Au. Temporary mermaid Ritsuka Cecaelia/human Shiki. Manga(ish) Shiki. Loosely based on Hans Christian andersen's Little mermaid

Title Semper in Corde Meo.

Previously Voluptatem Reus.

Before we start I want to make one thing clear. No, Shiki is not a fallen angel in this, what he is will be revealed throughout the story. Ritsuka however is a pure mermaid nothing more.

I swear to whatever gods this had a better plot in the beginning, but then it just fell apart. Oh well. I also have no idea how Shiki's manga self made its way into this, (I've probably been reading it a bit too much) but it did, so oh well.

I saw art of the two of them vaguely like this on Pixiv, an idea formed in my mind and I ran with it.

(Why the hell did I even write this?! I like Ritsuka x Rem damn it! And why was it so fun to write in the first place!?)

(Chapter 1 Les dés sont jetés)

"Nu-fu-fu-fu... You poor little thing... Flapping your pretty little fins all alone in a place like this. Don't you know how dangerous it is? Hmm? I mean just look at what a succulent looking specimen you are and now your caught in my embrace. Ah you poor thing...You would make a good snack I have to say. . . "

The purple haired Cecaelia inspected the brunette haired elegant mergirl he had entrapped in his tentacles closely, her tail was moving feebly in his firm grip but not as if it was trying to break away a bluish nearly opaque color that transitioned from scales to thick ivory skin, breast hidden behind a shell bra strewn with pearls before trailing up to her eyes surprised to see that they were not in wide in fear but in a sort of curiosity. Her smell and taste was clean and clear like that of the furthest ocean, away from the reaches of human touch to contaminate or pollute it it. He frowned looking at her more closely she din't look stupid far from it.

"Oh. . .You're. . . not scared of me?"

"...No."

"Hmm...? That's a first. You do know who I am don't you?"

"Yes I know who and what you are."

"Oh. . ? Who exactly?"

"Shiki. The Cecaelia magician that lives in the dark."

"So then. . . If you know who and what I am then why aren't you trying to wiggle away?"

"I can't really place my finger on it. . . However... you just don't seem like you really are truly the monster as they say you are."

"...I don't do I?" He couldn't help but want to get a raise out of her feeling an odd sensation in his chest as he thought that. He drew closer to her placing a hand under her chin so that they were staring directly into each others eyes. "I could cut your tongue out and use it to lure other Mermaids like you to me or I could simply take my time eating you my dear."

He could still not see nor sense any fear coming from her in the least. Frowning he inspected her more closely looking at her hair that was cut short up to her ears, a strange fashion for a mermaid.

"...I tried leaving it like that but it just ending up getting in the way..." She said a little awkwardly.

". . . Fu fu... Aren't you a strange one then. Your not like most mermaid then, are you...? He removed the tentacles he had holding her arms behind her away but still kept a firm hold on her waist where her light nearly opaque tail formed, flesh soothingly turning to that of scales. "You're an interesting one. . . I suppose that it would be simply a waste just to eat you... " He moved his hand to her chin one of his hands holding her wrist in his grip a finger resting on her chin.

"I'll be sure to break you gently next time if you come again, you poor little lost lamb.~"

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She had been swimming along with the current all by herself trying to clear her head along near a narrow fissure when she had the sensation of herself being entangled by what she had thought to be seaweed but upon further inspection she had found her wrist was firmly in the grasp of a dark colored tentacle. Before she could do anything another wrapped themselves around her tail as a flurry of bubbles leapt in front of her face and soon she was looking straight into a pair of blood orange eyes awash and glittering in mischievous delight at what he had just caught and maybe something else.

Was it...

Either way something inside her wouldn't let break away from his hold as he glided closer to her despite herself knowing who this Cecaelia was, thanks to the Mermaid colony she was living with who had all been told about the Cecaelia magician Shiki who lived near the trenches. The Frys as well as a few Fingerlings* had been warned not to go anywhere near his caves without supervision. Now here she was trapped in his firm grip. She knew she should get away from him as best she could.

And yet...

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It had been one of those rare moments when we had been simply minding his own business, away from anything when he had seen her. An enchanting looking mermaid swimming all alone along with the swift current. He smirked at the prospect of a little fun, laying low waiting for the correct moment until she was close enough for him to reel in but when he did her attitude towards him surprised him and he soon found himself letting her go, only to find her again at the same crevice as if waiting for him and again he let her go after a brief discussion of something so trivial he could not recall it.

He couldn't help but be intrigued by her as well as her gently touches and soft words. Perhaps he would try to see if he could take her voice next time she came. Yet when she came to see him again he found himself unable to do so, which was strange for him to do and even stranger he found himself each time she came unable to take his eyes away from her and whenever he teased her the less thrills he got out of it. Maybe he was just waiting for the right time to break her leaving her a broken shell of nothing like he had done to so many others before. But... then why did the thought of doing that twis his heart so, and not in a way he liked.

He didn't understand why but. . . maybe it was that he didn't want to hurt her.

Because of her he was beginning to feel something stirring within the depth of his heart that he had thought had been long buried inside himself and all but forgotten all thanks to her deep down inside the heart he had thought he had lost so long ago after that time with the priests and even before...

Was it... He couldn't truly understand what it was but... He knew he didn't want to hurt her.

He found his mind was a lot clear when he was with her. Calm like that of the deep sea he had hated in the beginning of all this.

From time to time he would find himself thinking about her whenever she left him, wondering what the other Merpeople she was staying with were doing to her back in their caves, the thought that might have been going on made his body shake with rage rather than feeling him any sort of thrill from the thought. though he knew she was far from helpless. Yet still sometimes from his home on the surface he watched her finding himself transfixed at the sight of her, he could tell that they were the same. They were the same as each other both outcasts and alone. His fingers curled into his flesh when he saw other mermaids ganging up on her no doubt bulling her. The only thing stopping him from shredding them to pieces was seeing her strong unwavering eye, eyes he no longer took pleasure in whenever he imagining them dulled and lifeless, yet they seemed to be touched with a hint of melancholy at that moment.

Something like that... didn't thrill him.

It wasn't as if he needed another reason to but still, he could have a little fun with those fish.

With a simple stroke of his hand through the water he sent a storm their way when they were by themselves and far away from Ritsuka, quickly scatted all throughout the seven seas making sure Ritsuka was no where near, chuckling in delight at the hapless looks on their faces, swinging his legs back and forth before going back to Ritsuka enchanted by the sight of her under no other fault than his own.

He soon found himself wanting her, yearning for her touch and to memorise the feel of her flesh against his own. He knew he did not want just her body but her entire being. Finding himself truly unable to stand the thought of being without her, that he didn't want to see her leave his side ever again, he didn't want to let her go from his side. He felt an odd yet sweet feeling in his chest whenever hr thought of her, growing more steadily each and every time they parted.

He didn't want to let her go from him, he didn't want to lose her to anyone. He didn't really understand the change that came over him but... he rather liked it.

And so that was why he had asked for her to come out here as the moon came in sight high above the still water and waves breaking through the thick darkness of the surface sky above glittering through the water above.

"Its strange... I thought I wanted to break you Ritsuka... But. . . now I know that's not what i wanted at all. I want to protect you Ritsuka... I don't want to lose you."

He drew even closer to her, wrapping his lithe smooth tentacles around her tail afraid she would misinterpret his words and quickly swim away.

"Its not just that. . . I want you Ritsuka, I don't want to let you go again. Be mine and mine alone." He placed a hand against her cheek staring directly into her eyes.

"Come stay with me... Don't worry. Everything'll be fine. I promise you that. Be mine... forever."

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Perhaps she had simply just been foolish and overly naive, maybe she was just wise whenever she and the Cecaelia met again and again. She knew she should have left when she had the chance and never once looked or gone back but there was something about him that spoke otherwise something that spoke more clearly then the Merpeople did about him. He didn't seem like he was truly a monster though he certainly was not entirely misunderstood but still... She could not place her finger on what exactly it was, neither did she understand why she kept on wanting to see him again every time whenever she left his side. However over time she found herself liking him.

Still though. . . was that the only reason he kept meeting with her through the sea? She could tell he was watching her from time to time but from where she did not know.

At one point he had said the two of them were alike and she couldn't deny those words. He had been right she supposed. She had no one else to go back to her mother and cousin had been killed in an accident leaving her stranded and alone seen as a bad omen by her previous merpeople and had been chased away into another colony of Mermaids. At one point he had said the two of them were alike and she could't deny those words.

She knew she shouldn't and yet she wanted to be with him even more, she knew that he wasn't a monster despite him saying that he was once human.

But even so she did not expect this kind of situation at all.

Dark ebony tentacles wrapped themselves firmly yet loosely around her tail as if to stop her from leaving and yet she she felt no indication of fear in the least from the one before her, she just knew that there was nothing to fear. She knew he wasn't lying. Slowly she moved more closely to him on the smooth surface of the rock, a hand reaching up to rest against the side of his face she knew what he meant. Shiki blinked at her action before he smiled moving another tentacle to lightly move a stray piece of hair out of her eyes that came to rest against her shoulders.

She looked up into his eyes, her own clear and unwavering. Without speaking she moved closer into his touch. She knew exactly what she was getting into and despite that and her knowledge of humans she didn't care. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her closer still until they were barely an inch apart tentacles wrapping around every inch of her skin until they were impossible close.

"Ritsuka..."

She freely glided forewords towards him in the water in the water, closing the gap between the two of them his lips and hers seemed to form together, barely an inch apart. flowing behind her in the water.

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what he had meant when he said he wanted to make her his, he wanted to mate with her. And yet she did not know how the two of them were going to accomplish that at all. She couldn't feel or smell any pheromones or even a scent coming from him either. She didn't know what to expect either since she had never once been under its heat once despite her being of age she had still felt nothing.

But besides the point, she could sense something else in his eyes, something that spoke more than his words ever could. Despite what human though they could be the only ones that could love... and it wasn't like she could go back anymore.

It wasn't as if she wanted to anyway.

"Shiki..." The young Mermaid began slowly as he broke the kiss. "...By "make me yours" you mean you want to... mate with me...?"

"No. I don't want to mate with you."

"But... Didn't you..."

"I don't want to just mate with you Ritsuka. I want to make love with you."

Ritsuka blinked up at him slowly lost for words.

"Make... love? You mean like what humans say to each other when they want to mate...?" She was lost for words, a slight frown on her face trying to understand what the Cecaelia was trying to tell her.

If Shiki didn't want to mate with her then...

"You'll understand soon Ritsuka." He chuckled at her response though he knew why she didn't understand what he meant... yet.

He held out his hand for her to take and not a moment later she placed her hand in in his the two of them gliding through the crystal water like a knife through soft butter though she still had to swim quickly to keep up with him as they moved through the water until soon the two of them stopping by a smooth rock wall. She looked at him who smiled holding a finger up to his lips as if a child asking for a secret being kept before placing his palm on the rock where it glowed slightly and moved aside enough for him and her to swim inside a grotto where above there was a large underwater tunnel leading upwards large enough for a whole school of fish to swim into without problem. She looked at him and he nodded leading her up into the mouth where soon her head was breaking through a large body of water set in the middle of a floor tasting the air of the surface on her lips. Shiki appeared next to her pulled himself up and out of the water his tentacles disappearing and as he did so, a pair of human legs taking their place as well as human clothing. Ritsuka wasn't surprised in the least by what she saw happen, he had told her that he had once been a human that had long ago been cursed into becoming a Cecaelia.

He turned back to her still in the pool kneeling by her side, a hand on her cheek.

"This won't take too long Ritsuka... but wait there okay."