Lavi shifted along the sand slowly as he woke up. He yawned and stretched his arms, arching his back from the ground. He lay back down after he heard a satisfying crack from his back. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. There was an quite obvious lack of a certain silver eyed Meralise, but off in a corner, the fish had been replaced with a few pieces cut fish wrapped in seaweed. Popping one in his mouth, Lavi wondered where Allen had swam off to this time.
He should really tell me where he is going, or at least leave a note. He thought back to the time when Allen had brought him to the cave in Maryland. Allen had a notepad and markers there to illustrate what he was trying to explain to him. However, that same day, he had spoken to him in his mind for the first time also. And now he can speak to me verbally? Why is that? He had only spoken to me in my mind for longesttimeand now…As his thought trailed off Lavi heard a shriek-like sound from outside the cave.
He swam over quickly to see what had made the noise, and was deeply frightened by what he saw. A great white shark was chasing Allen; who was currently speeding along just inches from the sandy sea floor, carrying another bundle of seaweed in his arms. The young Meralise made quick turns to lose the predator and made a beeline back to the cave. As he neared the mouth of the cave, the shark had seemed to spot him again and changed direction towards the cave also. Lavi grabbed Allen by his arms as soon as he was close enough, and pulled both of them to the back of the dark cave. Their sides pressed against the cold rock, both Meralises watched the shark near the mouth of the cave, but then veer off.
Silence then descended in the cave, save for their heavy breathing through their gills. Lavi looked down at Allen who was still watching the front of the cave, but instead of having a facial expression of fear; it was one of exhaustion and slight annoyance. The redhead then noticed he still had a hard grip on the other's wrists, so he released them, not wanting to bruise him. The moment he removed his grip, Allen slumped down to the floor, lying on his tail, head resting against the wall.
Lavi bent down to make sure he had no injuries. None were visible.
"Allen, are you alright?" He asked, right hand cupping the other's cheek.
Allen nodded and took in a gulp of seawater before answering the older properly.
"I'm fine. Believe it or not that's not the first time that's happened." He ran a webbed hand through his hair. "I usually see them before they see me; I guess I was just too distracted this time…"
"Distracted? By what?" Lavi inquired.
Allen didn't answer him, nor did he meet his gaze.
Lavi moved his free hand to cup the other side of Allen face, making him look directly at him.
"What were you distracted by?" Lavi noted that for some reason his voice sounded lower than it normally sounded.
Allen but his lower lip and tried to avoid Lavi's gaze but the red head's hold was firm. Sadness and a small bit of fear flashed in his eyes as Lavi's single emerald bore into his silver.
"I…I am afraid that you will leave again. Y…You have friends up there and I can't really offer you anything here…."
Lavi adjusted his hands so one rested on Allen's shoulder and the other ruffled the silver-tinted locks.
"You don't have to worry about things like that Allen. I like being down here with you. Besides, if I want to go see my friends I can just turn this fin," he waved the red tail in between them, "back into legs, can't I?"
Allen didn't seem entirely convinced, but he let the issue drop.
"Speaking of which, can you show me how to change back bean sprout?" Lavi asked.
"You don't know how to?" Allen seemed alarmed.
"…How am I supposed to know? I'm not the full Meralise who has been swimming in the ocean his whole life!"
Allen rubbed his temples while muttering "Oh no, oh no, oh no oh no.."
"What is it?" Lavi questioned.
"Well, it is supposed to be like an instinct. Mana only told me about how to help a quarter Meralise to regain their tail, not help them get back to twin fins…" That same awkward turtle swam past the cave.
"…So I'm stuck like this?"
"No…we just need to go… or maybe…" Allen seemed to weigh some unknown options, his back to Lavi.
"Or maybe what?"
The silver finned Meralise turned back around.
"We could ask Fou. She might know."
"And how would she know? She said she was a different species from you and Mana."
"But her kind can transform into things easily, it was put into their genetics when their kind was being experimented on," Allen tried to explain.
Lavi sighed and slid down the wall of the cave, head in his hands.
"Lavi?" Allen questioned, swimming over to the older boy.
"Hey Al…" He peaked at the full Meralise through his webbed fingers. "Can you explain your species a bit better to me? I got that you were made by humans, however many hundreds of years ago that was, but you didn't explain why or how they did it."
Allen sat down next to him, fiddling with a scale on his tail that was slightly crooked. "I don't know when it was, but Lavi's kind was at war with another part of Lavi's kind. It was a very long war that seemed to only get worse as the sun and moon rose and fell. Some of Lavi's kind decided to make Meralise to be killing machines. Since their kind could not breathe in Meralise's home, they decided to drown their enemies." He paused, trying to remember the history. "They took newly hatched Meralise and tried to force them into serving them as soldiers…" He trailed off for a moment. "They eventually succeeded and made lots of them soldiers. They gave us the name Meralise and used us to drown many of Lavi's kind. We did not know that we would kill them. We were told to take them to other side of ocean, to the part of Lavi's kind that created us, but we accidently killed them…" Small beads of a murky white liquid gathered at Allen's eyes. "We didn't know they couldn't breathe like us; no one told us! It wasn't our fault…." Allen took another large gulp of the salt water.
"But then when we went to take them to our "creators" again, Lavi's kind shouted at us and threw stones at us, saying that we killed their friends and family. We tried to explain that we only took them to the other side of the ocean, but they didn't listen and tried to kill us, so we went back to other side. By then, our creators had made plans for a very evil weapon. They did not need us anymore, so they started killing us too. We stayed away from Lavi's kind, and remade our own home in the ocean. We found other Meralise who were not under the control of Lavi's kind. Everything was fine for a while, but then Lavi's kind finished the weapon. They used it on my race's colonies and on the others of Lavi's race."
The milky white liquid fell from Allen's eyes and made small puddles on the ground.
Mermaids cry pearls…
Lavi pulled Allen to him, and wrapped his arms around his waist while letting Allen rest his head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a moment or two before Allen wiped his eyes and apologized for crying. Lavi said he had nothing to apologize for.
"How do you know these things anyway?"
Allen shook his head, the last of the tears disappearing.
"There is actually a library that holds the reminder of our history. Mana took me there a few times before," the silver haired Meralise explained.
Lavi blinked. "A library?"
The other nodded, then seemed to ponder something.
"I think Fou will be at the meeting place when the sun is close to the water. We can go find her then…"
"Alright then. Well, I'm guessing it is morning now, so we have time to kill."
Allen picked up the forgotten ball of seaweed and unraveled about half of it before giving the downsized ball to the red head. While they ate their veggie breakfast, Lavi began to review the events that had happened so far.
"Hey bean sprout?"
"What?" The younger asked through a mouthful of seaweed.
"When I first met you, you didn't communicate with me at all, and then you used that drawing book and markers in the cave. Next thing I know you, speak to me through my mind, and now you are talking to me verbally. Care to explain?"
Allen finished chewing the dark green plant and swallowed before answering. "I had not spoken in your mind since before you had left, so I forgot how to. The notepad and markers were things Mana had left me when he was out so I would not be bored. And well," Allen scratched the back of his head with a small frown on his face, "When you fell, I was very terrified and it kind of came out. Usually Meralise do not gain the ability to talk until…" Allen trailed off a small blush creeping across his pale skin.
"Until?"
"They, um, mate for the first time."
If a pin dropping to the ocean floor could make a noise, it would echo in the silence of the cave.
"Oh."
Lavi felt a blush make its way across his own face and his eye traveled to the healing bite mark on Allen. Why do these things always lead to awkward and perverted outcomes? Seriously, just why?
"Um, so does the fact I bit you have any significance in the Meralise culture?" Lavi asked.
Allen did not answer him; he just looked away as his blush surpassed the color of a tomato.
Lavi decided he didn't want to know, as his subconscious made something akin to a predatory growl.
Wonderful I just made this ten times worse.
I think it's better.He looks cute with that blush.
Yeah he doe-… Who the hell are you and how did you get into my head? I already had Allen talking to me in my head,and his voice doesn't sound like yours.
Eh, just call me your inner Meralise. They all have them.I just woke up now since you never turned into a half-fish before.
Well could you stop thinking of Allen like that?
Why? You know he is cute. And FYI smart one,there aren't any restrictions on a Meralise's mate. They can be male or female.
How the hell do you know this?
You may have over heard someone say it when you were little…
ButYou just said you just woke up!
I haveall of your memories smart ass.I am you, just the fish part.
I really do hate these unexpected plot twists.
Ha! It will just get worse buddy! Now lean down and kiss him before he thinks that you have gone off the deep end. Pun intended.
Wha?
Lavi shook his head as if to get rid of the voice in his head, and looked at the other Meralise in front of him. Who was now closer to his face than he remembered him being.
"Lavi are you alright?"
"J-just a bit of culture shock. Too many things happening at one time, you know?"
Allen nodded in agreement.
"Do you want to try to sleep it off then?" The silver scaled one asked.
Don't have anything else better to do I guess?
Well you could-
"Yeah that's a good idea Allen, I'll do just that," Lavi said speedily as he made himself comfortable again on the cave floor.
Chicken
Shut up.
Allen blinked at the red-scaled male who was facing the wall of the cave. He yawned also, the past few days were quite tiring…Lavi wouldn't mind if he slept too would he? The younger one swam over next to Lavi and snuggled up to his back tiredly. The red head tensed at the sudden contact but then seemed to relax.
Lavi peered over his shoulder to see sleepy orbs stare back.
"I'm guessing you're tired too?"
Allen shrugged, his eyes at half-mast.
"Must be close to a full moon," he mumbled, trying to get closer to Lavi.
"What does a full moon mean?" Lavi asked, but he got no reply, just a Meralise that somehow managed to fall asleep with his head on his chest.
How cute.
I hate you.
Deal with it ginger, you're stuck with me.
Fuck off.
I'd rather fuck him.
Don't even-
Think about it? That's all I can do. Well that,and this.
And what?
Lavi asked angrily, pissed off at the voice in his head more and more every second.
But then he felt his tail get numb, like when you leg or arm falls asleep. Only this was worse, he could not move his tail on his own accord. It moved on its own.
Being the Meralise part of yourself has it's up points.
Lavi could only watch in slight horror as his tail curled around Allen's in a suggestive manner.
Stop!
Why?
Because!
'Cause why?
Lavi racked his mind for an answer. It was wrong? He had just regained some of his memories of the Meralise recently? This all was happening way too fucking fast and there were too many things to take in at once?
His tail stopped curling tightly around the sleeping Allen's, but they still remained intertwined.
Sorry, natural instinct.
What?
Never mind. This is a lot to understand isn't it.
No shit.
Hey, language….Do yourself a favor, convince Allen to not go to see Fou yet.
Why not?
Even more things will happen tooquickly and both of you will end up with major migraines and messed up heads.
Huh?
Idiot. Things will happen so quickly that you won't be able to think straight,and you probablywon'tmake the best choices. Stay with Allen in the ocean for a few weeks. Explore or some shit. Stop rushing things. Damn,it's why all this isinone big mess at the moment.
I haven't rushed anything, things just happened!
You couldhavewaited togocheck out the Akuma boats.
That was one thing…
Rushing through one thing could of cost you your life.
They would have captured Allen and sent him off to that "Millennium Earl"person!
He wouldn't havebeen caughtif he didn't follow you to the port.
What?
Whoops. Oh well, go to sleep red head.
Allen didn't follow me to the docks.
Or did he?
How would you know?
I don't.
Then why did you-
Just go to sleep.
Bastard.
I know I am and so are you.
O0O
Oi! Read this it's important this time!
Ok, recently ElricSisters7 asked me if I wanted her to beta my story.
Obviously I said yes so you guys don't have to deal with bad grammar D:
So over a certain period of time chapters of Where the Land Meets Water will be changed starting on Wednesday. So don't flip thinking it is a new chapter. Other than that there isn't really anything else to say here, so Ja Ne!
