Lavi is my favorite character, btw. I luffs him. And, I will apologize to the Yullen fans-it will have to wait. Their (namely, Kanda's) personalities just don't allow for quick moving relationships and seeing past the exterior to the person underneath the fins. ^_^; It will come, I promise, but I need to build up Lavi and Allen a bit, so they can act as an emotional catalyst for the swordsman, because he will never develop/admit feelings on his own. So...bear with me? I won't be leaving Kanda totally out of the story, or anything, but with him, stuff tends to take time. So yeah. Sorry about that. However, do not fear. School has started up again, which actually means that I will be writing more, since it is one of the few ways to get away from boring ass lectures. So, hopefully, I will update more. I can't make any solid promises, but you should see a bit more of me in the coming months. At least a little. ^_^;
ALSO-Beta, beta, beta. I want one. I don't think my usual beta is that interested in DGM, and I won't force her to help with characters that are unfamiliar to her. So, if you know someone who might be interested, or you are interested in influencing this story yourself, please, PM me! This will mostly involve grammar stuff (though I try to stay on top of that myself), helping me stay away from too much OOCness, and making sure the flow of the story doesn't suck.
Anyway...I've decided that this one will be from Lavi's POV...mostly introspective stuff. Hope you like! Also, I want to establish the setting just a bit more...hopefully, I will expand on that even more at some point. I don't know much about mermaid lore, and I simply skimmed the Wikipedia article and decided that I don't particularly care about that crap, so I am making my own assumptions and myths. I also am not totally aware of a time line...so dress and custom will probably wind up being an uninformed blend of various times and cultures, and most likely will not add up if you try to think about it too hard. For reference, I was inspired to write this after watching The Pirates of The Caribbean, so the story more or less takes place around that time...not that I know when 'that time' actually is, but you get the main idea. I realize that it would be more legit if I researched this but, fortunately, this is fiction, which is expressly tailored to fit lazy bums like me who don't care enough to observe reality.
P.S.-KandaxLavi, anyone? Non-graphic kinda implied smut warning for this chapter. (Allen with long hair is hot. Also, no scar. You will understand why I made so many changes to his character design later on.)
The door leading to the upper deck swung open, revealing an endless starry sky reaching down to kiss the glassy ocean.
All the beauty was lost on a certain redhead though, as he moved to lean against the railing of the ship while staring at his feet. There were several ship mates on deck performing various duties, but they all took care to give him a wide berth, so there really wasn't anyone around to distract him from his thoughts.
'The merman said he didn't have a choice but to confront us...someone forced him to do it?'
Lavi tilted his head back and blindly observed the sky. The Bookman in him was distantly interested in the merman, the cold, scientific want of knowledge fueling his observations.
But, loathe as he was to admit it, there was something...else. Lavi couldn't quite pinpoint what it was exactly, but it was there. Something in the back of his mind alerted him to the fact that the merman was not the evil sea beast that sailors often made them out to be. Perhaps it was in the set of the boy's jaw, or the odd light in his eyes, but something definitely wasn't adding up.
Over the years, Lavi had become quite good at observing and filing away facts. He knew there were many, many speculations about mermaids. Most of the stories whispered to impressionable sailor's sons were stemmed from folklore and were generally used to keep the young and superstitious away from the rockier areas of the ocean. In sea faring tales, mermaids were, without exception, charming and deadly, evil and beautiful. They were so ingrained in collective European culture, that they often adorned ships and sign posts of coastal towns to scare away evil spirits and remain as a constant reminder of the dangers of the sea.
Through his training as the heir to the Bookman legacy, Lavi also understood that these stories might be slightly blown out of proportion, simply due to the fact that humans and the sea folk used to be in close contact with each other, many generations ago. Human memory was a short, temperamental thing, but the Bookmen had been around for several centuries, and the records that he'd been given access to clearly indicated that once, long ago, humanity was not so closed off from the races of old. In fact, much of the knowledge of the sea that early humans had was gained through their ties with the ocean dwellers-namely merfolk.
All of these things were facts. Solid information was easy for Lavi to deal with and sort out. But when facts began to mingle with feelings, he was brought up short. Bookman Jr. shook his head and began to list off the solid bits of information he knew, in the hopes of sorting all of this out.
The creature they had caught was a merman. It had made no move for outright violence, with the exception of their first encounter. Some outside force appeared to be pulling the merman's strings. The merman was obviously intelligent and possessed a degree of magic which he appeared to be able to use at will, though it seemed as though he didn't have a large amount of power.
Then Lavi began to ponder the feelings that accompanied thoughts of the merman. As a Bookman, he'd been trained to observe all things with an impartial eye, but having lived through battles had taught him to trust his instincts. His gut told him that the merman was surprisingly...human. The look in his eyes in the initial moments of the morning spoke of emotions that hit very close to home.
So lost in thought was the young man that he failed to notice that he was no longer alone until the newcomer was right next to him.
Lavi started slightly and looked over at Kanda Yuu. He was somewhat surprised that the Japanese man had somehow managed to make his handsome face appear even more menacing than usual.
"What's wrong?" Lavi asked, leaning away slightly.
"That...that thing had the audacity to make demands of us." Fury blazed behind black eyes, threatening to burn all passerby to a crisp. This had the interesting side effect of almost immediately clearing the deck of all life with the exception of Lavi and Kanda themselves.
"Hey...don't stress about it. We need to keep the merman healthy if we are to study it properly. Giving it fresher water is a small price to pay for accruing knowledge."
"Hmph." He huffed, and seemed to deflate a minuscule amount. "Whatever it is you guys are studying, finish it fast. I don't want that thing on the ship anymore. The sooner you get done, the sooner we can get rid of it and go back."
Lavi shrugged. "It'll get done when it gets done. Right now Bak-chan is studying it's habits and speculating on basic anatomy. Don't forget that the Order has been charged with finding a cure for the King's illness. This could be exactly what we are looking for, but it will take some patience."
Kanda snorted and shook his head. After a few minutes of non-murderous silence (which was pretty good, by Yuu's standards) he spoke again.
"Are you busy tonight?"
Lavi immediately understood the invitation for what it was, and wondered exactly how bothered the other man was by the merman's presence. For him to be so obvious about desiring anything other than soba, he must've been feeling pretty stressed.
"Not really. I have a book on marine life that I am busy with, and Old Man Panda and I have a meeting with Bak-chan to discuss the next steps to take...but after that, I'm free."
Kanda nodded and pushed away from the railing. He walked away without a word, only looking back once before he disappeared through the door. The dark gaze was filled with a primal, predatory heat.
Lavi shivered.
'I wonder if that was really meant for me, or the merman...'
Lavi pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. He immediately regretted the action, as it only inflamed his steadily growing headache.
The meeting was not going well.
"I'm telling you, dissection is the obvious course of action." Bak began to use broad hand gestures with almost every word, as he usually did when he was frustrated.
The Bookman shook his head, his one tuft of hair swaying oddly. "No, it isn't. Humanity has not had contact with the merfolk for hundreds of years. The knowledge that could be gained through getting it to talk far outweighs the few facts of anatomy you would learn through cutting it up."
Bak shook his head. "We don't have that kind of time. We need to turn in the separate parts to a medical team, so they can make experimental medicine for the king."
"That is only taking a shot in the dark. If we interrogate the merman, perhaps it can lead us to a solid cure."
"It's already shown that it has the ability to resist us, even if it can't escape. What makes you think it would tell us anything about finding a cure?" Bak sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Look. I don't think it will take kindly to interrogation and torture. If we do that, it will have time to strike back. If we catch it off guard and kill it in one stroke, we can do as we please without worrying about repercussions."
"It was luck that let us catch it. Another chance like this may not come for several centuries! We need to get all the information that we can before we kill it." Bookman nodded sagely, as if that would forestall any arguments.
Bak put a hand on his hip and narrowed his eyes. "And how do you propose we do that?"
"Well, if we can manage to keep it disoriented through pain, we may be able to keep it from using magic. Then we can pry answers from it systematically."
"But extended interrogation only increases the chance that something will go wrong."
"If we can manage to-"
"Let me do it!" Lavi shouted, once he'd decided that he'd had quite enough.
Both men started at the exasperated outburst and turned to look at the redhead.
"Huh?" Bak cocked his head and looked at Bookman Jr. like he'd lost his mind.
"The King's illness is a slow degenerative disease. As long as we don't take months to figure this out, we still have time to act. So...let me do it."
The Bookman turned to fully face his apprentice. "Let you do what, exactly?"
"Let me talk to him. Give me some time-a couple weeks. Let me talk to the merman and try to befriend him. Maybe I can get him to talk freely. That way, we won't have to worry about him resisting, and we can get what we need in a timely manner. If we make him feel less threatened, he will be more likely to open up. A friendly face could be the right answer."
For a long time, the two other men just looked at him, and seemed to ponder the idea.
Finally, Bak seemed to deflate. "Two weeks. You've got two weeks to gather your information. After that, I am turning the merman over to Kanda."
Lavi looked to Bookman, seeking his permission to perform this task.
The only answer given for his unspoken question was a nod.
Heat. Pant. Move.
In. Out. Repeat.
The sound of the blood rushing in his ears was all he could hear. His vision was slightly blurred, everything within his line of sight obscured by a curtain of inky black hair. The low light and close quarters only seemed to add to the rising temperature of the room.
He was distantly glad that the sounds of the ocean would help drown out the awful creaking noises he was sure the bed was making right now.
He enjoyed these times of mutual stress relief. They both knew that there was no real emotion within these moments of passion, but it was beneficial for both parties involved, so they chose to ignore the fact that this probably wasn't healthy.
He liked being able to forget everything for a while and just savor the pleasant burn of carnal desire.
He could only hope that the flames wouldn't eventually engulf him.
Lavi held in a groan and paused momentarily.
His back hurt like hell, and he was walking like he had a watermelon shoved up his ass. He'd have to bitch at Kanda about being a little more gentle.
He shook his head and resumed his trek, doing his best to push aside the aches and pains that served as reminders of last night. He could deal with that later.
Right now, he had a job to do.
He walked down what could be vaguely interpreted as a hallway, but was more like a crawlspace. Finally, he came to the door he was looking for, the one that looked exactly all the others, except it had five locks on it, all of which required separate keys.
He went through what had quickly become his morning ritual, unlocking all the locks, always managing to put the key in wrong for at least one, and coming into a room that smelled vaguely of seaweed. The only things in here were some chairs and the tank which held their 'guest'.
However, this morning was a little different.
Rather than sitting down and observing, he went over to the tank and began to work the newly repaired lock.
This seemed to startle the merman, and he immediately got a guarded, untrusting look in his eyes. Lavi just shrugged it off, and continued to mess with the lock until he finally got the damn thing undone. Then he slid the lid of the tank off with a little difficulty and simply looked at its occupant.
When the merman didn't move for several seconds, Lavi rested his arms on the edge of the tank, and waited for him to react.
Slowly, warily, the merman rose, until he was fully sitting up, which put the water level at his chest.
Lavi raised a hand slightly in greeting. "Yo."
"What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing, really." The red head waved his hand dismissively. "I've just been getting really bored with sitting around watching you all day. And, after yesterday, I got curious. So, I figured I would stop resisting the urge to talk to you."
The merman cocked his head. "Talk to me? Why would you want to talk to me? I'm your prisoner, remember."
"True. But, it isn't like we want to kill you. Well, maybe Yuu does, but the rest of us don't."
Grey eyes narrowed slightly. "If you have no plans to torture or kill me, why are you keeping me here?"
"Because humans haven't actually been in prolonged close contact with a merman or mermaid in hundreds of years. We can learn so much by watching you, and it's too rare an opportunity to pass up. If we were positive you wouldn't just swim away, we'd let you out of the tank and let you swim alongside the ship." Which was a total lie of course, but the merman didn't have to know that.
"So, if I tell you what you want to know, you'll let me go?"
Lavi shrugged. "Dunno. I'm not in charge. But, there is a better chance of you getting out of here that way."
The merman sighed and cocked his head, staying silent for quite a while. Lavi took the chance to really observe him close up and out of water for once, re-cataloging all the details he'd seen over the past few days.
His hair was white and fell loosely to the middle of his back, though the texture was a little off because of the constant exposure to salt water. His eyes were a slate grey, which should have been a rather flat color, but they were actually very deep pools of light and shadow. His skin was fairly pale and surprisingly not pruned from being in the water all the time. Merfolk must've developed different skin composition to keep from absorbing all that moisture. He had no visible marks or scars. This told the red head that life had been fairly non-violent for the merman. His chest was exposed, and he seemed to feel no embarrassment over his nudity, meaning he had probably never worn clothes in his life. He was slight of build, but he had subtle muscles, built through years of swimming. At about the beginning of his pelvic area, the skin started to discolor, becoming slightly grey, and about half an inch into that the scales began.
The merman's tail was marvelous, each silver scale interwoven with the others, looking something like a cross between polished coins and chain mail. This was adorned by two sets of fins. One set was at the tip of his tail, large and ribbed, and slightly translucent. The other set was slightly smaller and more elongated and positioned about where his hips should have been. Bak speculated that these secondary fins were to help him maneuver in the water.
The oddest things were his ears. Most of the time, they were hidden by his hair, but occasionally he would move enough to let them show. They looked normal, until you got to the outer rim, where they sort of morphed into small fins that crested his ears. So far, none of the observation crew had been able to figure out what the function of this was.
All in all, he looked like something out of a fairytale.
Finally, the merman spoke.
"How old are you?"
"Huh?" Lavi's one eye widened slightly, caught off guard by the question.
"I always heard that humans didn't live as long as us. But, you look a little older than me. I was just wondering how fast humans age."
"I'm nineteen. What about you?"
"Nineteen! You are nineteen hundred years old?"
"No...I'm nineteen. As in, one year less than two decades."
The merman's eyes widened in wonder. "Just nineteen? Wow...your lives really are short."
"Human's typically only live about seventy years...just how long do merfolk live, anyway?"
"We usually live to be over ten centuries old...I just reached my 250th year."
Lavi was momentarily stunned by this revelation. He'd always known that merfolk lived a long time, but he had a hard time fathoming exactly what one would do with a thousand years to live.
"How do you manage to fill up that much time?" the red head asked in awe.
"Probably the same ways you do. Eat, sleep, eat some more. Though, you probably don't spend as much time chasing dolphins as I do."
Lavi chuckled. "No, can't say that I've ever done that." He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and smiled. He hoped that the merman was gullible enough to fall for the friendly act.
"Well, you don't seem so bad. Why don't we start over?" He held out his left hand toward the merman, ignoring the fact that the edge of the tank was now digging into his upper arm. "I'm Lavi. Nice to meet you."
A head of snow white hair cocked to one side in suspicion and confusion as the merman stared at the offending appendage, obviously unsure of what Lavi was doing.
The redhead gave an internal sigh and pushed away fleeting thoughts of mermen looking like cute puppies. "It's a human custom to offer out a hand when you meet someone. You shake it."
Tentatively, the merman reached out with his right hand (Lavi wisely chose to ignore the fact that this was the wrong hand to use) and, with his thumb and index finger, pinched Lavi's palm and sort of jiggled it back and forth.
The strangeness of the gesture was lost on the human though, as he was a bit preoccupied. The moment skin met skin, it felt as though a jolt of electricity shot up his arm and into his stomach. Normally, he would have yanked his hand back, but the sensation left in the wake of the initial not-quite-pain was oddly pleasant, like being submerged in cool waters after a long day of working in the sun.
He let the contact continue for a few moments more before reluctantly retracting his hand, something inside him whimpering a bit when the merman let go. He distantly wondered if this was part of the allure that mermaids were legendary for.
"Uh..." Lavi blinked a couple times to clear his head of stray thoughts, filing away the odd reaction for later contemplation.
The red head focused in on the room's other occupant again. His face showed no signs of having experienced the same thing that Lavi had, but the teen noticed that he was clutching his right hand to his chest.
'You're blowing it. Get back to the task at hand.'
Lavi quickly pasted a smile on his face.
"It's customary to offer your name once you shake hands with someone."
"Ah. This is supposed to serve as a means of introduction then." The merman said.
Lavi nodded encouragingly.
"Alright. My given name is Allen, son of Mana, denizen of Deepsea, born under the star of Porrima. Greetings, Lavi, son of Adam."
It was now Lavi's turn to cock his head at the odd introduction.
The merman giggled. "That was a shortened version of a formal introduction translated from Oldspeak into your language. It means 'Hi, my name is Allen.' Those speeches tend to go a lot longer than what I just did, but I gave you all the important bits."
"Um, okay. Good to meet you, Allen."
The merman smiled and leaned back in his tank a bit. He opened his mouth and proceeded to speak in a language that Lavi didn't understand, but sounded very familiar, each syllable sliding off his tongue like liquid gold.
"Shaer taer cestal."
AN: That last sentence is "Well met, human." in Elvish. I got it from an online translator for D&D geeks, so it may not be totally right, but it sounds cool. Initially, I was going to have Allen and the other merfolk speak in Latin, but that would be pretty easy for people like Lavi and Bookman to translate. So, Seaspeach is going to be a conglomeration of cool sounding words from various different things, probably, but Elvish is going to be my fall back language for now.
To My Reviewers:
HeidiFox- XD Lavi isn't a meanie face anymore! Yay!
Yuerai- Sorry the last chapter was so short. Meh, I hate stories that switch from 3rd to 1st person. If I was going to write this story in 1st, I would have started out that way. So, rest assured that won't change. ^_^
Sweet Veleno- Allen is adorable, I agree!
Forgottenpassword- Allen blew up tank fer lulz! Silly Allen!
Hinata's Shadow1- I am glad you find this interesting!
VineCaper- I think Allen tends to be way too girly in some stories as well. I am trying my best to keep him mostly in character, so I am really happy that you think I am doing a good job. Thanks!
wishingbell- I am happy about the progress being made between the two of them as well. ^_^
- Allen is super cute! *giggle*
Anonymous- I am glad you like it!
SparklyGlitter- ^_^ I am happy you are enjoying the story.
moshimellow- I busted out laughing when I read "Kanda, you jerkface!" I dunno why, but that really seems to fit him. LOL.
XxGothicXxXLolitaxX- Hehe. Well, I just chalk it up to him being a magical being. That should allow him to survive, even in icky water. ^_^ (LOL, writer fail.)
Meyumi- Hehe! I hope you like this chapter too!
zeo1fan- Wow! First off, let me say thank you for giving such a wonderful review! As an author, I totally live for stuff like this. Anyway. As for 'The Good', as you put it, thanks a lot. I try and pay attention to details like that, because that is what I enjoy in a story as well. And 'The Bad'-Yeah, it was a bit arrogant of them to do that, but humans in general are arrogant. They think they are gods until they wind up learning the hard way. And don't worry, there will be more story before all is said and done! Answers to Your Questions In Order: Yes, Yes, I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but if you are asking if they have killed to make babies then no, Perhaps (depends on how the story goes from here), Probably. I hope that clears things up for you. ^_^; Thanks again for such a lovely review!
blodiedangle- I am happy you like my style! That means a lot to me!
VersarFfion- I have lots of things planned for Allen. *mwahahaha*
nightingale mistress- I wanted to add in a bit of humor with the mini explosion. *giggle* And yeah, I would be pissed if somebody dumped me in nasty water for a week.
KingRabbit- Lavi soaking wet is a rather yummy thought, isn't it?
BehindTheSky- Allen can understand humans as long as he uses his magic. And I am glad I have you hooked on a mermaid story! I happen to love them as long as they are well written.
fan-fan31- Mermaids and merman are always fun! And I really wanted to keep it original, and not a rip off of The Little Mermaid, like most tend to be.
