This is my one-shot for the theme Eternity for Yullen Week Winter Edition. I had a real ambitious story for this theme and it's not even finished! Yes, this is just the first part of two (which I guess will be just as long as this one).
I wanted to write a fic with mermaids, so this is what happened. I'm inspired from "The little Mermaid" but there are a lot of twists in it (hopefully not to obvious).
I'm disappointed that I couldn't finish this by Christmas but I can't turn back time so...
I hope you enjoy this first part, I'll try to finish the second one soon.
Part 1
Allen was putting on his tight sweater-like garment when a guard knocked on his door. Allen swam to the door and opened it.
"What is it?" Allen asked the guard while trying to tame his slightly spiky white hair.
"His Majesty King Adam wants to see you, your Highness", the guard said, "He asked me to escort you to the throne room." Allen rolled his eyes and followed the guard. Allen was the youngest prince of ten of the Ocean Kingdom. And their father was King Adam or the Millennium Earl as he is called among the citizens.
A double door was opened and Allen swam so he was floating next to his brother Tyki, he was the last one to arrive.
"Good morning, sleepy head", Tyki greeted and tousled Allen's hair, the white-haired merman pouted and pulled away from the touch.
"Tyki please, I had enough trouble trying to make it look respectable", he said, Tyki just smirked.
"Then don't bother, you look better with that messy hair", Allen raised an eyebrow at his brother's comment but didn't continue the discussion since their father had begun to speak.
"My dear sons, daughters and grandchildren, I hope you all had a good sleep", some yes and yeah could be heard from the group of thirteen. The king smiled and continued. "Tonight I will hold a party for all of you…"
"What's the occasion?"
"Occasion hi!" Allen bent forward a bit so he could see the two who had interrupted the king. It was Devitt and Jasdero, or more commonly called Jasdevi. Devitt had short unruly black hair and golden eyes like all the others, except for Allen who had silver eyes, Jasdero had long blonde hair – it was kind of difficult to believe that they were twins, but Lulubell said they were, and who wouldn't believe their mother? Jasdevi were the oldest grand children, being fifteen years old, Road was the youngest with her twelve years, Allen was sixteen. Adam smiled warmly at his grandsons' antics and clapped his hands.
"Well, I love that two of my lovely children already have found someone to share their life with but I would like the rest of you to find that special someone as well," Jasdevi tilted their heads and then went:
"Eeeeeeeew!"
"Hehe, a party! Allen will you dance with me?" Road clapped her hands and swam to where Allen was, he nodded apprehensively, Road's face lit up in happiness as she smiled and then she swam to her father Cyril.
"Now then all of you can go", Adam said and smiled. As the other left Allen swam to the throne.
"Father…" he began.
"Yes, Allen?" The King asked Allen looked down and cradled his left arm; his father caught the drift and said reassuringly:
"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll find someone tonight who will accept you for who you are. Why don't you wear that fancy garment I ordered for your birthday?"
"But father, do I really need to go to this party? I'm not in the mood…"
"Nonsense! Go and find the mood! I want all my children on this party tonight", Adam said as his hands pounded on Allen's back. The prince pouted and swam to his room.
Ever since he could remember his arm had been that way; red and scaly – ugly in other words. People were afraid of it and therefore his father had a special garment made for him, it was tight and shimmering and it covered his whole arms and hands. It was matching his skin color but it could sometimes look green or blue, in the right light it could look just as silver as his tail fin. Another thing that made him stand out among his many siblings was that he had silver eyes while they had golden, he had white hair while the majority of them had black. He saw them as his siblings but he couldn't stop feeling like an outcast, though when he was with Tyki that feeling would go away.
He closed the door to his room and just as he did something golden slammed into him.
"Hey Allen! Good morning!" The boy said and released the prince from his grip.
"Good morning Tim", Allen greeted and sat down on his bed, "what brings you here?" The young merman sat down next to Allen, looking very excited.
"I found a new sunken ship by the reefs, wanna go check it out?" Tim said and his golden tail fin didn't stop moving. Allen looked at the boy; Timcanpy was his friend since many years back, Timcanpy, or Tim for short, had blonde hair and a golden fin, he always came up with fun stuff to do, though some of them got them into trouble. Allen smiled and nodded as answer.
"Yeah, why not?" Allen said and picked up his dark green bag that lied on the floor next to the bed. Tim's smile widened and he swam out through the window, Allen right behind him.
…
It had taken the pair quite some time to sneak out from the underwater city. The king had put up a tight security and Allen wasn't supposed to leave without a few guards. But a few hours later they were exploring the many sunken ships by the reef.
That area was a death trap to sailors up on the surface; the waves could get very high and cover up the dangerous cliffs coming up from beneath. A lot of humans had lost their lives when coming to close, leaving behind trinkets and other things which amazed Allen.
They were there for a long time – there were a lot of ships there to explore – so Allen and Tim forgot time and the party that evening.
It was beginning to get darker when the two decided to swim back home. But then suddenly a large shadow came over them and, afraid that it was a shark, Allen quickly turned around, but there wasn't anything behind him so he looked up instead. Above him was a large ship and both Tim and him just gaped at the sight.
"Uhm… I think we forgot to explore a ship Allen", Tim said and pointed towards the ship on the surface.
"Yeah…" Allen replied and slowly nodded.
"Shall we go check it out then?" Tim suggested and Allen gave him a mischievous smile before speeding off to the surface. Tim followed suit.
The humans on the ship were drinking, singing and a few were dancing – they seemed to have a good time. Allen and Tim had managed to jump up so they were sitting on a small ledge by the railing; they looked at the dancing humans through an opening which function was to have water flow back to the sea. Allen moved his head in synch with the music coming from a violinist.
"Come on Yuu! Dance! It is your birthday!" Allen heard someone say and Allen bent forward a little so he could see who it was.
"I'm not going to fucking dance idiot; this fucking party wasn't my idea to begin with", a tall man with long, dark hair up in a ponytail said angrily, next to him stood a equally tall red-haired man with his left arm thrown over the angry man's shoulders.
"Aw Yuu, you need to loosen up a bi…" the dark-haired man's fist connected with the other's stomach and the red-haired man blanched and took a few steps back as he tried to catch his breath. After a few moments he said: "Geez Yuu, don't need to hit so freakin' hard!" The other man tch-ed and went to the railing – the one which Allen and Tim hid behind, the two mermen kept their mouths tightly shut and tried to not breath too loudly, but the man called Yuu leaned with his back on the railing so Allen deemed it safe to continue peeking through the water-hole. The only negative thing was that the man's legs were in the way. Allen resisted the temptation to push him away.
"Kanda, father wants to speak with you", a tall, even taller than Kanda, bald man called from an open doorway. Kanda hmpf-ed and left the railing. Allen looked after him before turning his attention to the red-head who was dancing along with a girl. Then he felt someone tapping on his shoulder, he turned his head to the side and Tim looked at him with a serious face.
"What is it?" Allen asked.
"The reef!" Tim said and pointed towards the dangerous cliffs, Allen's eyes widened in realization and he quickly glanced at the happy humans on the deck, they didn't seem to have noticed.
"We need to go, Allen!" Tim urged and tried to pull Allen by his arm back to the sea. Allen resisted but then the ship hit a cliff and the force from the hit sent both Tim and Allen flying.
The people on the ship stopped celebrating at once and tried to find out what had happened. Kanda ran out from the cabin and went to the railing.
"Everyone to the boats! We've hit a cliff!" He bellowed and everyone rushed to the boats and began lowering them to the water, then they quickly boarded them.
"You Majesty!" Someone called and an old man with frizzy grey hair and glasses hurried to the rope ladder, after him went the large bald man and then the red-head. Kanda was nowhere to be seen, and some of the sailors was about to search for him when Kanda ran out from the cabin holding a sheathed katana.
"Your Highness! Climb down the ladder!" A sailor yelled.
"Go first!" Kanda ordered and the sailors hesitated for a moment but another cringe from the ship had them hurriedly climb down the ladder. Kanda was just a few meters from the railing where the ladder was when the ship's mast broke which had the horizontal part hit Kanda in the front and sent him over the ship's railing on the other side.
Allen saw how the dark-haired man fell down on the surface hard and then began to sink. Allen quickly swam to him and brought him back up to the surface. The man was unconscious and his hair was released from the ponytail. Tim swam up to the two; he glanced at the human before looking at the destroyed ship which was burning in some parts.
"Allen, we should head back home…" Tim said and turned to Allen again; the silver-tailed merman frowned and glanced down at the man he was holding.
"I need to get this man to safety first", he said, Tim got a thoughtful expression and then it seemed he got an idea.
"There's a beach not far from here, you can take him there", Tim said and pointed to somewhere behind Allen, he nodded and then said:
"Tim, do you think you could lead the other humans there? So they could find this one, I mean", Tim nodded and smiled, Allen smiled as well and then he tried to swim to the beach beyond the cliffs while holding the unconscious man's head above the water.
The waves made it difficult to reach the shores but Allen didn't give up. The clouds were dark and it started raining, the wind picked up speed and the waves became higher and fiercer. Allen's grip on the man tightened as he tried to find the beach, he saw it not too far from where he was and he kicked with his fin to get closer. A high wave suddenly came over the two and Allen dropped the man as he was hurled to a large rock, he felt pain in his back when the sharp rock side cut through his skin.
Allen gasped in pain. He pushed away from the rock with his hands and fin, he dove under the water – trying to find the man he'd lost – but he couldn't find him. He felt panic welling up inside him when he swam among the rocks and cliffs. Then he caught something dark in the corner of his eyes. Allen swam there and the pressure inside him lessened a bit when he took hold of the man by his arms. He swam up to the surface and he found himself closer to the beach.
In the water, by the shore, large and small rocks made it hard for Allen to drag the man to the beach with the white sand. But he managed with the help of the waves and he pushed the man as far onto land as he could. Allen collapsed on the sand and took deep breaths; he glanced at the man and sighed with relief when the man was breathing. But then the man coughed and water flushed out from his mouth, Allen pulled the man's left arm to make him lie on his right side, he coughed out lots of water but then the coughing stopped and Allen let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding.
He used his right hand to remove the long, black hair from the man's face but just then the man's eyes flickered and Allen frightfully pushed himself towards the water.
Kanda felt like shit, his abdomen hurt like hell and was that stars in front of his eyes? He tried sitting up but he felt a wave of dizziness and he lied down again for a short moment. But then he heard a splashing sound coming from the water and Kanda pushed himself up to find out what the source of that sound was – though it most probably was an over excited dolphin or so he thought.
He saw the upper body of a strange, white-haired boy trying to get out into the open water, trying to avoid the large rocks when the waves hit him. Kanda furrowed his eyebrows and called for the boy to come back, but that didn't seem to have the wanted effect – quite the opposite. Kanda growled and stood up, he supported himself on a large rock that was to his left when he felt a wave of dizziness again. He walked slowly to the water, trying to stabilize himself; he used the many rocks around the beach to support himself against the waves. The boy seemed to have some problems too; he often looked over his shoulder and got a panicked expression when he saw Kanda closing in, he didn't try to dive he just kept on wading/swimming.
"Damn it. You! Stop! That's fucking dangerous! Do you have a death wish?" Kanda yelled angrily, he was not far from the boy, if he jumped then he might make it – but the waves weren't making it any easier. Kanda became frustrated, was this brat deaf or something?
Allen tried his hardest to get away from the human that was now getting uncomfortable close to him. He couldn't make a dive since that would risk the human to see what he really was and, according to his father, that was not okay. He wasn't even supposed to be up on the surface, much less be in close proximity to a human! "If father found out about this…" Allen thought and once again panic filled his mind. He was about to round a large rock, that would give him that precious extra second to dive without the human (was it Kanda or Yuu? Allen didn't know anymore) seeing his tail, if not for a hand roughly taking hold of his left arm and pulled him back. Allen's eyes widened and he tried to get away.
"Stop, damn bean sprout! I'm not going to hurt you!" When Allen didn't calm down Kanda took hold of his other arm and began dragging him back to land. Allen continued to struggle but it was hard when the man held both of his arms in an iron grip and he tried to not show the human his tail.
"What the hell's your problem?" Kanda asked angrily, Allen didn't answer. Then a wave came and knocked them both towards a rock with a rough surface. Kanda dropped the boy's left arm but still held onto to the right, he just scraped his shoulder at the rock, but Allen wasn't that lucky. He gasped in pain as his back hit the rock hard, his tail coming up to the surface.
Kanda's eyes widened. Was that a fish tail? He was so shocked that he let go of Allen's other arm. He'd always thought mermaids (mermen) were just myth, but here one was… right in front of him. Looking at him with frightened eyes and then made a painful expression when the salt water hit the wound on his back. Kanda snapped out of his stupor and grabbed Allen's arms again.
"Let me go!" Allen yelled and tried to kick him with his tail, but Kanda would have none of it. He forced Allen back to land. He dragged him up enough so that Allen couldn't just jump back in. Allen realized that he was a "fish on land" now, so all he did was trying to make himself smaller – at least hide his tail as much he could. His back still stung from the salt water and now from the sand that was covering it.
Kanda sat down next to his tail, he didn't touch it nor did he look at it, he's eyes were focused on Allen's own, making the merman uncomfortable. Allen hugged himself, trying to make himself smaller by pulling up his fin towards him, but the sand obstructed the movement and the wound on his back made him grimace. Kanda frowned as he looked at the attempt, then he snorted and stood up. Allen observed him intently, trying to discern what the man was going to do next. Kanda went to the water and took off what was left of his shirt; he wetted it before making his way back.
He sat down, cross-legged, behind Allen who stiffened - didn't make a move. He felt something wet and soft gently tap his back, cleaning it from sand and thread from his torn sweater. Allen was shocked beyond words. The human he saved didn't seem to care that he wasn't human, that he was something belonging to mythology; instead he just sat there – tending to Allen's small injury.
"I need to take this off…" Kanda said and began to tear the sweater off, Allen was silent, didn't dare to speak incase that would anger the man – though that seemed like an unnecessary fear when said man was tending to him. Kanda had ripped off the right side of the sweater, revealing creamy white skin under it; he went to do the same on the left if not Allen had pulled away.
"Leave it", was Allen's short demand and Kanda frowned but he lowered his hands and continued tending to the injury after putting down the remainder of the sweater next to him. The sweater had felt silky and soft to his touch, he didn't recognize the fabric and he wondered why a merman was wearing one in the first place, and why he wanted to keep the clothing on the left arm. But Kanda didn't know how mermen thought, heck he didn't even know they existed until just now!
"You saved me from drowning, right?" Kanda asked suddenly.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"'Cause I felt like it."
"Even risk being seen?" Kanda smirked but Allen didn't see it.
"I just… don't like doing nothing when someone's in danger. The cliffs would of instantly killed you if I hadn't gotten hold of you, you should be thankful!" Allen said and turned so he was facing Kanda. The human could get a full look on the merman's face: light skin and the face was round and youthful, luscious red lips and soft silver eyes, the left side of the face was marred by a red scar starting from a pentagram on the forehead down to the lower cheek. Kanda now knew why sailors often said they wanted to meet a mermaid, this merman was beautiful. He traced the scar with his thumb, wondering what could have caused it. Then suddenly Allen pulled away from the touch and he glared at the human.
"What are you doing?" He asked heatedly, not trusting the man at all. Kanda crossed his arms and glared back at Allen, but with much more force which had the silver merman cower in fear.
"Thanks", that was not the word Allen expected to hear after the glare the human had given him. Kanda continued: "for saving me." Allen relaxed and said:
"You're welcome." Just then they heard a high pitched sound coming from the ocean, it sounded a bit like a dolphin but not quite, Kanda made to grab for his katana but when he didn't, he realized he must have dropped it in the ocean when he was sent overboard. Allen tensed up when hearing the sound and he pushed himself towards the water.
"What was that?" Kanda was demanding an answer instead of asking. Allen, who had just reached the water, turned his head and said:
"My friend, he says your friends' are coming", Kanda stood up trying to see beyond the many cliffs, a splash had him focus on Allen, who were using the waves to get out to open water.
"Wait!" Kanda called and ran after him. Allen stopped and looked back; Kanda was standing not far behind him, up to his knees deep in the water.
"Can we meet again?" Kanda mentally hit himself for sounding so pathetic, but he wanted to see the merman again – so dignity, go screw yourself. Allen was taken aback by surprise before he smiled softly, which Kanda thought was the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen.
"Midnight, during the first night of the full moon", Allen answered before he dove under the next wave. Kanda closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them he saw a boat with his father, brothers and his red-haired friend on, waving at him.
Allen on the other hand was swimming the fastest he could back to the castle far away from the coast, Tim had no trouble keeping up - then again Tim had always been the faster of the two.
As they swam, Allen tried to come up with plausible explanations to 1: why his sweater is in pieces, 2: why he has an injury on his back, 3: why he flushes like an infatuated girl. Tim had been wise to not ask him about his time with the human, and even if he had Allen had no intention of answering any of them.
A guard caught them trying to sneak in and brought them to the king. Allen said the two of them had been out and having fun and kind of forgot time, and then got hunted by a shark and that they escaped to a narrow cave opening where he ripped his sweater and scraped the skin on his back. Allen thought that was a really good explanation and Tim just went along with it – Allen had always been the better liar. King Adam listened to the explanation with an amused expression, Allen didn't know if it was because he found it funny being hunted by a shark or if it was because Allen had somehow gotten out of having to go to the party he was currently holding or if he knew that Allen was lying.
The king then sent the young prince to his sleeping quarters and a guard to escort Tim home. When Allen was lying on his bed he sighed in relief and not before long he drifted off to sleep.
…
"Tim, it's just until dawn, nothing to worry about! No one ever comes in during the night!" Allen tried to convince Tim to "sleep" in his bed while Allen snuck out of the castle and swim to the beach to meet the human as promised. Tim was quite reluctant to do this – because there was hell to pay if they were caught. But as Allen pointed out, it was Allen and not Tim that would get the most scolding.
Tim pouted but got into bed anyway, Allen smiled and thanked him before putting on another sweater that he picked up from a shell-chair.
"I'll be back before dawn", Allen said before he carefully swam out through the window, leaving Tim huddled up under the green seaweed blanket on the bed. He lied down and had the blanket cover his head and fin – in case someone came in.
Allen did his best in making small swimming motions – so that the many guards wouldn't feel the water fluctuation that was made. He couldn't just swim up towards the surface, the guards would catch him immediately, so he had to swim low, but he knew the place like the back of his hand so he had no problems coming out to the city and later swim away from that as well.
He hurriedly swam towards the reef and was very happy that the ocean was calm tonight – he wouldn't have to worry about being thrown around the many cliffs and rocks. He was swimming over the place where the human's (he didn't know what to call him yet) ship had sunken. He glanced down at the broken ship, it had been split in two and the mast had been burnt to crisps, fish had gathered there to eat of the food and soon sharks would come for the fish. Allen didn't want to stay long near the ship. But then he saw something stuck among some corals, it was black, long and flat, Allen picked it up without too much resistance from the corals and looked it over.
He then noticed that he could take of the black thing and when he did he was greeted with something shiny, silver - and sharp he then realized when he cut his finger on the sharp end. He put it back in the black thing and brought it with him to the shore – he thought it would make a nice gift to the human, to bring something from the ship they'd had to leave in a hurry.
Allen's head breached the surface and he looked up at the large, white full moon before navigating through the maze of rocks to the beach. When he was about to pull himself up on land someone went to stand next to him. The merman glanced up and saw the human standing there, without a word the human lifted him up bridal style and walked to the beach, Allen held the gift with both of his hands on his chest. Kanda put Allen down on the sand, close enough to the water so Allen's tail fin would occasionally be touching the water. Kanda sat down next to him, looking out to the vast calm ocean, Allen glanced at him. The moon made him able to look at his features: a sharp jaw, soft looking lips, dark eyes, he had an indifferent expression and his hair was up in a high ponytail, with long bangs on either side of the face and some hair covering his forehead, it looked so silky and smooth Allen wanted to touch it. But he didn't since he didn't know how the human would take it.
"How's it like living under the water surface?" Was Kanda's sudden question, he still calmly observed the ocean, though he glanced at Allen once or twice.
"How's it like living above the water surface?" Allen countered, Kanda smirked and leaned back, watching the sky, his hands buried in the sand. Allen went into the same position except he's gaze was steady on the human next to him. They were quiet for awhile, just enjoying each other's company. Then:
"What are you wearing?" Kanda asked, he sat up straight tugging at the sweater on Allen.
"That's… It's because…" Allen didn't know what to say, would the human turn away in disgust and call him a monster if he saw the arm? Should he lie or should he tell the truth? Kanda's cobalt eyes bored into his silvery ones and it felt as if he was reading Allen's mind.
"Something you don't want me to see, little bean sprout?" Kanda said and smirked. "Perhaps something on the left arm…?" Allen's eyes widened in surprise and he looked down – trying to hide the blush that was forming on his cheek. Kanda tugged at the fabric on Allen's hand, trying to coax him into taking it off. Allen pulled his hand away from the intrusive hand, glaring at Kanda, though the man just thought it looked like a pout, a cute one to boot.
"It's not something I show to strangers, human!" Allen said trying to sound angry but failed miserably.
"Strangers? I think not. Acquaintances I can accept, but strangers? No fucking way in hell", Kanda said his tone a bit harsher than he meant to. Allen's gaze didn't waver. They stared at each other in silence, neither of them wanting to back down from the silent challenge. Then Allen broke the silence by saying:
"I think we can become more than just acquaintances if I knew your name, human."
"Then I want to know your name too, Bean-Sprout-fish," Allen reached out his left hand in greeting, Kanda took it while rolling his eyes and they shook hands.
"My name's Allen", the merman said and smiled.
"Yuu Kanda", Kanda said and they let go of each other's hands. Allen frowned, thinking back on the evening on the ship.
"Yuu Kanda… I heard people call you either "Yuu" or "Kanda", what should I call you?" Allen asked and tilted his head a little.
"Heard? When was that?" Kanda asked confused.
"On the ship before it crashed into the reef", Allen said, when he saw Kanda's confused look he added: "I sat on a ledge by the railing; you leaned on it until your father wanted to see you." Kanda's eyes widened when he realized the close proximity he had been to Allen before they met. Then he began thinking of other times when something could have been close to him without him noticing – which was very hard since he was very good at noticing things others overlooked or missed. But then he noticed Allen's expectant look and he realized he hadn't answered his question.
"Kanda, call me Kanda", he said quickly, Allen nodded slowly. Kanda could see the merman's mouth forming the name – as if testing it out.
"You got what you wanted, show me that arm", Kanda demanded, it was a bit rude but Kanda was getting impatient. Allen hmfp-ed and slowly (to slow for Kanda but he got what he wanted) took off the sweater. Then it was only the left arm that was clothed, Allen stopped and bit his lower lip – hesitant to take it off. A deep growl from Kanda made him flinch and he pulled it off.
Kanda bent over Allen so he could see the arm up close, Allen was immobile – didn't want to see the look of disgust that was sure to be on Kanda's face. Then he felt a hand take his left wrist and surprised he looked up to see Kanda inspecting the disfigured arm, his didn't show anything on his face – no emotions at all. Allen didn't pull away; he just let the human do as he wanted.
"This was why you wore that garment?" Kanda asked and raised an eyebrow, Allen pouted.
"I don't like showing it to people. It disgust the…" But Kanda interrupted him.
"I'm not", Allen blinked and Kanda let go of the arm. "That arm doesn't disgust me."
"I-it doesn't?" Allen tried to blink away the tears forming in his eyes – how pathetic was that? Kanda nodded and Allen felt as if a rock had been lifted off of him, he smiled widely – making Kanda want to say:
"You must be the ugliest merman I have ever seen", Allen's smile disappeared in an instant but then he saw the mischievous glint in Kanda's eyes and he retorted:
"Sorry for not living up to your expectations!" He punched Kanda's shoulder lightly and then he made to grab the black thing that had been lying, forgotten, on the sand on his left. He gave the gift to Kanda who was looking at it confused.
"I found this around your ship, thought you might want it. But be careful, it's sharp", Allen said and smiled once again. Kanda glanced at Allen before taking out the katana out of its sheath. Yes. That was his trusted weapon; Mugen – the katana he had dropped when he fell into the sea.
"Thank you, Allen", he said – and really meaning it.
"You're welcome, Kanda," Allen said and lied down with his hands under his head. He looked up at the stars and the moon – marveled at how beautiful the night sky was. Kanda was checking the katana for any irregularities, but he didn't find anything – it seemed to be as perfect as it always has been – so he sheathed it and put it down on the sand on his right.
"Do you have anything abnormal on your body, Kanda?" Allen then asked, the man glanced at the merman before taking of his white shirt. The merman sat up and saw that on the chest, above the heart, was a black tattoo. It looked to be a symbol but Allen didn't recognize it; black streaks reached up to the shoulder and neck and down to the well-toned abdomen. Hesitantly Allen reached his left arm out and tentatively touched the black skin. He followed the different streaks – to the shoulders, to the neck before his hand went down the man's abdomen.
"Did it hurt?" Allen asked looking at the tattoo more closely.
"Only a sting", Kanda answered calmly. He liked the feeling of the rough hand touching his body – exploring it. He pulled up closer to Allen – close enough so their shoulders were touching, Allen raised his head to look at Kanda in surprise, he took away his hand and Kanda frowned for a second. He then brought his own left hand closer to the silvery fin, but stopped and glanced at Allen for confirmation, the merman blinked and then, almost not visible, he nodded. Kanda touched the fin, it didn't exactly feel like a fish' body or fin. He'd expected it to feel slimy or something like that but it was dry – but they had been on land for a while now – and a bit rough. And Kanda got a question he just had to ask:
"How do you mer's reproduce?" Allen was caught off guard and began stuttering something incoherent before he calmed down, took a few deep breaths and asked:
"Why do you want to now?" Kanda kept touching his fin, he shrugged and said:
"Curious. Is it like dolphins or fish?"
"I guess it's a mixture", Allen began; Kanda glanced at him – silently urging him to continue. "Uhm… when two persons wants a child they uhm… kinda… they go into this cocoon or something… uhm… and there they get an egg… or more if they want, though then they need to stay there longer. When they have the egg they stay there for some time, a week or two. Then they come out with the egg and it takes some weeks more for the egg to… uhm… hatch", Kanda had gotten a more funny looking expression for every word Allen said. The merman noticed that and blushed fiercely – though he thought Kanda looked at him like that because he thought Allen had done that before, which was definitely not the case! He was only sixteen years old!
"That's just what my sister said and she got twins, I've never…!" He was interrupted by Kanda who had brought his face closer to Allen's. The blush deepened because of the close proximity but he didn't back away.
He noticed Kanda's hand moving up – from his fin to his abdomen and then to his chest and neck. Kanda's lips were close to his own and were getting even closer, the hand was caressing his chin, and they both brought their lips closer to the other but then…
Something suddenly hit the sand between Kanda's legs. The man stopped what he was doing immediately and looked at the thing uncomfortable close to his manhood – it was an arrow, or more like a bolt. He then heard Allen gasp and he glanced at him and then out to the sea. Another merman was in the water, aiming a weapon at Kanda.
"Tyki…" Tyki already had another bolt ready to be fired at the human daring to be so close to his brother. Kanda turned his head towards Allen but he kept the other merman in the corner of his right eye.
"Who is that?" He demanded, his right hand was on Mugen – ready to unsheathe it if necessary. Allen kept glancing back and forth at the two.
"Allen! Get into the water! Now!" Tyki ordered, Kanda stood up, but didn't unsheathe Mugen (yet), he was about to take a step towards the other merman but Tyki raised his crossbow so it was aimed at Kanda's chest – more precisely: his heart. Kanda stopped and said angrily:
"Who are you to order him around?"
"Kanda…" Allen said, so softly that Kanda almost didn't hear it; he glanced at the white-haired mermen before taking another step towards the intruding merman.
"Stay where you are human, if you don't want your heart pierced!" Tyki bellowed, Kanda stopped – but it wasn't because of the threat- he felt someone take hold of his left hand and he looked back and saw Allen with eyes begging him to not do anything stupid.
"I need to go now, Kanda", Allen said and smiled when he continued: "It was fun getting to know you better!" He then let go of the hand and pushed himself down to the water. When the water covered his waist area Tyki took hold of his hand and dragged Allen so he was next to him. Kanda clenched his teeth in anger and was about to go out into the water when noise was heard from the forest.
Distant voices calling for Kanda, said man swore in his mind as he looked over his shoulder. A splash had him focus on the matter at hand and he swore again, loudly this time, when he saw Tyki swimming out to the open sea, pulling Allen by the hand. Another voice called, which Kanda recognized as his so-called-friend Lavi's, and he glanced back before he ran out after the mermen. The water was calm so he didn't have any problems getting out. He was waist deep in the water – Allen wasn't that far from him but it suddenly got very deep beyond that point and Kanda decided to stop.
"Bean Sprout!" He called which had Allen stop and turn around – much to Tyki's displeasure.
"What is it Kanda?" Allen asked him, Tyki pulled him by the arm this time but Allen pulled away from his grip. The calls from the forest became louder and louder as Kanda struggled to find the right words.
"Allen, we need to go now!" Tyki insisted but Allen scoffed it off. He turned to Kanda again, his silver eyes were questioning and his expression expectant. Kanda closed his eyes for a second before he said:
"Will we meet again?" Allen smiled, he then put his hands over his right ear for a second and then he swam towards him, when he was in front of Kanda he took the human's hand and put something small on the palm. He had his left hand to have Kanda squeeze whatever that thing was, and then Allen whispered to him:
"I'll come back for this… I promise", with that he swam back to Tyki, both of them dived just when the search party came out to the beach. A red-haired man ran towards the water as soon he caught sight of Kanda – who was walking back to land. His right hand still clutched.
"Yuu! Man, we searched everywhere for you! What the hell were you doing here?" The man asked slightly out of breath. Kanda ignored him and went to fetch his shirt before it got even sandier. Lavi stood at the same spot, eyebrow raised at his friend (though the feeling wasn't exactly mutual).
"Yuu?" He asked.
"What?" Kanda snapped making a poor attendant, who had brought Kanda's horse, jump in fright. Lavi walked up to him, worry written on his face.
"Did something happen?" He asked seriously. Kanda stared at him and Lavi stared back – Kanda was the one to break the silent contest and mumbled:
"Nothing", Lavi frowned at the answer but didn't say anything else. Then he saw something glittery on the sand not far from where Kanda's shirt had been. Lavi's frown changed to a look of curiosity as he picked the thing up. It looked like a sweater of some kind, but he couldn't recognize the material, his one good eye watched as the texture changed color when he brought it to different lights.
"Yuu, what's this?" He then asked. Kanda, who had just been about to mount his black horse, scowled and snatched the garment away from Lavi's hands, he kept the bundle close to him as he sat up on the horse.
"None of your business, Rabbit", then he gestured for the attendant to lead the horse, and the party made to leave. As they left Kanda unclenched his right hand and looked at the thing Allen had given him, it was an earring – a golden earring. Kanda remembered the words Allen had said to him and his hand closed around the jewelry as he promised to come here every night from now on – he would wait as long as he had to if it meant he would be able to see that Bean-Sprout-fish again.
Lavi stayed behind for a moment, he looked at his hands as he imagined the garment almost flowing between his fingers. He then gazed out to the sea, still doing the hand motion, before he followed the rest back.
...
Allen was not having the same luck with his "rescuer" as Tyki apparently saw himself as. As soon as the two had gone enough deep into the ocean Tyki stopped and his grip on Allen's (naked) arm hardened considerably. The ten year older man closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths as if to calm himself – which Allen suspected was very hard if judged by Tyki's facial expression.
"Allen…" Tyki's golden eyes snapped open and his stare bore into Allen, who immediately started to feel fear and a bit of guilt as well. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He then yelled angrily, Allen couldn't meet his eyes anymore and he looked down at his free hand. "You were with a fucking human! Are you stupid? Humans are dange..."
"He's not dangerous!" Allen protested.
"They are! Humans are cruel and whenever they see something they don't understand they kill it!" Tyki's face reddened – he was so angry, and Allen knew this was just Tyki's way of telling Allen that he had been worried about him, but he couldn't let him judge someone he hadn't even met – properly anyway.
"Kanda wouldn't do that!" He snapped back and tried to get out of Tyki's bruising grip. Hearing Allen call the human by name had Tyki even angrier; he yanked Allen by the arm so that Allen's face was inches from his.
"Listen to me, Allen! Humans are dangerous, that's why we're not supposed to be up at the surface! That human", Tyki spit that last word out like it was dirt, "is not to be trusted!" Allen breathed faster as he tried to keep his anger inside.
"You're my youngest brother, Allen, I don't want anything to happen to you", he then said in a calmer, soother, voice. His grip lightened and Allen pulled away his arm.
"It's you who should listen! Kanda isn't like that, he wouldn't do something like kill…"
"Stop defending him damn it! He doesn't deserve any of that!"
"He doesn't deserve any of your accusations, Tyki!" Allen snapped back.
"I wonder what father will have to say about this", Tyki said with a stern voice. Allen was taken aback from that sentence, nervousness and fear came over him as his eyes turned pleading.
"Please…" he begged, "Tyki, please don't tell father…" Tyki shook his head, his face as stern as his voice when he replied:
"I'm sorry, Allen. But this is for your own good", he then proceeded to grab Allen's arm once again and lead him back to the underwater city and to Allen's doom.
The king had been just as angry as Tyki – if not more – and after giving Allen a piece of his mind he sent the young merman to a room that didn't have any windows - so that Allen couldn't just sneak out like before. Tyki and a guard had brought him to the sterile room, Tyki had once again said that aggravating "it's for your own good" as he closed the door. The guard stayed right outside, ready to escort Allen to wherever he needed to go.
Anger would be an understatement for what he felt right now. He couldn't believe this injustice! And his father's dismissive way of handling it, it had been as if he wanted Allen out of his sight as soon as possible – and Allen felt incredibly hurt by that.
Though, that was not the first time his father had done that. When he was angry with Allen he does something Allen calls "the verdict" – which means that the king just tells Allen of his punishment before sending him away, oftentimes quite brusquely – sending Allen into "tears" sometimes. Tyki usually talked to him about it, but not this time. He must still be angry at him.
That sent Allen on a small guilt trip – he and Tyki were very close, closer than with any other of the many siblings. The curly-haired man had always been there for him, ever since he was little. Tyki trusted him and now Allen had broken that.
Then he suddenly thought of Tim. How could he forget about him? Allen had no way of contacting him and no one had said anything about him. Allen could only hope Tim hadn't been scolded to harshly because of him.
A few days passed and Allen felt more and more isolated for each day. Road was with him when she didn't have class, Wisely played some chess with him, though that was because he wanted to kill some time before he went out on a date with this mermaid he met during the party about a week ago. Jasdevi were trying to make him talk about his meeting with the human and the others didn't give a shit – or so it seemed.
Allen was leaving his room for lunch when he passed the throne room; he saw Adam and Lulubell talking to each other. Allen heard his name mentioned so he swam closer so he could hear what they were saying. The guard politely stayed out of earshot after Allen gestured for him to. Then Allen listened intently at the conversation.
"…getting harder to control it", the king said, the black haired woman looked at him indifferently. Then Adam put his face in his hands. "I hoped I wouldn't have to do this but… since you all love him like your own brother…" Lulubell got a slightly curious expression.
"What do you mean father?" She asked her voice low and calm, Allen had to strain his ear to hear it.
"And this… swimming up to the surface and meeting a human! He's getting more and more alike his father Mana", Allen's eyes widened, what did he just hear? Wasn't Adam his father? Who's this Mana? Suddenly he felt much betrayed, had his whole life been a lie?
"You think he'll remember soon?" The woman asked her voice emotionless.
"No doubt, it's been ten years now, the spell must have wearied off by now…"
"What will you do?"
"What I've should have done when I disposed of my brothers – kill him", Allen started shaking; one hand was brought up before his mouth – as if trying to quench his staggered breathing. This couldn't be true. His whole life, his memories… he had to get out of here. He couldn't stay here, he couldn't let himself stay ignorant and let himself get killed – he had a promise to keep to Kanda! He looked over his shoulder and saw that the guard conveniently was talking to someone and had his back to him.
Allen took his chance.
He swam as fast as he could, he didn't care about being noticed or not – right now he just wanted to get as much distance as possible to the man he once thought was his father, from the family he thought he loved.
He safely got out of the palace, pass the guards and then out of the city. He swam as fast as he could, never stopping to rest. He didn't want to think about what he'd just found out; it was too painful.
Suddenly he came out to a field of… flowers? It looked like the flowers he'd seen in some of the pictures he'd found on the sunken ships. There were red flowers, blue, yellow and white. Allen was amazed; he'd never seen something like this under the water's surface before, how…? Then he saw a long, black-haired mermaid out on the field picking some flowers.
He approached the mermaid from behind; she hadn't noticed him as she was still picking up flowers. When he was an arm's length away from her he brought out his hands to touch her shoulder. The mermaid cringed at the unexpected touch and quickly turned around; Allen saw a pretty face before something exploded right in front of his face.
And everything went black.
Ooo cliffhanger :P
Sorry about that, I couldn't resist it.
Next part will come out... sometime. And I think I'll write a lemon in it (that's what I planned at least).
Sorry for so many characters to go OOC in this, it just happened.
Please review and tell me what you think of this!