Note: This is a Multi-Chapter story. It will not contain major OC's, but sometimes they're needed to keep the story going, for example, a store owner or a police officer.
Note 2: I don't know if anyone is still in this fandom, so if you are, I'd appreciated if you'd let me know.
Summary: Fate would have it differently for the four kids if certain traumatic events happen a bit differently..
Warnings: Character Death, Alternate Universe (partly), Anima Swap.
Please stop posting the wrong stories in the anima category!
"Quick! It smells disgusting! Get it off board before I puke everything I ate today in your face!" A man shouted hopelessly disgusted, leaning half off-edge, desperately trying to look away from the sight he'd just witnessed.
Sun. Water. That was about all there was to see, whether it be far or close. No single island anywhere near the ship that was sailing through the calmest of seas. On the small wooden boat was a small crew consisting of only 4 people. That is, if you didn't count the rotting corpse of a woman lying on the cold and worn out surface below them.
The other, black-haired younger man waved with his fist, making snide remarks. "Then where am I supposed to put a fucking corpse, according to you?! I can't just throw a pregnant girl into the sea!" A third, older man joined in on the conversation looked at him with a look of disbelief and displeasure.
"What do you mean 'Then what am I supposed to do?!' I think it's obvious what you're supposed to do right now! Are you blind or somethin'?!" The man wildly flailed with his arms, gesturing to the large, wide area that surrounded them.
A young looking boy rolled his eyes and interrupted the older man. "What he is trying to say, rookie, is that we should just 'bury' her in the sea, if you know what I mean." The annoyed boy finished quickly. "As in, toss her into the water, you got me? We can't do anything else!"
"That's an appalling idea! What the hell?!" The man replied. "What if the baby is still alive!"
The bickering between the three men continued on for a short while, until a woman stepped in to stop them.
"Look, I know about the stupid little tradition in your stupid little town Lilt, but I can smell the stench even at the furthest edge of the boat, and to be honest, I've smelled enough! Whether you let that lass get eaten by the crows or by the sharks here doesn't matter. Crows that take the deceased to heaven? As if!"
The sailor opened his mouth to say something back, but decided to leave it be. Perhaps it was for the best to give the woman a watery grave. In the end, he slowly nodded his head and agreed with the plan.
"Okay... okay then. B-but I'll do it! Do we have a... cloak or something? Something to cover her with? I don't really know how this works..." Unsure and determined at the same time, he stroked her hair one more time. Another crew member came running and handed him a dirty brown blanket full of holes.
The man that still wanted to keep the corpse took the cloth with hesitation and rolled the reeking corpse into the cloth, which covered the foul, rotting stench with a seemingly even worse smell. "Come! She's heavy!"
Although he'd asked his mates to come, no one offered to help him and he ended up doing the dirty work all alone, and threw her over the edge into the aqua-blue sea.
To his horror, the water around the corpse began to splash wildly and the woman he and the other crew members had spent 8 long months with was devoured by tons of bloodthirsty sharks, right in front of their eyes. The crew panicked the moment the boat began to rock wildly, the cause being the sharks fighting for their deceased companion.
"R-retreat!" The sole woman on the ship yelled loudly, a distraught expression clear on her face. Everyone obeyed her immediately and gathered in the midpoint of the boat. Only after 10 minutes did they get to move from their positions without instantly being thrown from their place.
But what really caught them off guard, were the soft giggles they could hear, if they were quiet enough at least.
"Do you guys hear that too?"
"I think I do?"
Curious, but carefully, they peered over the border. "Is that another shark?" One crewman asked the dead-silent group. The newly dubbed baby shark was swimming happily in the water when realization overcame one of them.
"Holy shit it's a baby mermaid." That remark earned the youngest member a smack in the head. The black-haired sailor had previously found himself unable to speak, but managed to get a few words out.
"No, I know him. He looks so much like her. Shit." He cursed under is breath while one of his companions frustratingly glared at him.
He reached his arm out and tried to grab the newly born boy, to no avail. After having tried many times, he finally managed to get the baby on board. However, this didn't come without pain as the baby had bitten him.
The sailor then decided to inspect the child that was born in the middle of the sea. It didn't take long for him to find a black marking on the boy's neck. The markings on Cooro's neck that looked like a few waves with some triangles under it that may or may not have represented teeth of some kind.
"It looks like he's some kind of fish anima..." He then cleaned the wound he'd gotten from the baby and glanced at it. "A shark? That's some sharp stuff we've got here."
"Mother superior! Mother superior!" A child's voice echoed through a small church in a peaceful village. The sun shone brightly through the windows and the temperature was plausible enough. A pair of small legs ran to the main room in the church.
The small boy was seemingly about 12 years old and had been found at the doorstep as an infant. Happily and cheerfully it laughed and chattered in its own language when it was found. And even though no one knew exactly what the baby said, it was an obvious fact known throughout the church that the boy must have been one of the most cheerful children they'd ever met.
The boy's name was Cooro. The name was written on a small piece of paper and why the child was given that name is unknown.
The older woman smiled gently at the orphan boy in front of her. "Yes, Cooro?" She asked him nicely.
Cooro's eyes lit up. "I talked to mister Fly again today!" If there was a sentence that could make her heart sink, it must be little Cooro talking about that man. The smile on her face disappeared instantly after hearing him uttering these words in such a cheerful manner.
"I see." She answered.
She didn't like that man at all. He acted nicer than anyone on earth would genuinely ever act. Besides that, she knew the man was interested in anima.
The boy managed to shake her out of her thoughts. "I made a promise with him! He told me he's lonely, so I'll find him some other anima to play with! I love you!"
But before she could even ask him any questions, the boy had already disappeared from the spot he'd previously been in. With her raspy voice, she made an attempt to tell him to be careful, but she would never know if he had ever heard her. She didn't follow him.
It was only an hour later that Cooro was happily skipping through the field, on his own, with no single soul to be found nearby and no concerns regarding finding the researcher Fly Greens Aight at all.
Even if he was only a few footsteps away from him.
"Hello Cooro!"
Cooro turned around faster than he'd intended to and fell headfirst onto the ground. After quickly having cleaned his hair, a big grin appeared on his childlike face.
"Hey Mister Fly! I promised I'd find you some friends, right?"
Fly could only blink.
"Because that's what I'm doing right now!"
Fly's normally gentle expression soon turned into a worried one as he placed his hand on Cooro's shoulder.
"Wait, Cooro, you really don't need to do that for me."
The only friends a child would make were probably children, after all.
Besides that, he didn't really like a young boy traveling all on his own. The world they lived in was a world full of dangers, especially for a child, and even more so for a anima.
But Cooro kept on smiling like the twelve year old had always done. Whenever he promised something, he'd make sure he would keep it, no matter what the other thought of it.
This was no exception.
