur encouraged. "You have to eat something, come on- it's not going to hurt you... Jesus, I'll even chuck it in if you really won't eat."

Flinching back at the tone, Alfred quickly grabbed the whole plate and retreated to the corner of the tank. He still held the platter in his hands above the water and devoured the fish in seconds.

Arthur blinked at the other's speed, but then smiled slightly to himself, glad that he had eaten. "That's good..."

Alfred hissed at the human, showing his now pointed teeth. The food had made him bold. He hugged the platter protectively to his chest.

"Ah-!" Arthur jumped very slightly, his eyes widening. Had he done something wrong? Or maybe this creature wasn't actually as friendly as it had seemed to be? It would be understandable if it wasn't friendly, but still, he watched the mermaid nervously.

After a moment, Alfred relaxed though, and instead he looked mournfully down at the empty platter.

Arthur frowned a little, inspecting the other. "What? I'm going to need that back, you know..."

Alfred's eyes widened with panic and he clutched the platter more tightly.

"Okay, okay, you can keep it," Arthur said quickly. "It's only a plate, after all."

Nodding, Alfred slowly relaxed. He traced his fingers over the surface of it, taking in the design and wishing there was some more food.

Arthur let out a small sigh. "Really... How much are you even supposed to eat?" he murmured.

But by that time Alfred had drawn in on himself again, curling around the platter at the bottom of the tank.

"All right..." After a few moments of watching, Arthur nodded slightly and moved away, wandering around the room and sorting things out. At least the poor creature had eaten, and the pool was being drained tomorrow...

Alfred watched him from between his fingers, some curiosity overcoming his distrust.

As Arthur re-packed the cupboard with stuff, he found himself wishing the creature didn't distance himself so- it wasn't everyday one got to meet a merman, after all. And besides... It seemed sad. Arthur didn't like that. He shook the thoughts from his head and finished the cupboard off, picking up the empty chlorine container and throwing it in the bin.

The noise startled Alfred, and the merman jerked. Some water splashed out of the tank and he dropped the plate. It sank to the bottom and landed with a loud, glassy thump.

Arthur immediately looked up, his eyes widening slightly, and moved towards the merman. "Hey, are you all right?" he asked, worried.

Alfred stared back at him with wide eyes.

"Wh-What? What is it?"

The merman simply continued staring.

"I- What do you want? Are you scared?" Arthur moved forwards, gently placing his palm on the glass of the tank.

Alfred immediately moved back, his back colliding with the glass.

Arthur blinked and snapped his hand back, looking guilty. He took a few steps back, until he was a good distance away from the tank. "A-Ah, sorry..."

Sorry? The human was sorry? Sorry wasn't a cruel word. Bad people didn't say sorry. Alfred slowly moved forward, his fingers delicately curving over the edge of the glass as he rested his chin on his hands. His eyes were still wide, but the deep blue irises filled with a curious, hesitant warmth.

Watching this in slight awe, Arthur's brows rose a little and he tipped his head. "...Hello there," he tried.

Alfred blinked, tilting his head to the side as well.

Repeating the movement, Arthur straightened out again, inspecting the other.

Again, Alfred mirrored his actions.

A small smile quirked at the corner of Arthur's mouth - was the merman going to keep copying? He tilted his head the other way, testing it.

Dutifully Alfred tilted his head so they matched.

Arthur couldn't help but chuckle at this - how cute.

Alfred's eyes widened and he tilted his head even more at the chuckle. Laughing was good too- that meant happiness. So the human was happy? The merman gave him a tiny experimental smile.

Arthur blinked at the other, a little taken aback, before smiling back.

A smile back! That was very good... Maybe Alfred could reason with the human. He reached down and grabbed the plate. Holding it out, he gently tossed it to where it was usually placed by him. He winced when a crack appeared in the rim, but it didn't seem too bad. Then, he reached out his hand to try grab it, but his arm was too short. He hoped that the human would understand that he couldn't reach.

"Oh... You're not able to reach it?" Arthur asked. So that was why he hadn't eaten. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."

There it was again. Sorry. Alfred nodded and gave him another soft smile in return.

"Okay." Arthur smiled back a little. "I'll hold it up for you while you're there, then."

Ears flicking softly, Alfred decided that was enough human contact for the day and curled back up at the bottom, his back to him.

Arthur blinked at this, but smiled and nodded. "Ah, I'll see you tomorrow or something, then." Then he picked the plate up and headed out the door.

A/N: Alfred's not going to stay like that for the whole fic, don't worry XD But what do you guys think so far?

Also I have no idea what goes on at Black Markets so sorry if I got something wrong?