It's a bit past May for MerMay I know... but I got a bit stuck. I did finish it though! So enjoy!
Chapter 2
"Sora! I can't believe how stupid you are sometimes!" Kairi exclaimed.
"What?" Sora asked, as he placed some food items into a bag. "I told you what happened. Riku didn't tell me, so it's not all my fault."
"You still just kissed a merman without thinking! Just because Riku never told you doesn't mean you shouldn't know about the legends. If you actually paid attention back in high school, you would remember it," Kairi huffed.
"Wait, they actually taught us this stuff?"
"No, but there was that required day in the 5th grade where we went to the library and were told about the legends of the merfolk."
Sora rolled his eyes and went back to packing. "And you expect me to remember the 5th grade?"
"I do!"
"Yeah cause you're smart. I probably fell asleep or something."
"Well I remember. It went something like this 'They say that merfolk exist, but most believe it to be just a legend. But for those who do believe, they give a word of warning. Beware of the merfolk if you do encounter one, for if you are kissed by one, you will never be heard from again.' Now you were kissed by one and look what's going to happen to you!"
Sora sighed. He turned around to face Kairi, taking a seat at the nearby table. He picked up a glass of water and took a few sips before replying to her. "Yeah but the one part of the legend that they don't expand upon is that, I can be heard from again. I'm not being drowned or dying… just ya know transform into a merman."
Kairi crossed her arms, not looking too impressed. "But you'll still be 'gone' from here. People will start to wonder what happened to you."
Sora waved at her dismissively. "Eh, no one's really going to miss me… other than you of course."
"And you're just going to be okay with that?"
"Kairi… you know what I told you. I love Riku. He loves me. So why can't I go and be with him? This is what I need in my life. I need him. Plus I can come and see you anytime just Riku always did."
With a sigh, Kairi walked over to the table. She sat down and reached out to take hold of Sora's hand. "I know Sora… I just didn't think you'd be running off to go join Riku like this."
Sora chuckled. "What? You thought I would purchase scuba gear so I could pretend to live in the water with him?"
Kairi hummed. "Sure something like that. But come on, let's get everything else packed. It's going to be sundown soon and we still have to boat back out there."
As they waited on the shore of the island, Sora stared out at the ocean. He knew he had already loved the ocean, as it was a beautiful place, but now he was going to see a whole new side of it. Under the sea he would see Riku's world… see his home and all his friends. He would get to see everything and he could barely contain his excitement.
Soon Riku surfaced and started swimming closer to shore. "Hey Sora. Kairi. Uh, I guess Sora filled you in on everything?"
"Hm yup," Kairi replied. "And don't think I am going to let you get away so easily either! Both of you are idiots, you know that?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry about that. I know I should have told you guys sooner."
"No, it's okay, Riku," Sora said. "I actually forgot there was a legend about merfolk. Kairi reminded me, but even if I did know it, I'd still want to kiss you."
Riku blushed, quickly turning his head again. "I-If you say so."
"So what did you find out?" Sora then asked. "Did you get any other information?"
"Yeah I did," Riku said, nodding his head. "I managed to talk to the prince and his boyfriend, and learned what I could. It takes about three days for the transformation to work, including today as the first day. You start by being more thirsty and by the 2nd day you'll start to have scales on your legs. On the 3rd day the scales will be completely covering your legs and you'll feel pretty stiff. By then you'll need to get to the ocean and the transformation will complete itself."
"So it's just a waiting game?" Sora sighed. "What if I just went into the ocean right now? Would that make it go any faster?"
"Uh… I don't actually know. I didn't ask that."
"Could we try?" Sora asked as he started taking off his shoes and socks.
"I don't see why not."
"Are we sure?" Kairi asked. "If the transformation takes three days, wouldn't it be bad to try and speed up the process?"
"We won't know until we try," Sora replied. He started to pull off his clothes before he turned around to glance at Kairi. "Are you going to turn around?"
Kairi blushed with embarrassment. "Well how was I supposed to know you were going to stripe right here!?" With a huff she turned around, facing away from the two boys.
Pulling off the rest of his clothes, Sora neared the ocean water. It almost felt tingly against his feet when the waves brush up against them. He glanced out to Riku, who already was swimming a little further out to help Sora if needed. He was watching very carefully, looking just as concerned as Kairi was moments ago.
"It'll be alright. It's either going to work or it won't. I doubt anything bad would happen."
"I know… I just don't know what to expect," Riku replied.
With a deep breath Sora stepped into the water, letting it get past his ankles. He waited for a moment, but after standing there for about a minute, nothing happened. Sora hummed and waded out a bit further, but still there was no change.
Sora sighed. "Looks like we're waiting."
"Guess so, but hey. I'll stay right here by the island," Riku replied as he swam up to Sora's side. "I'll be here if you need me."
Sora smiled warmly. "Thanks, Riku."
Being stuck on the little island, the days seemed to drag on but also move rather fast. Sora found himself fascinated by the second day when he saw little scales starting to grow on his legs.
Sure he was growing more thirsty by the hour and he was afraid he would run out of water bottles by the end of the day, but he was changing! He was going to become a merman and he would get to live his life out in the open waters.
Honestly he couldn't imagine a more exciting adventure to go on, especially if Riku would be right by his side. No boundaries or anything to keep them apart from one another. After he was fully transformed they would be together and finally could be happy about their own feelings.
He only wished that things would move along a little faster!
At least it was only three days total. Sora knew that it would still be passing all by before he knew it. But it was starting to get more stressful by the end of the day. His legs were already really stiff and he had become extremely stiff.
"So just one more day right?" Sora asked as he sat by the shoreline.
"Should be right. It's what I was told anyways," Riku answered.
"And there's really no way to cure it?" Kairi asked.
Riku closed his eyes, shaking his head lightly. "No. I couldn't find anything."
"Kairi…" Sora pouted. "Don't go trying to look for a cure. I don't want it!"
"I know! I'm just a little curious. Like a spell with no way to reverse it? Seems a bit severe. What if a merperson tried to give CPR to a human? Would it just automatically put the spell on them?"
"You know," Riku hummed softly. "That's actually a good question."
"Omg! You think that ever happened before?" Sora gasped.
Riku shrugged. "Maybe? Who knows for sure."
"We should try and find out! I bet there are even weirder stories out there," Sora replied. "There's still so much I have to learn about your world."
"We still have time," Riku said. "I can start with the basics if you want."
With the time they had left, Riku answered and explained as much as he could about his people. From basic elements to more extensive lore history on the merfolk. Sora was able to listen to every bit that Riku had to say. Even if he didn't fully understand it, the way Riku talked always captivated him.
He knew he would always be able to listen to Riku all day long. He loved Riku and every word that passed his lips was magic to his ears.
When it finally came to the third day, Sora's legs were beyond stiff and in pain. It took all of Kairi's strength to carry him down to the shore. He had the power to do it, but Sora felt bad that he wasn't able to help as much due to the pain he was in from the transformation.
Riku was swimming back and forth along the shore, waiting for Kairi to bring Sora close enough. All of them were their own levels of nervousness, knowing but also not knowing what to expect. Sora's legs were covered with scales and with what Riku said, once Sora was in the water the final bits of the transformation would take place. He would finally be a merman once in the water.
"You ready Sora?" Kairi asked as she neared the shore line.
"Yeah," Sora whispered. "Just drop me in already."
Kairi nodded, wadded into the water. She got out deep enough to where Riku could swim up closer and then, holding her breath, she set Sora down in the water. Right away she stepped back as there was a shimmer of light.
Sora closed his eyes, unable to focus for the moment. But the pain and light was gone just as quickly as he blinked, he could already feel the difference. Sitting up a little, he looked down to see the blue shimmering tail that replaced his legs.
"Look!" he gawked as he pointed to it. "The tail!"
Riku swam up close to him holding hand behind his back for support. "Yeah, you're really beautiful Sora."
Sora blushed. "Thanks. It feels strange… but I think I can get the hang of moving it."
"You want to head out now then?"
Sora nodded. "Hm yup!"
"Will you come back soon?" Kairi asked.
Sora looked up at her, giving her one of his usual smiles. "Of course! We'll come back as soon as we can, okay? Gotta tell you all the good stuff!"
"Alright, if you think you'll be okay…"
"Hey, I got Riku! Of course I'll be okay!" Sora shouted happily as he leaned against Riku.
He felt Riku wrap his arms around his chest, bringing him in even closer than before. With his head resting against Riku's chest, he listened to his heart beat. For a moment he became lost in just the thought of the two of them. His own heart was beating in sync and he felt more at peace than ever before.
"Let's go Sora," Riku said as he started to move further out to the water.
The two said their final goodbyes to Kairi before finally diving under. Sora had initially held his breath at first, but when he saw how clear his vision was under water he slowly was able to exhale.
He laughed joyously over the fact he was breathing perfectly fine. "I can breathe and talk underwater!"
Riku smiled. "Yeah, you can now. How does it feel?"
"Amazing!" Sora said as he twirled around. "It's way different than air, but it feels way better."
"Well that's because we're meant to be underwater. It's what we were born in."
"I know! But I'm still getting used to it. But come on! Let's get to your home. I wanna see it all!"
The two swam further, with Riku leading. Sora eventually reached out and grabbed onto Riku's hand once they started to swim down deeper into the depths. Riku blushed slightly, but didn't hesitate or pull away. He seemed to smile more after that so Sora kept on holding his hand.
As they proceeded, Sora was fascinated by how different things were for him now. They were probably many feet below the surface now, and normally a human would need scuba gear or other things that would help with the pressure. To Sora now, it felt normal even as they were going deeper.
There was also the fact he could see this far down. He expected it to be dark and shadowy, but he could actually see everything that was in front and around him. Furthermore, he could see some form of light farther down below.
"Is that the kingdom?"
"Yeah that's Insomnia," Riku answered with a nod.
With another burst of laughter, Sora started to spin around, pulling Riku along with him. Both of them laughed, swirling around one another. Even if they were close to the place that Sora desperately wanted to explore, he found himself lost again with Riku.
Looking at him, he always found himself lost in his gaze. When they finished spinning he swam a little closer, bringing his face right up to his. "Riku?"
"Yeah Sora?"
"I love you," Sora whispered.
"I love you too," Riku whispered back.
Leaning forward, Sora pressed a kiss to Riku's lips. He hummed happily before pulling away, revealing his cheeky grin. "Race you there! One, two, three go!"
Riku blinked a few times before snapping out of his daze. "Hey! That's not fair!"
Sora turned around as he kept swimming. "Guess you gotta catch me to stop me then!"
Laughing, Riku started to swim after Sora. "You better know I'm going to catch you before you even reach the edge of the kingdom! Then it's pay back time!"
"Go ahead and try!" Sora taunted as he tried to swim faster.
The two were laughing loudly as they raced, heading closer to the destination. Their home… the home they would live in together, where hundreds of new adventures would come from. It was all there before them and Sora was ready to enjoy every moment of it.
It wasn't long though before Riku caught up to Sora, he was the better merman after all. But he grabbed on to Sora and caused him to come to a stop. With a laugh he held Sora closely and pressed his face against his.
"Ha! I still won!"
"You did not! You didn't get to the finish line first!"
"You never even established one! And you tricked me. Distracting me with a kiss," Riku huffed.
"Do you not want me to distract you?" Sora asked playfully.
Riku blushed. "N-No, uh I mean I don't… mind?"
Sora started to hum happily. "Well that's good then. I'll keep it in mind."
"Of course you will. But should we finish the race? We're almost to the edge of the kingdom."
"Yeah! First one there wins!"
"Okay you ready then?" Riku asked.
Before Sora could even answer, Riku pressed a kiss this time onto his lips, just as passionate as he did the last time. When Riku pulled away, Sora quickly recovered and started to swim after Riku.
"Hey! You stole my trick!"
"But it's a good trick!" Riku shouted in return.
The two raced on, laughing as they swam closer to one another and closer to the end of their little race. Even if Riku won, or they were to tie, Sora was enjoying every moment. He knew there would be plenty of other races anyways in the future. He would have plenty of time to practice and grow stronger so he could finally beat Riku one day in a race.
I do have other fics in this Kiss of a Mer series I still want to. I will try to make more of them if I can but since May is past other stories are on my priority right now. But keep an eye open.