((Request from superrezzy00 on tumblr!
A side note is that it is young Jesse and Young Hanzo))
The storm raged on, the boat swaying terribly as Jesse ran down the hall, sometimes having to step on the wall to avoid falling down as he sprinted his way to the above deck. Jesse bursted out of the door, nearly slipping on the water that soaked the deck. All around him people were yelling, the captain spouting orders. Jesse held onto his hat as he ran to the ladder leading up to the crow's nest. At one point, he had to put both hands on the ladder, his hat flying off into the ocean. It was heartbreaking to watch it fly away but he needed to focus on getting to his place. The higher he went the worse the boat shaking became.
On the wind, he could barely hear what someone was bellowing at the top of their lungs. At first, he thought he heard wrong, surprisingly that he heard anything at all, but when he thought about it he could have possibly heard the words 'Dead Man's Cross'. The lore he had heard about that tunnel, it supposedly connects two seas, though lore has it that sirens lurk within the darkness of the cave. Jesse hopped he had not heard it and if he had he hopped the lore wasn't true, hell he was only trying to make it home before he died.
Sure enough, out of the fog emerged two large pillars of rock with an entrance in the middle, the pillars crossing one another in the form of an 'X'. As Jesse gawked at what he was seeing the boat lurched, throwing him into the mast in the centre of the nest. He groaned, his eyes closing for a moment before he situated himself to do his job and keep watch, though it was difficult in this fog. As the boat made its way into the cave, everything seemed to quiet down dramatically. The boat stopped lurching, levelling out and merely bobbing as they moved forward. The rain no longer drowned out any noise, rather it became silent enough to hear droplets of water dripping down stalactites and plopping into the water below.
It seemed as though everyone had heard the lore for no one spoke above a whisper once in the cave, even then the noise travelled through the cave. Jesse moved to the edge of the crow's nest, keeping a keen eye for anything moving. He glanced in front of the ship as they turned a corner in the cave, the air becoming warm and heavy. The tunnel was shorter than Jesse had thought, he could see a light coming from a distance away. Just as Jesse's spirit rose, perhaps thinking the lore was incorrect, he saw something moving in his peripheral vision. His head snapped in that direction, the water was still deathly still.
Sweat mixed with the rain water that slowly dripped down the side of his face and to the wooden floor beneath him. His nerves started to get the best of him as he ended up seeing another, though they continued to appear in his peripheral vision. Perhaps he was just seeing things.
As the boat reached a large open area, now at a floating pace as it followed the current of the cave, people walked to the edge of the boat, observing the clear water below. Underneath the water were the ruins of another ship, not just one but many ships. It was only then that something hit the boat, it lurching to the side. Jesse grabbed the railing, passing it off as them hitting one of the sunken ships, though when it happened again, the ship being pushed away from the exit, he began to think otherwise.
A soft noise drifted through the silence of the cave, a beautiful noise. Singing. Jesse felt light headed as he listened, drawing himself closer to the noise despite being held back by the railing. As the noise grew louder Jesse pushed himself up, placing a boot up on the railing, he would have gone further had another jolt in the boats movement not caused him to fall back into the crow's nest with a rather loud crack as Jesse's head smacked into the wooden railing. Below him his crewmates were too enthralled with the entities they saw gliding through the water.
Jesse rubbed the back of his head temporarily stunned out of his trance, mere moments were spent keeping a headache at bay before yells and screams could be heard on the deck below. Jesse scrambled to his feet, quickly toppling over, grabbing onto the railing, as the boat was shoved to the side. It kept moving to the side until it slammed into a large stalagmite that was growing from the middle of the room and nearly connected with a stalactite that hung from the top of the cave.
With a yelp Jesse was thrown out of the crow's nest from impact, flying from the ship and crashing into the warm water below. All he could hear was muffled yells as men were pulled overboard and killed. Jesse did his best to paddle his way upward, though occasionally something whished past him, creating a current that disorientated him. At this point he was just struggling, hoping it got him somewhere. As to be expected, struggling only got Jesse so far as he started to lose his breath, choking on water as he accepted his death. Slowly his movement slowed, the muffled screams above came to an end. Despite that the singing he heard continued on, thought it seemed different, softer and it seemed alone. Just before Jesse's sight faded to black he saw a long, blue scaled, tail, sparkling in what little light entered the cave.
When Jesse woke up he was staring at a deep blue sky, littered with fading stars. For a moment, he wondered if he was dead, though when he tried to sit up, a wave of pain washing over him, he knew he was not. A fit of violent coughs wracked Jesse's body, his throat already raw from a lack of water. He took a few good moments to let himself breathe while bent forward, despite the pain, before he looked around. He found himself unable to see much, but with the morning light emerging from the horizon he was able to make out his hat in the sand beside him. At first, he didn't believe it, his fingers running over the damp fabric of his father's possession.
The storm had passed enough that there was barely a cloud in the sky, how long had he been out? A swish in the water had Jesse's attention peeked, the young adult quickly standing up, hat in hand, as he looked out at the water and backed away. Hell, after what he had been though he wasn't going to set foot in water again if he could help it. Not long after he was set on alert did he see a long blue tail brush the surface of the water, leading toward a bunch of rocks. Typical. Being who he was, Jesse followed where the tail was leading, climbing up onto one of the large rocks and over to the other side. He landed on the other side with a splash, a puddle of water was sitting in a dip in the rock. Suppose he should take off his shoes and let them dry.
He walked at a wondering pace as he made his way closer to the edge of the rocks, managing to catch a glimpse of a male torso below him before he backed away from the edge quickly. The man was looking behind him, to where Jesse had come from, as he clung to a rock that protruded from the water feet a meter and a half below him. With a deep breath, he walked back to the edge, finding himself too stunned to talk when he saw the male looking up to where he was. The young male stumbled backwards nervously, what was he thinking he needed to get away from this thing. "If you are worried I will hurt you, I can assure you I won't." he heard from below, himself coming to the edge with a sceptical look on his face, clearly unamused.
"And I am supposed to take your word for it? Yeah, no can do, darlin'." He said before noticing a look on the mer's face, was that curiosity? The Mer lowered his head to look out at the ocean.
"You are strange." He stated bluntly "You don't act like the rest of the humans." By rest of the humans did he mean the pirates he met before? Of course, he acted different, Jesse wasn't a pirate, just a young lad that happened to get recruited for a journey across the sea to get home.
"And to me, you're the strange one." He stated, looking at what he could of the other's long tail. It had beautiful blue scales adorn with white fur. On his shoulders, a few scattered scales glistened and protruding from beneath silky black hair were blue horns. The books he had seen about Mermaids and Sirens did little justice for how beautiful they were in person.
Jesse thought back to what he remembered of the attack, he could remember the feeling of something grabbing him but that was about all before he passed out. "Did you… save me?" he asked, tilting his head down. He received no answer and rolled his eyes "If you don't answer I'll take it as a yes." He told him and when he still didn't get an answer he did just that. "Do you got a name?" he asked after a moment, still no reply. He rose an eyebrow as he looked down at the other male, just in time to see him dunk under the water and swim off. Jesse watched and shook his head "Fair enough." He said making his way to the other side of the rocks, taking off his shoes and socks as he jumped down into the sand on the other side.
It didn't take long to walk the perimeter of the small island he was on, coming back to the spot he had woken up. He looked up and out toward the ocean, not far from where he woke up did he now see that the large cave opening was within sight of the island. Upon further inspection, he could also see that, off in the distance, was the mainland he had been hoping to see. Though it made no sense, they had been days away from any land. He looked toward the giant pillars of rocks and toward the mainland just a few miles off in the distance. Jesse debated, he might be able to swim to the main land but he doubted he could get past should this water be infested with merfolk. "Shit." He muttered as he tried to put together a game plan.
From his peripheral vision, he once again saw movement and groaned, at this pace he was just going to go nuts. luckily when he turned his head to look it was the Mer from before, observing from a distance. Jesse chuckled as they hid further into the rocks "Hey, I promise to not hurt you if you don't hurt me." He told them simply as he dropped his boots into the sand, he had absolutely no idea what to do at this point. He was so close to home, yet just out of his reach. He plopped down in the sand next to his boots just as the Mer decided to get closer, though he assumed the other was slowed by the sand bank for the water lowered to his forearms as he rose himself up from the water. It would be a lie to say Jesse wasn't amused as he watched the Mer inch closer, using the waves to ride up a foot or two.
His eyes shifted from the Mer to his tail which was quite long, the books never showed that kind of tail. Finally, the Mer stopped inching forward, he had stopped just enough to feel the wave wash in front of him. "My name is Jesse by the way." He told the Mer, once again getting nothing in return until about a minute later.
"Hanzo." Hanzo muttered, his tail swaying as the waves washing and out. Jesse outstretched a hand toward Hanzo, having to lean over a bit to reach.
"Nice to meet you Hanzo." He said though Hanzo only looked at the hand outstretched toward him. Jesse retracted his hand "Suppose you don't do that." He muttered, observing that the other's ears were mostly just a fin.
Hanzo noticed Jesse's staring and gave him a look, Jesse soon taking notice and averting his eyes. Jesse swallowed, he should try to find a source of fresh water. "say, you don't know where I can find some drinking water, do you?" he asked with a cough, groaning at the raw feeling in his throat. Hanzo's expression shifted as he thought, once again silently scooting back into the water and disappearing. Jesse sighed "We really gotta work on your communication skills." He muttered. Once again Jesse stood and crossed the island, there were no little watering holes on it, barely enough fallen sticks to make a fire.
He gathered as much as he could and walked to the beach, Hanzo there by the time he made it. He dropped the stick into the sand and made his way toward the other, though made sure to keep his distance. In Hanzo's hands was a beautiful spiral shell filled with liquid, not nearly enough to satisfy Jesse. Hanzo seemed to have caught the questioning look on Jesse's face for he sighed "Just drink it." He muttered as he handed the shell over, Jesse leaning over to grab it. He sniffed it first, no smell, before drinking it. Quickly he covered his mouth and stared into the shell. Whatever he had just drank did not feel or taste like water, it was sweet and a bit thicker than water should be.
"Hanzo, what is this?" he muttered before his expression changed, his throat did not feel as scratchy as before and somehow his thirst was quenched, even his hunger subsided. Was this some sort of mermaid magic? Hanzo gave an amused huff at the dramatic change in Jesse's expression, Jesse looking over to him. "You knew that would happen, huh?" he asked, Hanzo nodding. He must have done this with another human before, which worried Jesse to no end. As much as this liquid enthralled Jesse's inner child he kept his cool. Hours were spent talking to Hanzo, the two sharing stories from their sitting places and trying to make a few jokes that the other did not understand, actually making it funnier on occasion.
Before either of the young adults knew it, the sun was sinking, with that brought concern to Jesse as he saw the outline of the mainland in the orange light. For now, he would remain on the island to think of a rational plan to get home. He stood, Hanzo watching him as he built a fire, setting dry grass aflame with sparks between two rocks. It took a moment but the fire started to burn and create heat in the cooling air brought by night. Jesse glanced to Hanzo, the Mer seemed more than interested in the flickering flames, his eyes following little sparks as they floated up and disappeared. Being a Mer, he probably didn't see fire often or barely at all for that matter.
"Is the sun the only light you have?" he asked, sitting back down.
Hanzo shook his head "We have plankton." He said simply. Jesse raised a brow at him.
"Plankton?" He muttered before Hanzo just looked at him.
"Have you never seen one?" he asked, Jesse scoffing.
"I have not." A long silence persisted between them before Hanzo pulled his hand from the water, damn near claws in all honesty, and offered it for Jesse to take. A few more moments were spent with Jesse looking at Hanzo's hand confused before he got the point, shaking his head. "No can do, compadre." He said warily toward Hanzo, who gave him an unamused look as he scooted away.
"I promise you will not be hurt." He said scooting toward him as far as the water would allow. He knew it was unwise to trust Hanzo further than he had already, though they had spoken a lot throughout the day which put a little of Jesse's trust in the Mer. With a deep breath, plus a light regret growing in the back of his mind, he took off his shirt and placed it on his boots before inching his way into the water. He slowly reached the sand bank and dropped five feet down into the water, Hanzo following and easily gliding off the sandbank. He popped back up above the surface a few feet away, Jesse eyeing his every movement as he got closer. Jesse made sure he stayed close to the sandbank, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness as the sun dipped lower beyond the horizon.
A hand was once again outstretched to him. He took a deep breath before taking it, he was not typically known for being smart so why the hell not? Hanzo pulled him away from the sandbank, him struggling a bit before arms helped guide him. "Stop panicking, smooth strokes." Hanzo said as he let Jesse go, Jesse keeping in mind to do long smooth strokes instead of his usual quick paddling. "See, easy." He said swimming in circles around Jesse.
"You make it look too easy." He muttered "Must come natural having a tail." His voice was strained as he almost dunked beneath the water. Jesse hadn't really even learned to swim that well, he only knew that you paddle to keep above because that was all he was taught.
Hanzo let out a laugh as he got closer to Jesse, seemingly excited as he tugged on the other's forearm "Come." He said, keeping a hold of Jesse's arm as he swam, Jesse trying to keep up but Hanzo being the one to pull him along the way. As the sun lowered the water seemed to turn black, little rays of light beneath the surface disappearing. Hanzo had pulled Jesse far out of his comfort zone and around the corner of the two giant stone pillars, a little area where Jesse could get up on the rocks and sit on a small ledge. Beneath the water, slow at first, light started appearing.
Jesse leaned forward, trying to see what was beneath the surface. Were those- Hanzo sunk beneath the water. He could see his shadow glide as he lowered into the light, swimming around and stirring up the blue lights. They swirled in the deep blue water, Jesse enthralled as he watched all the lights. Once again Hanzo came up to him and reached for his hand, Jesse not catching it in time as he was pulled into the water by someone very specific. His initial reaction was to panic until he realized that there was a presence beside him. Slowly his head bobbed out of the water, his hair stuck to his face.
He moved the hair from his face, looking to Hanzo. He let out a laugh when he saw there was one blue light stuck to Hanzo's forehead, Jesse reached a hand up and gently wiped the critter off. His thumb, though coarse, ran from Hanzo's forehead nearly to his ear before Jesse noticed and retracted his hand. He let out a nervous chuckle "You had something on your forehead." He muttered, watching as Hanzo sunk down into the water, not letting go of Jesse. "Uh, Hanzo, you are gonna pull me-" before he could finish he was pulled under the water, panic flooding him before he looked to Hanzo.
Golden eyes were visibly glowing as he was pulled closer, despite the salt water burning Jesse's eyes he continued to look at the blurry golden glow. Hanzo pulled him closer and pressed a kiss to Jesse's lips, Jesse losing the air in his lungs as he felt a warm feeling flooding through his body despite the cold water.
A kiss from a mermaid was said to turn mortals… immortal.