Hello again! I hope you all had a wonderful week, and welcome back to the next chapter of Above and Below! I don't have too much to say here, except that I'm immensely prouder of this chapter than of the first chapter. Which is sucky, because the first chapter is obviously what people see first. But oh well. I have an actual world built up around this fanfiction, which is really rare as most of "my worlds" (I like to call them that) are used in my actual writing that I someday want to make into books and stuff. But I like the shipping possibilities of this one too much to not make fic. I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you next time! Remember, Review!
"You're a-" He didn't get the chance to finish that sentence when she suddenly dropped under the waves and out of his sight. He looked down and around desperately, feeling her hands press from place to place across his body to keep him afloat. His chin slapped the surface of the water, and the salt stung in his eyes. He could just barely see the flash of green scales all around him. He felt his legs suddenly be pinned together-something strong and swift wrapping around both of them. She resurfaced, right next to his ear.
"Hold your breath." She murmured.
Zen felt a chill run through his body. She sunk, and alarmingly, so did he. He tilted his head straight back and gulped a huge breath of air, before she pulled him down with a sharp yank from her tail. He closed his eyes, then opened them again once under. Her green eyes were beautiful, but scrutinizing. Something like hatred lingered in them. Zen wondered what he had done to make the mermaid so mad.
She unraveled her tail and put her hands on his chest. To his alarm, he was already sinking again from the chains. He watched as her long, sparkling green tail straightened her body so she was a downwards arrow. Her fin spread, high over her head. It shimmered as it acted like a shade for the oh-so-far away sun. There were veins of golden coloring stretched all over her fin. It looked more like a fabric than an actual muscle.
Then it pumped downwards, and Zen's breath was nearly knocked out of him. She kicked her tail, taking him with her deeper into the sea.
She's trying to kill me. Zen thought. He kicked out, shaking his head desperately. But the mermaid made a small pfft noise and simply kicked harder.
Pressure started to build on Zen. Between his two eyebrows, a pain started to build. He clenched his teeth and tried to think. She had warned him to hold his breath. And if she was trying to kill him, why wouldn't she just have let him drown originally?
She lowered her tail and stretched her body. Suddenly they were moving sideways instead of down. Zen tried to raise his eyebrow at her. She didn't answer. Zen started to wonder if she could. Instead, she sped up. His hair all drifted towards her, the water pushing at his back. The Second Prince of Clarines studied her the best he could as they moved.
She was incredibly beautiful, with long, wavy red hair the colors of perfectly ripe apples. Her skin was an even shade, not a spot on her face. She wore a collection of bracelets on each wrist. It was hard to tell exactly what they were made out of, but he could blame the pressure giving him a massive headache for that. She wore some sort of fabric around her chest. It was white, and unlike that of any he'd ever seen before. He could see the stitch work in it, but it was so thin the sun shone through it. Just before that fabric on her skin, he saw four slits on both sides of her collarbones-gills. Her skin became scales just underneath her belly button.
She shoved him down a little more, and then removed her hands from his chest. Zen's lungs were starting to hurt. He pulled at the chains again, but all he was rewarded with was a sharp pain against his wrists. The mermaid kicked her tail and slipped by him-close enough that her hair brushed over his cheeks and her tail nearly smacked him.
Zen tried to turn and see her, but then he felt his chains be pulled. He grunted softly, a few precious bubbles escaping from his lips. The mermaid probably didn't know about how rubbed raw his wrists were. Her pulling him by them felt as if a million needles were being pushed into his skin. The salty water wasn't helping.
Then suddenly he stopped moving. He began to sink again, but before he got too far his shirt tightened against his chest. She had apparently dropped his chains and was pulling him along by his clothing instead. Before he could think too much about that, the surface of the water, seemingly so far away, seemed to vanish. He realized he was being pulled through a large hole-assumingly in a rock based off the smoothness of the stone now above him. He tried to twist to see the mermaid, but her tail twisted and slammed into his chest. "Mph!" He tried to complain. The mermaid didn't respond.
She's kidnapping me. Why is she kidnapping me? He thought.
He was pulled through a small opening, and then suddenly he was out in open water again. The mermaid let go of his shirt and tossed him through the water, and for a single second he floated alone in cold, dark water. Then, the mermaid reappeared. The water around him swirled and kept him upwards, stopping his chains from pulling him down. Her tail shimmered softly, gold and green lights flashing faintly in the low light. She rolled through the water, her hair spinning around her body. Suddenly she was right in front of him, her sudden stop sending her red hair flinging itself outwards in a dark backdrop. Her eyes and tail were probably the brightest thing in this cave. She scowled at him, then grabbed him by the armpits again. She looked up and with a few wiggles of her tail they were moving.
Zen wasn't expecting his head to break through the surface of the water. Automatically, he opened his mouth with a gasp, chest finally rising and falling. The oxygen was damp and didn't taste fresh-but it was better than nothing at all.
The mermaid broke the surface in front of him with much more grace. Water rolled down her neck slowly, her eyes opening slowly to stare at him. Her grip stayed tight on him.
"Where are we?" Zen asked, trying to get his breath back. He blinked, trying to get the stinging of his eyes to stop. He could see a faint blue glow coming from his right. The way his voice echoed made him think he was in a very big cave of some sort.
The mermaid shoved him towards the light. Her tail broke the surface as she kicked, sending a shower of droplets that echoed eerily throughout the cavern. "Land ho." She murmured.
Even with the warning, there wasn't much he could do. He didn't jump when he felt his arms hit against a ledge. He blinked at her. "Where are we? What are you going to do to me?"
The mermaid regarded him. She let him go and moved back. Zen had to start kicking his legs to keep him afloat, though it was a losing battle. Seeing his struggle, the mermaid gave a sigh and reached her arms around his waist. She grasped his hands, then pulled them up. His elbows bent upwards, and soon enough his knuckles scratched against a sandy ground. Desperately, he began to adjust-pulling his hands further back with a jump and a wince-those chains were unforgiving. They clinked against one another as he tried to pull himself ashore.
Just before he pulled his chest free of the water, the mermaid slammed her hands on either side of him, getting in his face. "Stop there." She ordered.
Zen froze obediently, very aware of the fact she could easily lift his chains and drop him back into the water. He swallowed, the taste of the ocean felt like it stuck to the back of his throat.
Her breath smelled like fish, and it was unnaturally warm with the cold sea around Zen's legs. "Listen well, human. Do you know what I am?"
"A-A mermaid?" Zen responded, not sure if it was the correct answer.
Her tail smacked the water, but she didn't move an inch from her position. "Yes. Do you know where I come from?"
Zen shook his head, his hair dripping water down onto his nose.
The mermaid frowned. "Do you know of my people?"
"I-I didn't know you were real." Zen managed.
That was obviously the wrong thing to say. The mermaid pushed off of the ledge, leaving him there. She glared at him, before turning and diving into the water in the way a dolphin would. Her arms went up, sending out waves of water on either side of her-like wings. Her hands were over her head before she hit the surface again. Her body arched and her tail followed where she had been. Zen was so entranced with the way her scales looked as she moved, he didn't see her splayed fin coming. It smacked him in the jaw-so hard that his hands were pushed farther up onto the land. He gasped in pain as the chains grounded against his skin.
He waited a minute, but the mermaid did not resurface.
He sighed. He rolled over around the ledge, groaning as the chains pushed at his skin. It was a miracle he wasn't bleeding yet. He tightened his fists, and pulled himself forward the best he could. Slowly he yanked his body from the water. He kept expecting the mermaid to grab his ankles and drag him back to a watery grave.
But she didn't.
He pulled himself free of the ocean's grasp. Zen let out a massive sigh of relief and flopped onto his side. Water dripped from his hair. His clothes stuck uncomfortably to his skin. The air in the cavern felt too dry after his unexpected swim. His shoulder blades ached-desperately, he wished to be rid of his chains. But the only person he could really ask was the mermaid, and something told him she wasn't exactly in the mood to help him out there.
As tempting as it was to lie there until he froze, however, he was not about to die so easily. With a reluctant sigh, he rolled and sat up. Sand stuck to him from all sides. On top of the salt, now he had to deal with the sand. He cleared his throat again and looked around.
The cavern was about the size he thought it might be. It was more water than it was land. Stalagmites and stalactites poked out of and into the water from everywhere. The edge of the cave wasn't even really visible. The roof was high up. Zen wondered where the air he was breathing came from. His ears were in a little bit of pain, so he knew he was still under the sea. He looked around some more, and as his eyes watered to help clear the salt, he thought he spotted strange crystals all around him. They were on the walls and in the roof, he even thought he saw one on one of the stalagmites. There were even a few on the little bit of land he stood on. The sand was smooth, only interrupted by those little crystals.
Right next to the water's edge, just a few steps away from him, sat a massive rock. It had indents all around it, like a bunch of footholds. Behind that, just a foot away, was a rock that was almost exactly the same. Only the top was flat. And that top of the rock was where the blue light was coming from. A set of those crystals he was seeing everywhere shone a brilliant azure. It was mesmerizing to look at directly, as it shimmered and moved. It reminded Zen of the surface, the sun shining down through it.
"Pretty, isn't it?"
The mermaid's voice made him jump. He stepped back, away from the water nervously.
She had her arms folded on the land, her tail flicking in and out of the water. Her smile was teasing, but there was still that underlying dislike.
"Um, yes." Zen managed. He sighed and tried to stretch his shoulders the best he could with the chains. Now that his life wasn't in danger anymore, his adrenaline was fading. The chains were heavy, and they pulled at his muscles constantly. He tried to smile at the mermaid. "Any chance I could trust you enough to untie these?"
For an odd moment, the mermaid's eyes shifted just slightly. As if she was afraid, or in shock that he had even asked. But it was covered quickly with a mask of calm. "No."
Zen sagged. He sat down heavily, the chains clinking. He leaned his body against the odd rock, pressing his head there. "Why did you bring me here? And why do you hate me so much?"
"I brought you here because I hate you." She responded.
"Then why do you hate me?"
The mermaid let one of her arms splash back into the water. "Tell me…what do your people know of the mers?"
"L-Like, myths and stuff?" Zen tried to clarify, still wondering why she even cared.
Her eyes narrowed and her smile faded. "Yes. Myths and stuff."
"Um…" Zen tried to think. He was starting to realize the only way he could successfully get anywhere with this mermaid was if he played along. He began to rub his boots together-trying to pull them free of his feet so he wouldn't have to deal with all the seawater swirling around his already freezing toes. "Okay, well let's see…" He legitimately tried to think, while the mermaid watched his shoes with suspicion and poorly hidden curiosity. "Mermaids are half women, half fish. They lure men to their death with their voices." He finally managed.
The mermaid's eyes flicked back up to his, letting him know he should keep talking.
Zen grunted as he felt the heel to his boot slip free a little bit. "Let's see…the pirates had a song about you they ever so kindly showed to me during my time aboard-but I doubt you want to hear it. It's not exactly polite."
She lifted her shoulders. "I was going to sink that ship anyways."
Zen tried not to show how unsettling this fact was. "What else…There's one legend about Atlantis-"
She perked up, her tail suddenly smacking the water loud enough to echo.
"But, uh, the legend doesn't really say anything explicitly about mermaids." Zen suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute…you said mers, earlier. So…I'm assuming mermen are actually real, too?"
As easy as he had her full attention, he had lost it. He wasn't sure why this was a little disappointing to him. She let go of the ledge and began a slow swim on the surface of the water. She didn't go far, curling around in a medium-sized circle. "Yes, mermen are real. They sink ships just as much as we do." She scoffed and dipped her head under the surface. In a quick moment, she resurfaced. Water cascaded down from her hair, but she didn't blink as it rolled into her eyes. "And of course the legend doesn't say anything about mers…" She suddenly made a sharp turn-interrupting her circle to lunge back towards the land. She looked at him, her hands holding her down as waves rolled onto the sand with a hissing sound. "Does the legend say anything about the people living there? Tell me more about that legend-the one about Atlantis."
"I-I don't know all that much." Zen stammered, surprised by her sudden reaction. "Something about gods determining that the Atlantians were too bad for this world. So they sent earthquakes and tsunamis and sank the city." Zen tried to shrug, though the chains made it more effort than it should have been.
The mermaid scowled. "I knew it."
"Knew…what?" Zen wasn't sure if he liked her anger.
She dipped her head under the water. Her tail flicked and sent a shower of droplets spattering across the sands. Only a heartbeat passed, and then suddenly she surged to the top of the rock next to him.
"Whoa!" Zen cried, shoving his butt backwards through the sand. His one boot popped completely off with the sudden rush.
Her fin slapped against the side of the rock. Her tail curled around it once, holding her tightly in place as she loomed over him. "The Atlantians did nothing wrong!" She shouted. Her voice echoed throughout the cavern. Her eyes glowed gold-the same color as the highlights on her scales. "It was you! Your people! You attacked our home, burnt it to the ground and slaughtered thousands of my ancestors!"
Zen's heart was pounding. Her magnificent red hair fanned out over her shoulders, draping like a curtain and sending cascades of water roll down her body. The blue light of the crystal reflected on her skin and gave her face more shadows than usual. But as she spoke, the blue glow altered slightly.
Zen risked a glance at the crystal and saw the tips of it were turning a violent, twisted purple. Like a storm cloud sick with lightning bolts. Then he had to look back at the mermaid, as she was still shouting.
"What few people remained had to flee into the sea-permanently! They watched from the waves as the Clarines Kingdom savaged the island they called home until nothing was left." The mermaid's tail fin fluttered-then turned gold. Her voice came out as a faint whisper. "And you don't even know about it."
Zen was shocked. He tried to find the words, but he had only questions. "Clarines-Clarines did that?"
The mermaid seemed to be cooling down-her flipper curled in on itself, then unfurled back to its original, emerald green. "Yes. And you should know about this, Prince."
He winced-and not only because the chains tugged down on his arms as he tried to shift. But he knew how to respond. He knew Clarines had grown to its current state of power with more than a few massacres. He had dealt with people like this mermaid before-albeit without eyes that changed colors. And all of those had been men with feet. "I will not justify my ancestors' actions by any means."
Clearly, the mermaid was not expecting to hear that. Her eyes flashed back to green in a single blink. She recoiled her head slightly, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
Zen kicked off his remaining boot successfully, then stood. He held his chin high, the way he had been trained to do all his life. He put his pride in that stance. "But I am not my ancestors. They are as distant to me as you are. I don't know their names, none of them are hailed as heroes." He met her eyes, trying to make it clear-she did not scare him. "And to blame me for their actions will do nothing to cease your rage."
The mermaid looked startled for a moment, but at the end of his sentences she dipped her head to the side with a sigh. Then she rose, bringing her shoulders up and looking down her nose at him. She opened her mouth, but at that moment-there was a splash in the pool.
Both Zen and the mermaid's eyes went to the water, which was rippling. Something had disturbed it.
The mermaid muttered something in another language under her breath. It sounded like a mix between dolphin noises and actual words. Her tail unraveled around the rock.
"What is that?" Zen asked. He would have originally passed the splash as a loose fish, but her reaction told him that was not the case. He was expecting her to dive into the water, but instead she lunged for him.
In the blink of an eye, Zen was pressed to the ground. He gasped aloud, his head slamming back into the sand.
"Silence." She hissed. Her tail was pinning his legs to the sand-all of her weight centered there. She straightened her upper body-an impossible feat for a human like him. She reached back and opened her satchel. She began to sift through it, casting anxious glanced back at the water.
"What's happening?" Zen tried to ask. The chains dug into his back painfully. He started to sit up, but she put her hand on his chest heavily and glared at him in warning. Zen groaned slightly and turned his head to the side. The mermaid removed her hand.
When he looked back at her, she held a small white pearl in her hand. It reflected the light of the crystal brightly. Before he could ask, she dropped it into her fist and squeezed her fingers-crushing it. She opened her hand and began to pour out the remaining bits of the pearl, but they did not fall. Zen's jaw dropped as the bits left the mermaid's hand, and levitated just a few centimeters below where she had tipped her hand over. They rolled slowly through the air peacefully.
The mermaid gently blew a single breath of air at the bits, and they instantly all shattered into dust. Then the dust floated towards the side of Zen. Zen held his breath on an instinct, trying to press himself farther down into the ground. But the dust simply went around him, and behind. Zen blinked; "what-" but then was cut off when he felt his chains shifting against his back and wrists.
He hissed in pain, and the mermaid grasped the front of his shirt and pulled him up a little bit. Her eyes weren't even on him, they were on the water. He felt her fin twitch slightly against his ankles.
His chains unraveled, and for the first time in hours, he was able to stretch his arm out. He grasped the mermaid's hand clutching his shirt, and she let go immediately. He tried to keep holding it, but she was soft and slippery-and she easily pulled free of his touch. She seemed to hesitate, watching as he fell back, but then she turned her attention back onto the water.
"Oof!" His back hit the sand. The mermaid's tail slithered off of his legs. He sat up. "Why did you-Ah!" He gasped as he was suddenly yanked to the side. His body slide across the sand, the millions of grains shifting. He felt as if he was half-buried, but then he was pulled up slightly. His shoulder slammed against the rock and his whole body reeled with pain. He clenched his teeth and turned sharply. His hair dropped a few bits of water as he watched the magic do its obviously true work.
His right wrist wasn't free of the chain. It was still tied tight around his hurt skin, while the rest of the chain had lengthened and wrapped around the rock with the glowing crystal on top of it. As he watched, the links of the chain tied themselves extremely tight, and in too fast of a way for him to follow with his eyes. But when the chain was finished, it sagged down as if nothing had happened. It was inanimate once again.
Leaving him tethered to the rock like some sort of dog.
A flare of frustration made him glare at the mermaid. "You could have-" He was cut off as she was suddenly in his face. A knife was pressed against his neck. Tip first-unusual. Normally you would press the whole side of the knife against the neck. But no, the half-fish had just the tip pressing onto his jugular.
"If you wish to breathe a minute more, you will sit here and be quiet until I return." The mermaid's eyes flashed the gold color they had earlier.
Zen swallowed slightly.
The mermaid glanced back at the water one more time, then muttered more in that dolphin-like language. She pulled back her knife and dropped it into her satchel, pinning it closed with some sort of mechanical clip.
Zen sagged against the rock, not believing it. He had some room-he could probably stand up-but he could only take a single step forward. This was getting unfair. This was the physical embodiment of his most hated part of being a prince-always having his hands either tied or at least restrained so he couldn't do all that he wished too.
He glared at the mermaid as she turned around. He was hoping he'd get to at least find some entertainment on watching her flop like a seal back into the sea, but no. She moved her tail like a snake, her human half upright. Slowly, she slipped back and forth in a weaving motion, powering herself through the sand. She dove into the water soundlessly, with barely a ripple.
Leaving him alone.