A/N: Here's another part of my Diversity Writing Challenge for the No. 6 Fanfiction Challenges forum. This is for the prompt D42: write in the supernatural genre. I'm pretty sure this counts as supernatural. Shion and Karan are fairies - well, Shion is half fairy, half human - and Shion discovers a merman, who we will get to know better later on.
When Shion was a little boy, his favorite thing ever was to play hide-n-go-seek with his mother, Karan. He was the best at hiding. Most of the time, Karan would give up, and Shion would come out of his hiding spot giggling and waving his arms at her so she could see him. Sometimes, he cheated and hid under the couch or in a drawer where he was harder to find, but Karan never seemed to mind.
Karan was a very sweet mother, always understanding and gentle. If Shion accidentally left a mess of glitter somewhere, she would simply clean it, and remind him how important it was to never leave traces of his dust behind. When Shion bent his left wing at the age of nine, Karan cared for him in secret, keeping him in a warm tea cup in the kitchen.
Shion had never known his father, but Karan told him that his father had been human. That made Shion half human, half fairy. Shion hated his human half, because it made him much weaker than his mother. He would always stare in awe and jealousy as Karan bent trees to her will, commanding them to reach over her head to provide shade and block her from the sun, or to part like the Red Sea to allow a better view of a sunset.
Karan assured Shion that his powers would grow stronger as he got older. For the longest time, he had no control over nature at all, and feared he never would. Karan had videotaped the first time Shion made a flower bloom at his touch. He was fourteen, but squealed as if he were six, so happy to see the red tulip awaken to his will.
Shion had only ever been able to control flowers, which he was only slightly embarrassed about. Yes, flowers were feminine, but they were beautiful, and he felt lucky to be able to sprout flowers anywhere he wished. They also made a comfortable bed when he was in his smaller, fairy form.
As the years passed, Shion didn't understand why he and his mother had to keep their nature a secret. She told him that people would not understand, and that it was human nature to fear the unknown. Shion laughed at the thought of someone cowering from him in his smaller form, only a few inches tall with dark pink wings, sprinkling fairy dust everywhere. Even so, he obeyed his mother's wishes, only returning to his smaller form when he was at home, or somewhere he could be alone.
Sometimes Shion really hated being human-sized. He felt so clumsy, having legs that were far too long and wobbly. He wished he could just fly to school.
Shion was twelve the first time he had contact with another non-human. He had been riding the train with his best friend, Safu, to school. Even Safu did not know that Shion was a fairy. He hated keeping secrets from her, but Safu wanted to be some kind of scientist someday, and the thought of her operating on him to examine what made him half human, half fairy, terrified him.
She was rattling off about something that Shion didn't care to understand. He was lost, staring out the window, trying to remember what he'd dreamt about the night before. Then, something splashed at the surface of the ocean, in the corner of his eye. He hadn't caught a good look, but he had seen a very large, shimmering, blue fin. He stared at the water, waiting to see if it would emerge again.
It was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked like a human boy swam to the surface of the water before diving back down again, flashing that uncharacteristic fin again. Shion was transfixed. What he'd seen, it couldn't have been human. What other creatures were out there?
"Shion, are you listening to me?" Safu shook Shion's arm lightly.
His head whipped around, and he stared at her wide eyed. "No," he answered honestly.
Safu looked at her hands in confusion. "What is this stuff?" She turned her hands against the sunlight coming from the window, the glitter on her hands catching the light and glowing.
Shion held his breath. His dust... When fairies felt any extreme emotion - excitement, fear, anger - they excreted fairy dust: an organic, glittery substance that stuck to everything. He laughed in an attempt to cover his nervousness. "That's glitter from this morning. Mum was making some posters to advertise her new pumpkin cookies, and I helped her decorate them."
Safu nodded, wiping the glitter off her hands and onto Shion's jacket. "Well, keep your glitter to yourself. I hate having stuff like that on me."
When the train stopped, Safu and Shion stood, making their way to one of the doors. Shion couldn't stop thinking about what he'd seen in the ocean just a mile or two back. He had to know what it was he'd witnessed.
Shion shrunk down to his tiny fairy form, thinking no one would notice in the bustle of the subway. Thankfully, Karan had taught Shion that if their clothes were covered with their dust beforehand, their clothes would also shrink with them when they reverted to their fairy form.
He flew off, zig-zagging between giant legs, careful not to collide with anyone. Shion's dark, coral pink wings buzzed furiously like a hummingbird. Someone dropped their coffee, and Shion had to spiral quickly to avoid it. Finally, he was out, and could make his way to the ocean. Shion had never flown so fast in his life.
When he reached the ocean, he hovered, attempting to catch his breath. It was then that he realized what he'd seen had probably swam to deeper waters. There had to be some way to get its attention. An ordinary fish would be startled by any diversion Shion could make and would swim away, but Shion was certain that what he'd seen was no ordinary fish.
Shion flew to the bridge that the subway ran across. There were some bushes at the base of one of the pilars holding up the bridge. Focusing his power on the bushes, Shion managed to coax out a few light pink blossoms from the thicket. More and more began to sprout from the bush, until it was covered. Shion whispered an apology before closing his hands, causing the flowers to die, shedding all their petals on the ground.
It took several trips, but Shion eventually had sprinkled flower petals over a large patch of water. Surely, the creature that had been swimming around before would see the disturbance in the water and would swim over. It was the only thing Shion could think of...
Time passed and nothing was happening. Shion started to lose hope, kicking pebbles with his foot from where he sat on the cold ground. And then, the subway passed overhead, causing the ground to shake beneath Shion's tiny body. He fell to his side, struggling to keep himself upright. That's when he saw it.
A boy swam to the surface of the water. He was watching the subway pass. The boy began to swim after the train, but stopped when he saw the patch of flower petals in the water. This was Shion's chance. When the vibrations of the train stopped moving through him, Shion flew to where the boy was. "Hello!" he yelled. Because of his small size, hardly anyone ever heard Shion when he spoke.
The boy hadn't even noticed Shion's presence. He scooped the pink petals in his hands, studying them. This boy had long, dark hair - possibly black, or very dark navy - and eyes like silver moonlight. Shion was entranced by him.
Unsure of what else he could do to get the boy's attention, Shion grew into his human form, falling from the air and into the water with a loud splash. From under the water, he could see the boy was swimming away, but...he had the tail of a fish. Where were his legs?
Shion swam after him, but the boy was too fast. He left Shion's sight in only a few seconds, and Shion was alone. Shion swam back to the bridge, surprised and confused. He became small once more, leaving his clothes and school bag behind. When he reached home, he redressed and looked for his mother, who was in the back yard painting leaves for autumn.
After making sure he was covered in dust, Shion flew up to where his mother was in the tree. She was humming something to herself as she colored a green leaf orange. The mix of the two colors was beautiful. Karan's hand glided over the surface of the leaf, changing its colors from the outside inward. Shion envied her abilities to influence trees.
"H-hi Mum," Shion said sheepishly.
Karan turned to him, apparently unaware that he'd been there. "Oh, Shion, what are you doing home? You're supposed to be at school."
Shion explained everything to her, telling her about what he'd seen on the train and about how he'd flown back to investigate. They decided to go inside and have hot cocoa together. Shion was visibly upset, and it made Karan frown. She reached out to run a hand through his pearl white hair. "Shion, don't be sad. Merpeople are not usually very friendly."
Shion looked back at her curiously. "Merpeople? I've never heard of them before."
Karan nodded, and explained. "Mermen and mermaids mostly keep to themselves. It's unknown how they came into existance. Most of them have a fear of humans and other surface creatures. You probably got closer to one than anyone else ever has."
Shion couldn't stop thinking about that boy for the next few days. So, he was a merman: part man, part fish. Shion felt bad for scaring the boy away. He probably enjoyed watching the subway go by, and hadn't expected a human to magically appear in the water with him. With time, Shion was able to get the merman out of his head, but subtle reminders would bring images of those silver eyes back into his mind.