AN: Thank you all so much for the feedback on this so far; it's really spurred my inspiration into action, so have another chapter, for your reading pleasure!
Chapter 2
The mermaid was rigid in his grip, wrist thin and pale like a seashell under his fingers, but she made no move to get away, only kept staring right at him, eyes wide and frightened in her face.
It wasn't his first time seeing one of her kind, but it was the first he'd ever been so close. The differences between her folk and his leaped out at him – the vivid colour of her tail, and her skin, almost human-like in its softness, and tinted with a warm flush where his was cold and grey in comparison. She was such an anomaly amongst the shadows and the eerie green glow of the crystals, as though a stray piece of the sky and the sun had fallen down from Above.
"Hey!"
The call drew both their attentions, and he looked past her to find another mermaid, this one a little larger and with hair like gold, the kind that drove humans out of their wits, to be found in chests in sunken ships. Another piece of the sun, maybe. He found an odd sort of humour in the idea.
But unlike the one he was still holding, this one looked angry. "Hands off her!"
Her arrival seemed to snap the little one out of her stupor, but when she tried to tug her hand away, Gajeel only tightened his grip. "Ya didn't answer my question."
She glared up at him. "Would you let me go?"
He curled his fingers tighter. "Answer the question," he snapped. Was she deaf?
Her cheeks flushed suddenly, but from what he couldn't tell – embarrassment at being caught, most likely. She tugged harder at her hand. "What's it to you, anyway? Do you own this corner of the ocean or something?"
Gajeel contemplated cracking a joke, but the betrayal still ached like an old wound, and didn't allow for humour on his old man's expense. Either way, whatever he'd been about to say, he was interrupted by another set of fingers, attempting to pry his away with surprising force. "Well clearly it was a mistake coming here," the golden-haired one said. "Not ones for hospitality, are you?"
He turned his attention to her, only to find her glaring back, and some of his earlier anger surged back to the surface. The depths were they playing so damn ignorant for? "Merfolk aren't allowed here. Your kind should know – you're the ones who created the Neptune-cursed border in the first place."
The blue-haired one frowned at that. "What? What do you mean we created it?"
He looked at her, and saw the genuine surprise on her face. Merfolk were such expressive creatures – far more than his kind, that was sure. He wondered how they managed, carrying their feelings around for everyone to see, as visible as a missing fin. And doubtless just as big an impediment, at least as far as Gajeel was concerned. "Don't you know your own damn history, mermaid?"
"Oh, and you do?" she countered, and tried again to pull her hand free of his grip. "Let go!"
"Swear you'll never cross the border again."
She frowned. "What? No, I'm not going to–"
He drew her closer again, and she yelped. "Swear."
"Hey!" the fair-haired one protested, but her friend cut her off.
"Okay! Okay – fine, you won't see tail or fin of us again, if you'd just let us go. Alright?" She met his gaze then, and the fear was gone, replaced now by a curiosity so vivid he had a feeling his warning had only made her more intrigued. And the part of him that had long since grown impatient with silly whims felt it was only just if her own folly caused her to meet her end at the sharp edge of a trident.
But another part of him – the stubborn, righteous part his father's usurper had yet to drive completely out of him, rebelled at the existence of the border in the first place. There wasn't much innocence left in the dark waters of his home, and certainly not the kind that shone in the mermaid's eyes.
And so, "I'm serious. This place is dangerous, and you've no business trespassing here."
She had the gall to roll her eyes. "Fine – we're going. Right, Lucy?" She cut a look at her friend. "We'll be out of your...hair," she said, then swallowed thickly, and he thought she might be hiding a smile.
Gajeel glared. "Oye, this isn't funny, shortfin. This–"
"Shortfin?" she cut him off, but seemed more amused than angry. "Really?"
And he regretted then, his chosen course of action. If he'd been more threatening from the get-go – if he'd taken advantage of the fear that had been in her eyes when he'd first caught her, they might have been halfway through the tunnel by now, out of fear for their lives if nothing else.
He was about to shout at her now, for stalling when she should be turning tail and swimming back to where she'd come from, far away from the place he called home (and that only tentatively these days). But he didn't get the chance, not even to drag them back himself, because in the distance there were shadows moving towards them through the water. He was out of time.
Damn it!
"You know, if you'd just ask nicely, we'd–"
"Quiet!" he hissed, and he tightened his grip in warning, hoping it conveyed the message better than his words seemed to. With his free hand he grabbed the other one, pulling her closer. She was about to protest, but his expression must have looked sufficiently severe, because they both held their tongues as the party drew closer.
He looked up, eyes tracing the outline of ridges and sharp, jutting fins in the distance as he tried to make out who'd been sent to fetch him back, and he had to hold back a groan.
Of course it had to be Jose. Out of everyone the damn traitor could possibly send to make sure Gajeel didn't cut and swim. Dumb as a sea cucumber or not, there was no way he was going to be able to talk away the presence of two mermaids on the wrong side of the border. His old man's kingdom had already gone to shit; the last thing they needed was to give the bogus king a reason to invade the merfolk's domain on suspicion of Makarov sending spies.
"Well, well, Gajeel. What's this? Looks like you've caught yourself some colourful fish." The leer was firmly in place, and he saw the mermaids wrinkle their noses at the sight, though he'd expected nothing different. Jose was many things, but aesthetically pleasing was not one of them, and no doubt even less so by merfolk standards.
"Would you look at that – mermaids, and this far over the border." He leaned closer to the fair-haired one – Lucy, or something of the like. "And what pretty mermaids they are. A small wonder Makarov would let them out of his sight, let alone into our territory," he mused.
"The king didn't send them. They came on their own," Gajeel said, meeting the little one's gaze. "To look at the gems." His glare dared her to disagree, and he was relieved to find that she seemed happy to play along, at least for the moment.
But Jose had always been too damn suspicious for his own good, and more so when it came to the king of the merfolk, although what business the sawshark had with the old merman Gajeel couldn't hope to understand. "The gems," Jose repeated blandly.
The little one surprised him then, by suddenly fumbling through her satchel, before she drew her free hand out to reveal a green crystal in the heart of her palm. "I was gathering them," she blurted, voice a little shaky, but she held the long-nosed shark's gaze. "If-if that was wrong of me, I'll put it back?"
Jose looked at her for a long time, and for all the years in his company, Gajeel couldn't for the life of him figure out what he was thinking.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, "Search the satchel."
Now the fear was back in her eyes. "No!" She tried to hide it behind her, but with only one free hand she didn't succeed, and one of Jose's posse ripped it out of her grip. "Hey – careful with that!"
The sharkman ignored her as he rifled through the contents, before pulling out a seashell dagger that looked sharper than Gajeel would have expected, of such a tiny mermaid. "You've come armed," Jose said, accusation clear in his voice. He cut a glance towards the blue-haired mermaid. "Were you expecting much trouble from the crystals?"
If she had an actual answer to that she didn't get a chance to offer it, as his attention was claimed by the next item from the satchel handed to him. From what Gajeel could see it was a plate about the size of his palm, the surface polished smooth like pearl. But it wasn't until Jose flipped it over that he saw what it really was.
On it was a likeness of himself, carved into the smooth surface with surprising skill. It looked almost as good as the one his mother had used to keep of his father; a polished seashell on a silver chain she'd carried in the dip of her throat. It was one of his earliest memories, and he was startled to find it leaping back to him now from dark depths long buried.
Gajeel looked at the mermaid for answers, only to find her cheeks flushed red and her head dipped low, avoiding the gazes of those around her. And he knew then, what she'd been using the knife for.
"Now this is interesting," Jose hummed, turning the carving over in his hands. "It would appear someone's been spying on you, Gajeel."
That seemed to snap her out of her embarrassment. "I wasn't sp–"
"You know this," Jose pushed on, ignoring her as he proffered the carving. "Is an action punishable in this kingdom. And I don't doubt our good king would want to hear of this mortal affront towards his dear nephew."
The word nephew stung like an insult, but Jose made no visible effort to voice it like one. And that made it worse, somehow. As though his father had never been murdered, and Gajeel was perfectly happy having his uncle on the throne. As though it wasn't a mortal affront just to see him sitting on the damn thing.
"That's pushing it, don't ya think?" he asked, although for all he knew that was exactly what she'd been doing. But he didn't care overly much if it was – that would only mean Jose was right.
And he hated it when Jose was right.
The sawshark waved him off. "Either way, I'm sure Acnologia would want to hear of this. Trespassers into his kingdom is no joking matter, regardless of their reasons," he said, as he placed the carving back into the satchel, before tossing it unceremoniously to one of his men. And with a swift, cutting motion of his hand, he gestured in the direction of the capitol. "We're taking them with us."
Whatever protests Gajeel had, they were swallowed by the mermaids' collective shouts of alarm.
"No! Get off me!"
"Hey, let go – I said, let–"
"Do as he says!" he hissed into the little one's ear. "Or you'll be the next bodies decorating the tunnel entrance. That what you want?"
She shivered, at his nearness or the warning, Gajeel didn't know. But when he drew her with him, she didn't put up a fight. He watched her cast a brief, panicked look towards her friend, who only shook her head before she too allowed herself to be dragged along, deeper into sharkfolk territory than any of their kind had set tail or fin in years. Gajeel felt the oncoming headache like the palace drums during ceremonial hours.
What in the bloody depths had he gotten himself into?
AN: Make sure you all check out the art rboz on tumblr drew for the first chapter! Like her talent, it is beyond this world.
