We're gonna go into merfolk territory! Expect long explanations as I try to establish merfolk behavior and history. People are gonna be out of character, so expect that too! Thank you all so much for your follows and favorites. I appreciate your kind reviews even more! Thank you for being so encouraging and for giving this fic a chance. I hope each chapter will answer any questions you have.
Oh, and I still don't have a clear direction. My winging-it skills are on full overdrive!
In the depths of the sparkling sea, the Kingdom of Endeavor thrived among the coral cities and bounty of ocean life below. The kingdom was founded and ruled by the Todoroki clan, a clan of fire quirks that defied the very existence of water. Kings of the clan were capable of constantly maintaining intense fire under the water. While other clan members could burn their flames under the water, the king was on a completely different level. Trespassers on their land would feel the burn from the flames of Todoroki. Endeavor himself was named after the kingdom his ancestors founded before him as a gesture of good luck from his clan's shamans. His fire made his mark of a ferocious King who could rule with an iron fist. He was said to be one of the most ambitious leaders of the kingdom and had met with the King of Yuuei a few times in order to negotiate trade over their waters. While most kings could at least be civil to the human kings, Endeavor was openly disdainful. All Might's strength rivaled his.
Endeavor had four children with the ice mermaid, Rei. Stories about her involved how her angelic voice and beautiful face made others swoon at either hearing or seeing her. Have both at the same time and it was instantly love at first sight for many mers. Together, they birthed capable children with the youngest having the perfect marriage of their quirks. Touya, called Dabi by his friends, carried fire with the skill of his father. Fuyumi was the very definition of an ice princess with the voice that could lure sailors to an icy demise, but she rarely used it unless they hunted her people. Natsuo could shroud the surface and waters with a thick fog that hid the treachery of the ocean until it was too late to act. Together, he and Dabi caused trouble and were the types of mers humans made fearful stories about. Shouto was the perfection. Fire that can burn through water, ice that could trap everything in its path within a wide radius. He was the perfect candidate as the next ruler of the kingdom with no hesitance in combat and the ferocity of a dominate mer.
But the youngest prince wasn't being himself in the last few days and Endeavor refused to stand for it. Constantly spacing out and making common mistakes left and right. If one called out his name, he would simply ignore them and continue gazing out the window.
Endeavor ordered the youngest prince to the throne room in order to find out the problem and get rid of it once and for all. He sat on his throne with his massive red tail trailing down the chair. His flames were constantly burning around him, ignoring the surrounding water. Beside him, Rei sat on the arm rest of the throne with her snowy tail draped elegantly over the side. Shouto knelt before the king as duty recalled, his tail tucked underneath him.
"Shouto! You have been lacking motivation as of late. You need to be headstrong if you're going to take the throne and we have no uses for a weak mer to take on the responsibility of ruling this kingdom!" Shouto twitched. He was so loud...
"I didn't exactly want the throne. You're just thrusting that responsibility on me." Endeavor rolled his eyes. Despite his son's words, he was working hard for the sake of gaining power to protect the innocent.
"You are best suited to take over. Your oldest brother is more suited for the shadows than the throne. Your sister will be married and take the name of her husband. This kingdom belongs to our clan, not Hawks'. Your other brother is a buffoon, despite his good intentions. You have the talent, the drive and the power to become the next king. But your mind has been cloudy." Endeavor wasn't the best at emotional talk. Rei held up a hand to calm her husband and smiled at her son.
"What troubles you, Shouto?" she asked, her sweet voice that allured many giving her son a sense of calm.
"..." While calm, Shouto was now embarrassed to speak. As usual, Endeavor took it as hesitance and defiance.
"Your mother asked you a question! You will respond to your queen!" Shouto grit his teeth, forcing himself to not shout as he thought of how to word his thoughts to his mother.
"...there's been something on my mind." Well, that much was true. Rei was patient as ever.
"Oh? And what would that be?" His mother he could trust to not tease him, but his father...
"Does he need to be here?" He grimaced in his father's direction. Endeavor returned his grimace with a glare.
"As the king with the future of his kingdom in jeopardy, yes." Dramatic as usual. Shouto swallowed thickly as his mind wandered to the adorable human he met on the ship that fateful night.
"...fine. I met...a human. And I can't get my mind off him." He didn't think he ever wanted to. Ever since meeting him, the colors of the ocean and the kingdom seemed brighter. But it was hard to enjoy it. There was this constant emptiness he felt along with meeting that boy. In response, both parents answered with different intentions.
"Are you in love?!"
"Are you hungry for human flesh?" You don't even need to guess on who said what. Shouto shook his head.
"Possibly. And hell no to that." He frowned at Endeavor's ridiculous insinuation. Imagining the boy again took his mind off his father and brought a rare, warm smile on his face. Despite his usual cold exterior, he was smiling at just the idea of that adorable human looking at him so innocently.
"I can't stop thinking about his smile. And his kind eyes. Something inside me is stirring and it doesn't feel unpleasant. My body moved on its own because I just wanted to touch him. I tried to get closer to him, but a horde of humans drove me away. I want to see him again and keep him with me. He's mine, but he's not here and it feels wrong. My claws ache for the blood of those who kept me away from him." His last thoughts drove his claws to extend further out of his fingers as they thirsted for blood. His heart was warm from imagining the one to be his mate and raced at the idea of having people daring to step in between them.
Endeavor looked disgusted. Warm emotions weren't his forte, but strength and pride were.
"Ugh, it is love. We mers crave the touch of our mates when we meet them. Any who try to get in the way of that are torn to shreds with the corpses strewn on the ocean floor as a warning to other mers who dare to steal the attention we want. Of course you'd be complicated and want a human mate. Humans don't understand the nature of our rituals. They are disgusted by our ways and I tire thinking about the days when I tried to explain to the King of Yuuei about the importance of killing rivals for a hand in marriage. I fought and nearly turned the Todoroki waters red for your mother's hand against her other suitors. To humans, I'd be a monster. Hawks tricked a suitor of your sister to the surface and called a flock of gulls that nearly plucked his eyes out. Again, humans would be horrified while we see it as cunning."
Hawks was one of the kingdom's strongest warriors and the highlight of his life wasn't being recognized for it by others, but that it introduced him to Fuyumi. He was very loving to Fuyumi and was trying to court her, but when he learned of a potential rival for her, his eyes turned black and he disappeared for a while with her suitor. The scales of his tail resembled feathers, shooting out like blades and pinning the suitor to the boulders on the surface. The birds almost ate his eyes and the sun threatened to dry him out before Hawks freed him once the suitor promised to step back.
But that was mers against mers. It sounded like Endeavor wasn't receptive to the idea of his son having a human mate.
"So there's no way of getting him?" Even if Endeavor denied him, he'd still chase his human and bring him to the beautiful kingdom under the sea. Endeavor scoffed.
"Of course there's a way. We are the Todoroki. The impossible is a limit we break. My great-grandmother enticed her human mate into the waters and had a sea witch change him into a mer. He got used to our world with time. You want this boy as your mate so badly?" Shouto stayed quiet.
"..." That was as much of an answer as Endeavor was going to get.
"...very well. Go and talk to your friends in the city. I need a minute to think. Isn't Yaoyorozu Momo a sea witch?" Shouto shrugged a little. She wasn't exactly a royal sea witch yet, but she was still learning. Her creation quirk was skyrocketing her chances to become a great witch.
"She's dabbled in magic before." A distraction and a possible solution if needed. Endeavor waved him away.
"Then bother her for a bit." Shouto bowed his head once more and quickly left the hall, tail flashing in the sunlight that streamed down before the tail disappeared with him. Endeavor turned to Rei with a firm frown on his face.
"He's in love with a human." Rei smiled, giggling happily now that her son was finally in love. It was a mer's rite of passage to fall in love and battle for the hand of their love. She and Fuyumi were lucky enough that they had others fight over one another for them.
"A human! It's interesting to say the least. I do want to meet him. He sounds lovely." Her Shouto used such pleasant words. Maybe it was his feelings talking, but Shouto was honest. If he saw that in his mate, it must've been true and Rei wanted to meet the one who captured his heart. Endeavor grunted.
"Don't be too interested in him. I am your mate." She simply bowed her head in affirmation and curled her tail around his tenderly while he turned to one of the guards near the entrance of the hall.
"You, get my sons here." The guard saluted.
"Hai!"
Dabi and Natsuo were whistling when their parents related the story Shouto shared about the night he met his mate. Both brothers looked like opposites. Dabi's hair was as black as his tail, the latter a recessive trait found in the Todoroki clan. His hair wasn't always black. After a bitter match against a fellow mer, he was heavily scarred and his skin had been burnt as a result of him overusing his quirk to gain victory. He refused any potions to heal his scars because of his historic fight. He dyed his hair to match his tail simply because it felt right to do so. He went by Dabi out in the city to make friends since everyone seemed to be too careful with their words and actions around him. Well, that came with being a part of the royal family. Natsuo matched his mother in terms of the white tail and hair, but his personality was more like his father's. They were all fiercely stubborn, but they could agree that if one of them needed help, the others would be the first ones to their aid. Like now.
"Shouto's in love?" Dabi asked. His little brother rarely sought out other mers in the kingdom. He was often indifferent. Then again, so was he until he met Himiko. It was exhilarating to find someone as crazy as him. Endeavor grunted before he nodded once.
"Yes. But the boy is a human." Natsuo did a double take. It was already surprising enough for Shouto to be interested in someone, let alone another species.
"Human? Boy?" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "How are they gonna have kids? Who's gonna carry the next generation?"
Endeavor had already thought that part through. Sea witches were going to be vital. Sea witches had once been the bane of merfolk existence long ago before his time. They constantly made up ridiculous contracts to trick mers into servitude for a wish. The Todoroki clan refused to cower to them and one of their strong mermaids stormed the hut of a powerful witch, killing her slowly to make an example to the other witches to bow down to the clan. No one dared to cross the royal family and the sea witches offered to become servants to them in exchange for their lives.
"We have instances where mers use the sea witches to make males fertile like a female. A couple gold coins or pearls and a witch can make you capable of pregnancy. It would be up to Shouto after to impregnate that boy. But we need to get that boy down here first and you two are going to help him for the task. Give him influence or something. You two are more than capable of that." They both bowed their heads.
"For our little brother and the prince, we'll get it done."
Momo's luxurious potion room was just as messy as ever. She must have reached a breakthrough for a potion and went crazy to perfect it. Witches didn't simply give other witches the recipes of their potions. It was a rite of passage to learn them meticulously and earn the title of a true witch. Momo's mother was one of the palace's sea witches and she refused to give her own daughter her books and Momo understood that. But that lead to a lot of sleepless nights for her.
She was zipping around in excitement with her gold and red tail flailing behind her, the sleepiness she felt earlier washed away. Shouto had to flinch at how bright she was.
"This is the first time I've ever seen you want someone. Out of everyone in the kingdom, you chose someone who isn't in it. That's so unique!" Shouto sighed. Sometimes unique wasn't a good thing. It could make things complicated.
"I know." She finally sat down on a chair, gesturing for him to sit too.
"I want to hear it! All the details! How did you see him?" Shouto wondered himself sometimes. Fate had a funny way of doing things.
Todoroki had felt the storm inside the ocean. Luckily storms had very little effect on merfolk with the kingdom and villages being deep in the depths. Mers used storms to test their endurance and toughness, his father commonly sending platoons towards the storms to get used to the turbulent current. Now it was Shouto's turn even though this was the umpteenth time. He took a deep breath and let the water reel him towards the storm.
But as Shouto swam and batted his tail against the waters like he usually did to train, a large shadow blocked the moonlight. Concerned, he glanced towards the surface, curiosity instantly spiking when he saw the cause.
A giant ship had been caught in the storm. Did humans not know how to read the weather to prevent getting caught? His mother loved to talk about showing humans compassion, the opposite of Endeavor's indifference. But Shouto had a heart and curiosity. He swam up to the surface and was greeted by the deafening sounds of the storm.
It was one hell of a storm. The wind was heavy and could easily destroy the boat. Whoever was on the boat had a wind quirk, desperately trying to direct the current away from the sails so the boat could escape. 'Might as well see if they need help. I'm not a bad person,' Todoroki thought, using his ice and the water to create an ice pedestal that pushed him out of the water and towards the side of the boat.
At that moment, a wave crashed into the other side of the boat, causing it to lurch. As soon as Shouto reached the top, a body came flying towards the side he was on. Instinctively, he created a mound of snow to protect himself and save the human. A gasp could be heard from the snow and Shouto pulled himself onto the boat to check on the person he just saved.
His breath was stolen away as soon as his eyes met the glossy green of the boy he saved. He had messy dark green hair, a cute round face, adorable freckles dotting his skin. He looked so confused, then saw Shouto and froze just like he did. Holy shit, this human was cute. More than cute. He was magnetic, drawing Shouto closer to him. And he was blushing. Like Todoroki didn't need more reasons to call him cute. His chest felt comfortably warm and heat was stirring in his nether regions.
He opened his mouth and instantly began clicking in his mother tongue. It surprised him. Clicking was only used towards mates. So could this be...? No, not 'could,' it is. This is his mate. He reached out to caress his mate's cheek, skin tingling at how soft he was. From what he could see in his eyes, the boy liked it.
"A mer!" Shouto glanced up, hearing the scream and finding no interest. But he was suddenly hit by wind, immediately recognizing it as the one who was trying to save the boat. He hissed, the sound sinister and threatening towards whoever was keeping him from his mate. Before he fell back into the ocean, he looked up and saw a whole group of people who were running towards him on the boat. Memorizing their faces and burning it into memory, he grit his teeth.
'I'm going to find and kill every last one of you,' he promised silently, turning his tail to dive into the water.
"Those bastards kept me from getting closer to my mate. I couldn't even get the chance to speak to him without them using that quirk on me." Todoroki's fists were clenched so tight that it almost drew blood.
"Humans are frightened of us. Our ways of mating and courting are too territorial and violent in their eyes." Momo said it as if it were plain as day. Her father was accustomed to working with humans. He was a merchant and often met with humans to help discuss sea trade alongside Endeavor. He always came home with stories to tell his families and this was one of many. Shouto raised a brow, confused at why humans could be scared.
"We aren't violent towards our mates. Just the ones who try to come in between us. We mate for life and never stop loving our mates. Humans do sometimes." Endeavor said it was called 'divorce.' The word itself sounded as ugly as the action. Momo shrugged. She understood why humans could be scared, but she was no different from her people. Killing other suitors was the same as killing krill. Both were small and insignificant.
"I can't say you're wrong. But the real question is what you want to do with your mate. He's human and you're merfolk. It boils down to which world you plan to live in." It was already decided. Shouto wanted to give his mate the whole world and that was by making him his queen. He longed to at least know his name so he could fantasize and practice calling his name as a queen until it was perfect on his tongue.
"That's why I'm here. Do you have something that will turn him into one of us? Or to get him used to living in the sea?" At this, Momo's smile faltered. She nervously looked towards the failed potion she had been working on before he came in.
"I'm working on a potion that can turn a human into a mer. I want one as soon as possible." Todoroki stared at her questioningly.
"For what?" She was starry-eyed as she swept the failed creation off her table and into a trashcan.
"Oh. I fancy this lovely bard I saw on the shore one day. She was singing to the ocean and she sounded so lovely. Her voice could match a mermaid's." She was twirling around now, Shouto dodging nimbly from her tail.
"I'm surprised you didn't net her down here in the same minute you saw her." If she had tears in her eyes, he couldn't tell thanks to the ocean.
"I wanted to! But I didn't want to drag her down here without completing the potion to change her into a mermaid. A mer's kiss can grant you the ability to breathe underwater, but without a tail, she'd float back to the top."
"Then you can tie her to your side until the potion's done." The words were taken out of his mouth. Dabi and Natsuo both weaseled in, much to the younger mers' surprise.
"Todoroki-sama! I didn't know you two were coming." She glanced over at Shouto, who shook his head.
"Neither did I." Dabi shrugged.
"We came to see what your master plan was to snag your mate." Some mers who found their lovers on land would use potions to turn themselves human. Todoroki couldn't go that route as their prince. Momo smiled over at the youngest.
"I do have potions that can change us human!" At once, the older brothers groaned, much to her dismay. She swished her tail behind her in offense. "It can work!"
Natsuo frowned. "Sure, but land life over ours? Down here, Shouto can impress his mate with our entire treasury. He can take him swimming and introduce him to a whole new world. Up there? Less impressive and it can dry you out. The human world's a complete mess and it even comes to us sometimes."
Shouto didn't seem to care much. He just wanted the best opportunity to meet his mate. Dabi sighed. He had to convince him otherwise or else Endeavor's nagging would haunt him for the next decade. He ran a hand through his hair, wondering if he should've dragged Fuyumi over to help get the point across.
"Alright, Shouto. Natsuo and I have gotta let you know..." Shouto blinked at his brother, who looked like he really wanted to die. "The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's-"
This sounded like it was going to be painful and Shouto didn't want to be a part of the damage.
"Touya-nii, I get it." Full blown relief echoed on his face, a hand on his chest.
"Oh, thank fuck." He didn't have to embarrass himself. He cleared his throat, whipping his hand out to smack Natsuo on the head for laughing. "So, you wanna bring him down to us, not the other way around?"
Shouto scoffed. He had been to land before with Asui Tsuyu, the froggy barmaid who frequented their waters every so often for a swim. He really wasn't impressed. He didn't want to have his mate continue such an uneventful life on the surface.
"Of course. Our kingdom is perfect. He can rule by my side with me. Unless there's some talk about rejecting my mate." He glared at his brothers, knowing fully well that their father must have given them orders to keep an eye on him. They wouldn't be here otherwise.
Neither brother wanted to handle hormonal Shouto.
"Of course not. But we wanna know what you want to do first to find him. And get him. In the old man's eyes, it's best to bring him here. You're the prince and next in line for the throne," Dabi reminded, smirking when his little brother made a face. He hated being reminded about that. That's why Dabi did it at least once a week.
Instead of Shouto freezing Dabi like he normally would, he sat down to think about what he would do to get his mate's attention. He had already heard him chirp at him before. If legends were true, a human who falls in love with a mer would never forget the sound. Fuyumi and his mother were both capable of that. He was surprised that he chirped at the human. It was a gentle gesture that was intimate and between mates. Mers and humans spoke the same language, but mers still had their ancient mother tongue that was used in gestures of mating. Endeavor never clicked at Rei unless they were behind closed doors.
Instead of saying hello like a normal person, greeting his potential mate and proclaim his love for him, Shouto...chirped. If he mentioned that to his brothers, he wouldn't hear the end of it for days. The babies he will make with his mate will be told of it for every bedtime story if Dabi knew.
"I'll go to the surface to find him. At night, of course, I don't want other humans to see me. Alone," he added with a glare. He didn't want to see how his brothers were like as wingmen. Momo floated towards him with a beaming smile on her face.
"I want to come at least! I'd love to see mine again!" Shouto nodded, knowing she'd be the least embarrassing to work with. They will go in the evening by themselves. Dabi and Natsuo shrugged at each other. They'd let them go this time, but if Shouto came back feeling discouraged, they had a couple ideas that could help. They both had mates too. Dabi was pretty sure Himiko was going to be a great help in this.
Evening couldn't have come any sooner. Shouto and Momo both met up after their dinner with family before they would head to the surface together. Momo couldn't be happier since she knew exactly where her beloved mate would be at this time of day.
"Todoroki-ouji! Are you ready to head to the surface?" His response was a simple nod before both mers took off towards the surface of the water. It may take time to find his mate, but Todoroki had every intention to find him tonight.
I should've made Dabi sing all of 'Under the Sea.' I watched so many replays of that scene while writing this. That and 'Poor Unfortunate Souls.' And then I watched Winnie the Pooh. I'm a child at heart. I'm saving to go to Disneyland, as you might tell.
Will Todoroki meet Midoriya in the next chapter? Can Bakugou and friends protect him?
