Disclaimer! I still don't own Kingdoms Heart, Square Enix or any of their characters.
Warnings! Cid. Yes, he is a warning.
The Little Merman
Chapter 2: Birth of the Squall
Cloud felt hypnotized, unable to take his eyes off the shimmering creature garmented in navy scales and snow white Caucasian skin. It had poofy hair in shoulder-lenght that had a colour that reminded Cloud of the coffee he drank for breakfast and a pair of greyblue eyes that stared back up at him with the same vigorous impression as the pending storm that swallowed them as the merman trashed and writhed in the net that held him captive on the deck. Unfortunately for the merman its struggle proved futile as it only resulted in it getting even more tangled up in the net.
Pelting rain and brutal bluster was lost and forgotten in the presence of the beautiful being.
It wasn't until he felt a sturdy hand on his right shoulder that he was able to snap out of his daze.
"Well, well, well, fuck me sideways. I haven't heard from one of these for nearly 20 years now" he heard Cid's robust voice murmur uncomfortably close to Cloud's left ear for his liking but in the view of the situation he refrained from lecturing the older blonde about personal space.
"Come on, grab his arms and I take the fin. We need to get him in some water and maybe that will calm him down a bit"
The younger obeyed without protesting. Carrying the merman into the cabin turned out to be a real pain as the touching only made its restistance even wilder. The cabin was about the size of a one-room apartment and there was more to that resemblence. It had a worn out bunk bed on the east side of the room and a small kitchen with a mini-freezer which contained Cids rum and nothing more. In the middle of the room stood a rather large water tank were the fish they caught were supposed to be kept. Once they had put- or rather tossed- the merman into the water tank, which was far from big enough to fit the creature so it was forced to lie on it's back and have it's tail hang in the air above the water, Cloud let out a deep breath he hadn't been aware of holding.
"Heh, I must give it to you Spiky. I'm mighty impressed. I honestly didn't think you had it in you" the older male said and chuckled lightly while watching the merman closely with crossed arms and a smug smile on his face. The merman was still struggling violently; it had started biting on the net.
"You knew mermaids existed...?" Cloud asked, all in one quick breathe, with an uncertain look on his face as he watched Cid pull a pocket knife out of his belt and as he unsheated it he saw from the corner of his eye how the brunette merman stilled his struggles and widened his eyes at the silvery blade.
"Nah, I've heard a lot about them, mostly from that Zack kid you hang out with, but frankly I've always had my doubts and the most recent years of silence made me think it was just a load of jibberish. Until now there is" he said in an admirably calm voice as he slowly worked with cutting the net and free the brunette's limbs one by one as it watched the bigger hands work rigorously.
"Yeah... Zack... I-... I guess I owe him an apology..."
Cid turned away from the merman to look at his young protege as he removed the remains of the net. The younger blonde was trembled lightly and his wide open eyes seemed glued to the face of their new draft who seemed clueless to the intense attention it was recieving. Something was wrong. It wasn't like Cloud to stutter and lose his composure like this.
"Why so shook up, Spiky? Didn't expect to get one of these little fuckers on your hook?"
"No, I... I didn't think... Didn't know that they-"
"-Were for real? Well, they are so get over it. If you have to mull over something would I suggest you ask yourself how in hell you managed to capture a merman in the first place! According to what I heard the only way to capture a mermaid is to outwit them first because they're supposed to be wise and shit but, no offence kiddo, but I can't really visualise you outwitting anyone with that spiky brain of yours. I'm thinking this one might just be plain stupid" as the older male finished his sentence and pointed his thumb in the brunettes direction the splashing sound of someone surfacing hit the room and before anyone of them could react the merman turned his head towards Cid and spit a jet of water in his face before submerging again.
"Son of a bitch...!" he heard Cid bellow as his hands flew up to his face on instinct to protect his face from another spray. Cloud, who was watching the scene unfold, found himself having a hard time holding back laughter and ended up snickering softly and letting his right hand find his stomach.
"Is that the thanks I get for being nice?! You shut up, BLONDIE!" he added while pointing an accusing finger at the youth and strode off towards the bathroom while walking conveniently closer than necessary to Cloud just so he could push past him and give him a good shove in the side for good measurement even though there was plenty of room to move around him.
As he heard the bathroom door close with a loud slam behind him his eyes locked with the brunettes and his face grew more serious. I can't help but wonder though. Was that just a lucky coincidence or does he actually... understand what we're saying?
"Hey... Do you speak our language?"
The question made the merman's eyes narrow and turn his head away from the human. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? What did they want from him anyway? He tried to swallow but a thick lump that had gathered in his throat preventet him from completing that task. He was frightend. He didn't show it on the outside but on the inside he felt like a crying and trembling child out of fear for what was going to happen to him. Quit it, Leon! Don't be silly! It's just childrens tales that parents tell their young ones to prevent them from surfacing. Surely they have no trace of truth in them... Humans aren't that cruel... right?
"I know you can hear me, don't pretend you can't"
Leon flinched at the voice and the sound of approaching foot steps but scolded himself for it and willed himself to stay still. The worst thing he could do was show fear. He noticed the shadow that suddenly rested upon his upper body, as a proof of how unervingly close the human was to him, and he could feel the babyblue eyes burning into the side of his face.
The blonde suddenly felt an overmastering need to touch the stunning creature before him. He wanted to know what those scales felt like underneath his open palm and he wondered if that naked skin was as soft to the touch as it looked like. He reached out. Letting his hand hover somewhat above the hip of the brunette, hesitating, but he retracted it just as quickly as he heard a loud ruckle announcing that Cid was back in the room.
"Cloud, a word?" the older blonde said and jerked his head to the right as a sign for him to come over. Cloud swallowed a little nervously, not exactly thrilled about being caught so quickly, and glanced one last time at the creature before heading over to Cid.
"Do you find it attractive?" the older blurted out and gave Cloud a grave look. The head-on question shocked the blond and momentarily made him froze up and eyes widen before he caught himself and willed his expression back to it's usual impassive self again. Of course Cid would catch onto that. He wasn't stupid. That look he had given the merman wasn't a look you gave a stranger or even a friend and especially not the catch of the day! It was a look reserved for lovers... He knew because for a moment he had seen his own reflection in the water and even he had been slightly suprised at his own lustful eyes that looked back up at him.
"Yeah, I do" he answered truthfully. He saw no reason in lying anyway especially since he knew from experience that if he got caught he would piss the older male off royally and no one liked a grumpy Cid. The aged sailor hated frauds above all else which is one of the reasons he couldn't stand Sephiroth, a man whose whole life and fortune was built upon lies and deception.
"I thought so. Don't beat yourself up about it though. Hell, even I find myself attracted to it!" Cid said in a strangely heartfelt tone and smiled at the genuine answer the youth had provided him before he became serious once again and said in a much lower voice;
"I just thought I would share some knowledge with you before you go off and do something stupid. You see, behind that angelic face theres a devil lurking. I don't know how much you know about the merfolk but according to what I've heard they're a bunch of fucking sirens. They lure sailors with their oh-so-pretty faces down into the sea and drown them, either for food or just for the sheer hell of it. Who knows?"
"Cid, that's just silly fairy tales. Sure I thought so about mermaids too and they turned out to be true but that doesn't mean every rumor about them is"
"Of course not every rumor about them is true! Do you know how frigging many rumors about mermaids there are out there?! But this one I actually believe. Isn't it evidence enough that I'm attracted to a fucking male?! And I'm about as far away from being a fruit cake that you can get, I tell you that!"
"It sounds more to me like you're trying to protect yourself from running the risk of being labeled 'gay'!" Cloud bit back harsher than he had intented to and scowled at the others verdict. It wasn't so much his opinion that bothered him but rather the fact that he had used such a detractive word for the homosexual genus. Cid obviously didn't know that Cloud belonged to that genus togheter with Zack and most likely Sephiroth as well (Honestly, no man with that kind of hairstyle could seriously be straight). Maybe Cid wasn't as clever as the younger blond had given him credit for after all.
"Belive what the hell you want I'm just telling you to be careful! Jeez, there's no need to get your panties in a knot" Cid growled, throwing his wet towel in Cloud's face in frustration and left the cabin with an annoyed sigh.
"Watch the merman. I'm taking us home"
~- *** -~
"NIISAN!"*
When his big brother had been hauled out of the ocean it took a while for Sora to be able to grasp the course of events. He had grabbed his own arm and wrenched it tighter and tighter in an attempt to wake up from this nightmare that he had dreamt several times before but never quite as realistic as this one. It wasn't until firm but comforting hands grabbed hold of his wrist and gently guided it away from his by now abused arm and a pair of marine blue comfident eyes met his terrified ones that he finally understood;
This wasn't a dream.
This was the real deal that he had feared for so long but never really thought possible.
His brother and last remaining relative had left him and now he was all alone in the big ocean.
The young brunette looked up in horror as he heard the boats enginge kicking in and the boat started moving away from them towards an uknown destination.
"NIISAN!"
Sora made a heavy kick with his fin in an attempt to get up some speed to follow the boat but the arms encircling his right wrist retained him.
"Let me GO Riku!" he screamed and turned around in order to put a hard fist into the shark's chest. Riku grunted at the fists impact but didn't let go but tightened his grip around the smaller boy's wrist instead.
"NO! You're in an unstable state of mind and aren't thinking logically!! You don't even know where that boat is heading, it could be MILES!"
"I don't care! It doesn't matter!"
Riku tried to capture the brunettes fleeting eyes with his own but had to let one of his hands leave the thin wrist and grab his chin to be able to do so. He pulled the brunettes face close to his own and stared directly into the boy's eyes with the most earnest face that he could muster. He remembered how his mother used to do something similar to him when he was in serious trouble as a kid and she wanted him to understand exactly how severe the situation was. "It does! Don't you see what will happen if you follow that boat for miles?! You will end up lost and litterally deadbeat! I won't let that happen to you!"
"Then you come with me!"
"Yeah, sure and togheter we can make a nice little fish buffet! Do you honestly think that putting yourself in danger is going to help anyone in the least of all Leon?"
"Then what about Leon? What about my big brother?! Are we just going to leave him to his fate?"
Sora made a half-turn with his head trying to watch after the boat but the greynette** would have none of it and pulled his face back to meet his own.
"Don't look at it! Even if you did catch up to that boat the only way for you to embark it is by getting caught yourself and I won't let you do that! You can't do this on you own, do you understand?! You... We need to gather some help, okay?"
Sora nodded assured that his voice wouldn't be able to take it any longer without cracking now that reality started to sink into him. He found himselft having a hard time breathing and kept gasping after his breath uncontrollably while unhindered tears in form of small bubbles finally managed to escape his eyes and travel towards the surface.
"Wh...What am... am I... supposed to... do...? R... Riku..." he said in-between unruly sobbings and gasps for air that his lungs didn't seem to be able to get enough of.
When strong arms finally let go of his wrist to be able to embrace him instead his sobbings turned into irrepressible tears streaming from his eyes and loud blubbering as he returned the hug and tightened it to a almost hurtful degree but Riku didn't mind. The greynette hushed gently into his ear while rubbing soothing circles on the others back with his right hand as the left one stroke his hair softly.
They stayed like that for what felt like hours but probably wasn't any longer than 15 minutes. Riku didn't mind anyway. If the boy so needed the whole night long to cry for before he felt better than so be it. He wasn't about to leave him like this.
"I think you should talk to Aerith" he whispered in his ear when the boy in his arms crying seemed to have quieted down a bit and his breathing become steadier.
~- *** -~
Cloud wiped away the sweat that had been gathering at his forehead with the backside of his hand and took a breather. He was cleaning out his aquarium that he kept in his basement and carefully moving its former inherents to their new home across the room. Normally you shouldn't mix several different seahorses, especially not if they're different species, into one and the same aquarium but he would have to deal with that problem later and hope that they would forgive him for it.
His basement consisted pretty much of two aquariums, one huge one that followed the whole short side of the room where he kept all of his female seahorses and another smaller one that wasn't any bigger than a 50 gallon water tank where the males was during pregency, and a work desk in the middle that was covered in so many stacks of paper you could barely tell it was even there.
The blonde had always been fascinated by seahorses and had 7 of them so far. 4 males and 3 females. Since seahorses were really hard to raise, at first they had died like flies always leaving him with an intense feeling of guilt and everytime he had asked himself if that was how a mother felt when realizing that she had failed with her child. Luckily he had managed to improve with time and he had woved to raise as many new seahorses as he had failed with and give them as good a home as possible. He knew that it was probably a pretty silly thought but he couldn't help it, he was as much of a seahorse nerd as Zack was a mermaid fanatic. One of the reasons why he was so intrested in the animals was because of the unique reproduction procedure where the male, not the female, carried and delivered the babies. For some reason that little piece of information always managed lit his face up and made him feel happiness and appriciation over the fact that such an animal existed.
He huffed resolutely as he finished cleaning the third glass of the large aquarium and began with the next and last one.
The monotonous work made his thoughts wander to a certain brunette merman that was currently resting in his bathtub above. He had locked the door just in case even though he didn't actually believe that it was going anywhere anyway.
~- *** -~
It hadn't taken them long to find Aerith as she had luckily been at home. She had just about gotten off from her work as a healer when Sora and Riku had barged into her cave, Sora nearly throwing himself at the woman when embracing her in a tight hug. Sadly she wasn't alone when they got there, Yuffie had her day off since there weren't anything threatning the kingdom at the moment so her service as a warrior/bodyguard wasn't needed.
Sora barely made it to the end of his story before Yuffie began throwing her ill-mannered comments at him making the young brunettes weeping increase until he nearly fainted from the lack of air inlet.
"Yuffie! Not helping!" Aerith scolded the young ninja as she pressd Soras head into her chest while whispered consoling words into his ear in an attempt to comfort him.
"Whaaaaat?! I'm just saying that he shouldn't be too suprised if his brother came back in the form of a necklace! I'm trying to prepare him for the worst so that he doesn't become a nervous wreck when it actually happens!" Soras whimpering went up yet another notch at the now considered consisted comments.
"You're making him a nervous wreck!" Aerith hissed dangerously. It made Yuffie, the short brunette with a darkgreen fin, that had two extra fins on either side of the upperhalf of it, and matching bra and headband made out of seaweed, suprisingly shut up for once and stare oddly at the older woman. Most likely because of the suddenly indistinctive tone of voice she had used against her.
Aerith was a woman in her early twenties who was famous among the locals for not only her composed and caring personality but also for her beauty. She had long brown hair embreaded in a thick braid behind her back and bangs that framed her face, penetrating lime green eyes that spoke of experience and wisdom and a lean fin in the same pretty pink color of a fuchsia.
Riku who so far had held his distance swam over to the brunette boy and put his hand on his shoulder before he raised his head to meet the deep green eyes of the older woman.
"Please, there must be something you can do. We must get Leon back! We came here to seek your guidance because I don't believe that we can't deal with this ourselves."
"Riku... I didn't know you cared for Leon. In fact I thought you two hated eachother with a passion." The older brunette answered with a hint of suprise in her voice.
"You're not right but you're not wrong either. That feeling of hatred was never entirely mutual, for some reason it seemed like Leon jumped to conclusions about me because of my species and after hearing about his past I can kind of understand why. He was probably just trying to protect Sora and I can't blame him for standing up for his younger brother. Quite the opposite actually, I respect it! But even with that said, if I have to be honest, I'm mostly doing this for Soras sake and not his older brothers."
"Please... Could you all stop talking about Leon in past sentences?! He's not gone yet, okay?!" Sora suddenly spoke up, his voice hoarse and staccato. His crying had let up enough for him to be able to talk comprehensible but the proof of his sorrow was still clearly evident in his face as his eyes were red and swollen. The sight made Riku's heart ache. He had never seen the usually happy-go-lucky boy so devestated before and he had known Sora for quite some time.
"First step; Denial" Yuffie said, not even trying to hide how blase she felt at the moment.
"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded yet again the younger womans insensitivity.
"Aerith..." she re-directed her attention from the ninja to the boy in her arms when she heard him call her name weakly. "Leon's going to be fine, right...?"
Aerith smiled sadly at the boy as she tightened her hold on him, he looked so fragile he reminded her of a china doll and she was afraid that if she let go he would fall and break into a million unrecognizable pieces.
"Don't worry, honey. Everything will be all right." She said cooed softly.
"Leon's gonna come home soon, right...?"
"Everything will be all right." She repeated and pressed his head against her nape while placing her chin on his head and rubbing his back soothingly. But the supposedly assuring words and consoling massage did nothing to undo his tense nerves. If anything the evasive answer had only made him feel worse.
Please don't leave me Leon... I promise I do anything to get you back...
~- *** -~
He was beyond humiliated.
He had been carried bridal style; somewhere what he guessed was underground, and then the first thing he had done when finally getting to be back in water was bang his head harshly against something sleek and solid. After further exploration with his hands it appeared to be some kind of invisible barrier that seperated him from the the rest of the room and the blonde. When said blonde suddenly knocked with his knuckles against the barrier, making a sonorous sound echo through the room, he had flinched sharply and backed away from him as much as possible until his back hit another wall. What kind of magic prison was this?!
"Don't be afraid. I'm not planning on hurting you." The blonde said while pressing his hand softly at the barrier. For a moment Leon stared at the palm of the hand that had flattened against the barrier but shifted his attention quickly to the blonde and gave him a deadly look.
"I admit that... I'm a bit shook up myself" Leon raised a delicate eyebrow at the sudden statement. "Just a couple of hours ago I was argumenting against mermaids bare existence. But seeing one up close is amazing and if all mermaids are like you than they are far more beautiful than the rumors are giving them credit for."
Leon felt his cheeks heat up at the unexpected compliment, something that the blonde caught on to and for a moment he actually believed that maybe he had gained its trust but that thought was crushed as the merman yet again started glaring at him. Cloud sighed.
"What do I have to do to make you trust me and understand that I have no bad intentions with you?"
Cloud's eyes widened slightly and his heart started thudding hopefully in his rib cage for some reason when the merman seemed to contemplate his offer.
Suddenly the brunette's lips started moving and bubbles left his mouth as he did but no sound was heard. That is until the bubbles hit the surface and broke and Cloud almost jumped out of his skin at the delayed and suprisingly deep voice that echoed through the room.
"Release me."
Cloud shuddered at the baritone voice and for a moment he lost himself and completly forgot that the merman was talking to him. He had to take a deep breathe and swallow deeply before he trusted his own voice to not reveal the sudden rush of lust that seemed to overwhelm him. With two simple words the brunette seemed to had been able to derange his whole self-control that had always been something he's been so proud of possessing. Dammit! The hell is wrong with me?! I've never been the kind of guy to want to jump a complete stranger, no matter how attractive, so why am I now?! Maybe... Cid's theory about them being sirens weren't so far off after all...?
"Afraid I can't do that"
"Why?" came the rapid reply and the voice was now dripping with hatred that hadn't been there before. It was obviously not the answer it had wanted. Cloud found himself wondering for a second if it was possible to boil water with that kind of rage.
Why? He wasn't sure why... Because he didn't want to? Because Cid had told him repeatedly about what a rare opportunity this was? Because it seemed like a waste to throw such a diamond back into the ocean? None of those reasons felt expedient enough to be voiced. At least not in front of the merman.
"Because you interest me." He finally said after some consideration. It wasn't a lie. The merman had sparked some interest in him. He could finally relate to Zack and why he was so fascinated by these creatures. "It's not everyday we get a visit from such a rare specimen"
Too late he realized his mistake when the merman's expression went from hatred to disgust.
"If you want me to trust you so badly why don't you start by stop talking about me like I was some sort of collectable rather than a living being!" the brunette barked at him and went to lay down on the floor of the aquarium with his back towards the blonde stubbornly while staring holes into the wall that blocked the path to his freedom.
Cloud was momentarily stunned as the sudden realisation struck him. It made him feel like he had just been bitchslapped straight in the face. All this time he had been thinking of the merman as an "it" instead of a "he", he had assorted him togheter with the rest of the fish that he had caught during his career as a fisherman and never even given it a second thought. He felt... ashamed at himself for thinking and adressing him in a way that had suggested that he was an inanimated object.
"I'm sorry... I didn't think about it that way."
He waited a long while for an answer that never came so he decided to continue.
"Then what should I call you? Do you have a name?"
"Of course I do!" the brunette snapped and half turned to glare at the blonde. "What? You think that just because I'm not human like you I'm don't deserve an appellation?!"
"That's not what I meant. You shouldn't be so prejudicious."
"Isn't that a little hypocritical of you? Or are you honestly trying to convince me that you have absolutely none closed-minded opinion about me?"
There was silence again and a battle between who would break the eyecontact first began. No one had uttered a word about there being an actual battle but their both offending stares were as much as an invitation to a challenge as any oral explanation.
It was Cloud who broke the silence.
"Tell me your name." It wasn't as much a request as it was an order and it only resulted in Leon giving him a sour last look before turning his back to him once again.
"No."
He didn't want to give away his name to the stupid blonde. He didn't want to give away any information about himself at all for that matter. Mostly because it wasn't any of the other mans business but also because he felt like if he let the other man know his name he would give away a privilege that he wasn't willing to give up to a complete stranger. If they knew eachothers name then what would that make them? Acquaintances? Friends?! No, they were definitly not friends and Leon would prefer that it kept that way. Being friends with a human could never lead to anything good.
"What if I gave you my name first then? Would that make it fairer? My name is Cloud Strife and I'm a fisherman, nice to meet you."
Cloud chuckled lightly, the laugh neither amusing nor taunting, when he yet again was responded to with deafening silence.
"Soo basically you don't want me to call you "it" but at the same time you won't present me another title for me to use?"
He wasn't at all suprised when there was no answer and he started to run his finger over the glass absent-mindedly while a playful smile tugged at his lips.
"Fine, be that way. Guess you leave me with no other choice than to come up with my own little nickname for you then. Now let's see... I caught you in a storm sooo how about 'Rain'? Nah, too girly even for you. Well, there was a lot of rough winds out there so how about... How about... 'Gale'? Nevermind, maybe it's just me, but it kinda sounded like a venereal disease when not used in a full sentence... Hmmm..."
The blonde scratched his chin thoughtfully while watching the mermans reaction carefully. He had noticed how the brunette had curled up more and more into a ball on the floor with each name suggestion the blonde had thrown at him and was now halfway into a fetal position. That's how he knew that he didn't like the names. The blonde smiled in amusement over how the brunette's actions spoke louder than his words and he wondered if he was aware of it.
"Well, let me think... I caught you right in the middle of a squall that made our boat rock violently and-... Hey...! I got it! How about 'Squall'? It sounds kinda cool and it fits you perfectly. Afterall my first impression of you was how pretty your eyes were and how they reminded me of a storm. A squall." Plus that it fit perfectly with my own name. The Cloud and the Squall. Cloud and Squall. The Cloud in the Sq-... I should probably leave it at that...
Leon was grateful about having his back turned towards the blonde as he felt his cheeks heat up yet again at the second compliment he had gotten about his looks. It was quite unusual for him to be complimented about well anything. There was only one other person that dared to flatter him like that so openly but he mostly did it to tease him because he knew it would make him blush.
Cloud thought that he saw the merman make a slight shrug and when he didn't curl up any further the blonde flash a content grin and clasped his hands togheter. His name had been approved of.
"Well then it's settled! I hereby dub you to Squall! And Squall you shall remain until your real name reveals itself!"
----------
AN:
Gosh, this chapter was pretty hard to write o.o' too many emotions that I'm not familiar with... I don't have any siblings so I don't know how I would react if my brother/sister would get kidnapped and I certainly have never pulled up a mythological creature out of the ocean! I should probably mention that I'm not completly satisfied with this chapter but I still believe that I did my best.
So happy about the responses for the first chapter so far and I want to thank you all and tell you guys how much a appreciate it! :D D: I'm trying to use words that I'm not entirely familiar with so that I can improve my english and I'm hoping that I'm using them the right way. XD
* For those of you who don't know this is japanese for 'Older brother' :D It just seemed to fit better.
** I read DNAngel fanfics and in those they often refer to Satoshi, one of the characters in the series, as a bluenette since his hair is blue so I thought that if it's okay to use it for blue haired people it should be okay for grey/silver haired people as well! :] I mean why not? It sounds better than writing 'gray haired' all the time...