disclaimer: i don't own anything!
.
.
.
You drown but you just won't die.
When Gary was a young boy, he and Ash would spend time mopping the floors of bars in hopes of listening in on a drunken sailor's tale. Being brought up in a port town has led him to be well acquainted with men and women worn out by the sea and their strange fictions. If he had a coin for every rotten tooth Gary has seen in his life, he wouldn't have to mop the floors of bars. Every other man was sickened with scurvy, but each mariner had a story to tell. Stories about colossal serpents circling their ships in hopes for a meal, about sirens as savage as they are breathtaking. Gary and Ash, bright-eyed and strong youths, dwelled on every word, hoping to experience adventure themselves.
The legends kept them thirsty.
One afternoon, their little hands covered in grime and liquor, sat at the bar stools beside Lt. Surge, a decorated military man from another region, joining in on his fateful encounter with a siren.
"She had me in her claws, boys. Both of us, deep in the sand, nothing around—not even my conscious. If it were not for me rejecting her kiss of death, I wouldn't be here enjoying this pint with you lads. Lucky to be alive, I am."
Ash was beaming brightly, on edge from such an encounter with death.
"To think that you survived," exclaimed Ash, grinning madly as his imagination got the best of him.
Gary asked Surge, "What do you mean by 'kiss of death', sir?"
Gary could never forget the tremor in his voice, how quickly his boisterous tone became somewhat bittersweet. His piercing eyes narrowed and sad.
"Son, any kiss with a merfolk is an exchange, a binding pact. They have your heart and you have nothing but love for them."
. . .
As they grew to become men, both respected captains in their cozy coastal town, Gary realized that it is not only the mythical monsters that made the sea dangerous. The mythology they once heard as juveniles became a harsh reality. The sea was a natural monster all on their own, more than willing to drown any living creature with vigor if fate called for it. The mysteries below the depths both left him excited and frightened.
But Ash was different than Gary. Ash welcomed the ocean and all her secrets, most would say that was what separated him from the rest. Since Gary could remember, Ash would steal maps from the library sit by the docks and draw out all the places he would visit and all the things he would see in ugly chicken scratch.
Things have changed when their dreams suddenly became true. Most men their age preferred sitting at mundane bars, drinking ale as they talk up a pretty girl to pass the time. They were not like most men their age who just accepted what life had given them.
Captain Ketchum would ignore liquor and mundane everyday life, and boldly jump into any given chance to discover untouched land and waters. Captain Oak did not wish to settle for what their town had to offer, as much as it holds a dear place in his heart.
Gary remembers the proud look on the faces of Delia Ketchum as she watched her sun kissed boy sail away for the first time. It was a simple mission—locate and trade with the harbor two islands over.
Ash was disappointed to be assigned something so simple but Gary reassured him that it was the beginning of many more to come.
Till Ash Ketchum went missing five months later.
His ship was gone, all that remained was a few members of his crew that made it safely by clinging to driftwood for weeks trying to make it back home.
It had a been a wild storm caused by a tempered sea demon that brought the ship down to its mercy. The remaining crew members can vaguely remember that their Captain took time to detour and engage in humoring a sole mermaid. Before they could realize the dark clouds coming towards them, the side of their ship was hit by a large snake-like cerulean tail belonging to a serpent. In all the chaos men were flying overboard, including the Captain, who once he hit the water was last seen in the arms of a mermaid who stole him.
Gary saw fear in the eyes of Ash's crew when they spoke of the storm.
She took the Captain under so quickly, sir. You couldn't even hear him struggle for air, as if he willingly succumbed to her.
It took much power for Gary to hold back tears. He cursed Ash's naïve nature and how even in adulthood it got the best of him.
The heartbroken smile that plagued Delia's face was all it took for him to swore to return Ash Ketchum to her and the town that loved him.
There was still hope. Many merfolk drown their prey right from the start but some are more cruel, some keep humans as playthings for however long they can survive. Luckily, Ash was a survivor.
Gary gathered what he could under the time he was given. By the next morning, after wishing his grandfather and Ash's mother a good-bye, he set sail with a promise.
. . .
A few weeks have passed since they have started their quest. Gary ignored the chatter between his crew speaking about the possibility of the fallen captain being dead. He knew they were good, strong men that were loyal as many of them were in high spirits for adventure but Gary ignored the murmurs and sat in his cabin. Captain Oak was mentally preparing for the worst while keeping his mind sharp as he lacked experience at open sea. He stared at the decorated pins on his blue coat, hoping that he could prove them to mean something more than colored badges.
He ignored the fear of not having anything to bring back to the Ketchum's doorstep. He exited his cabin and ordered the boat to head northward, using the stars for guidance.
The waters were unforgiving tonight, the salty air around them filled with haze, making it difficult to sail. They had no choice but to stop.
The captain stared out to the night sky around him, eyes narrowing at the full moon. As the legends say, only the deadliest welcome the moon at its fullest.
"Sir, the men sense a figure circling around our ship," uttered Tracey, a young cartographer and close friend.
An eerie wail filled the air, beckoning for attention. Both the Captain and Tracey shuddered at the sound, eyes focused on the waves below. A dainty but luminous tail broke through the water,
His jaw tightened, "Tell the men to prepare, Tracey."
The cartographer nodded weakly before running off, holding his sketchbooks in hand.
The Captain took his place by the rail, watching closely as bubbles began to form. Gary folded his arms, awaiting. A bead of sweat trailing his forehead. He knew it was her. It had to be her.
With the force of a thousand men, he bellowed, "Come out, you beast!"
At the sound of his strong voice, a young maiden arose from the water, a translucent but wide swaying beside her. She was tragically beautiful. Her skin porcelain and eyes are cerulean as seas she terrorized. Ginger hair wild even whilst wet and a tail as green as algae.
"No need to shout," she glared. "We sirens have sensitive ears."
"Sirens," he breathed, "are as sensitive as they are kind."
"Ha!" she laughed, "I resent that, sailor."
"My name is Captain Oak," he replied, "I am no sailor."
"Captain, huh? I'm Misty."
She smiled widely, sharp teeth as white as the moonlight that danced on her pearlescent skin. Strange that such an ethereal face could have such a mouth. Misty was inhuman, both in beauty and species.
"Now, won't you join me for a swim? I'll be more than happy to sing for you."
The mermaid tilts her head to the side a little, curiously looking through him as if he was the first person she has ever seen. She swam closer to him, taking a seat on a large barnacle-covered rock. Her stomach on the rock, curled on it like a crescent moon with her tail hanging on the edge, waving idly back and forth like the flow of water under her. He could see that shell bras were only for picture books and that she owned a few scars on her pale arms. She seemed somewhat amused, chin resting on arms as she watched him carelessly.
Gary remained still, ignoring her fluttering eyes and melodious giggles. He silenced the devilish voice inside his head that wondered what it would be like to touch her fine, feathery scales.
The legends said that not only do sirens steal your physical form, they take your every emotion and turn them against you; you become theirs. Humans, men and women, fall to their demise over a siren's beauty. Misty, captivating as she is devilish, proved the old stories to be true. He was somewhat enthralled, but blamed this on his hormones and the magic that mermaids wield by birth. If Gary were a weaker man, a man with brittle bones, her flowing hair of fire and sweet smile would easily capture his heart and soul.
But Captain Oak is not a weak man.
"I don't swim with monsters." He gritted his teeth, voice cold.
Her glittering eyes turned into dangerous slits, "That sounds awfully familiar."
Gary swallowed the lump in his throat.
"I once knew a young man who said the same thing to me, he was awfully friendly," she furthered. "He had on a long blue coat, much like yours, but you seem to own more of those shiny clips."
"Where is he?!" Gary practically shouted. His chest was burning, hands tightening around the rail of the ship. Nails digging into the wet wood.
"He was beautiful," she expressed, lips forming into a carnal grin.
Gary drew his sword and aimed it at Misty, "You will bring him to me."
"Oh," said the voice of dreams and sin, "but you must come after me if you want him. All he wants is to be with me—he sees nothing else, Captain. Maybe if you wish to join him," With that Misty plunged back into the water swiftly, leaving him eager and torrid.
In minutes, she was gone, leaving nothing but storm clouds and a haze in the night. Gary's men called for him, ready for action, but all his appetite craved was the mermaid in a dazed, at a loss for words, writing under him, the victor.
. . .
"Oh, Captain," she purred, "it's been a long time."
"It's seem that this time you have come to me," Gary muttered, exhaustion and age evident in his voice. "After losing you in the whirlpools last season, you continue to toy with me, Misty."
The ship was docked at a populated island where the men stayed sleeping off their hangovers after a night out singing and dancing in merry after surviving a storm a few days before. There was a lead that a family of merfolk where hunting but it just led the ship into the eye of a storm. They all survived, even the Captain's patience.
He stood tall, slightly withered, eyeing the head of sunset hair bob back and forth at the edge of the dock. She always taunted him.
"Maybe I'm bored," Misty replied, elbows on the dock. "Or I miss you and that glint in your eyes every time you see me."
He has been at this for a long time now. He feels that he could bleed seawater by this point of his journey. Yet he was still hungry.
"That's no glint," he assured, black boots tapping against the wood of the dock. "You're mistaken, mermaid."
"I never make mistakes," she smiled senselessly. "You and Ash share the same hopeful glint in your eyes," Misty leaned back in the waves, slowly showing him her carnivore teeth. "It's beautiful."
Captain Gary Oak stared down at his mermaid, dangerous and tempting, and felt wicked. He was torn as part of him wanted to rip her throat out with his blade and the other wanted to dive into the dark to be taken away by her.
Misty rose higher, fascinated by the perplexity that is his humanity, and offered him her hand. His senses ran cold.
"Don't you miss him, Captain?"
He missed Ash. He felt like a distant memory to him now.
"Misty," he breathed, "let's end this."
He reached for her hand.
He met his fate as his lips met hers, seawater filled his lungs as his blade broke through her scales, clouds of red engulfing them as they went deeper and deeper, together.
.
.
.
notes: why is mermaid misty always depicted as innocent and sweet? i want her to be vicious. xoxo i think i'm gonna try to work on a soul mark au for gary and misty next i'm excited