(A/N)- This one is actually my favorite of the bunch. I just loved getting to do Mer!Kory. Heavy inspiration from Splash!, obviously.
Disclaimer: It has been a WEEK my gosh, and I still don't own Teen Titans.
RobStar Week 2020, Day 4 - Fantasy AU
"You couldn't have lost the arrow in some nice wide open field," Dick grumbled, pushing aside thick undergrowth that pricked his hands and scratched at his clothes. "You had to lose it in the creepy fae-infested forest."
"Shut up and help me look for it," his friend Roy hissed, crashing through the brush next to him. "If Lord Oliver finds out I've been messing with his magic arrows again he'll have my hide!"
Dick rolled his eyes. "And if Lord Wayne finds out I'm in here with you he'll have mine," he drawled back. "When are you gonna craft your own magic arrows to lose track of?" he complained.
"Told you, I haven't got the focus for it."
"You would if you studied."
Roy snorted. "Like that's helped you."
Dick scowled, annoyed but choosing not to comment on the barb. It wasn't his fault he'd been born without any magical talent. That Lord Wayne had chosen to take him under his wing anyway as his squire was surely testament enough that hard work and practice could yield skills that were just as valuable as magecraft.
"Check down there, I'll look over here behind that fallen log," Roy's voice broke into his thoughts.
Dick quickly tried to untangle his sleeve from a trailing end of moss, caught on his elbow. "I don't think splitting up is such a good—"
When he turned around to look, the other boy was already gone.
"—idea…" he finished timidly.
He looked around for a moment, eventually glimpsing flashes of his friend's tunic peeking out between the trees to his right.
Sighing, he trudged down the slope in the other direction.
The shadows seemed to deepen as he picked his way downhill. The sunlight filtered down blue through the trees, catching sparkling dust motes in the air. Dick caught the sound of running water and moments later found himself on the bank of a deep pond. Water spilled into it from one side, tinkling through gray rocks in a musical waterfall. It poured out through a filter of fallen branches on the other side, continuing on in a rushing stream that wound its way through the forest. The water was a murky blue where the shadows fell across it, but clear down to the rocks at the bottom under the sunlight.
Dick caught a glimpse of something in one of the sunlit patches. He squinted. There was a long silver gleam sticking up from the mud.
He muffled a groan as he realized it was Roy's lost arrow. Glancing around he considered his options. If he dove down into the pond after it and returned to the Manor soaked he would definitely be in for it. Would it float back up to the surface if he jostled it loose?
He grabbed up a long stick, crouching on the rocks, leaning out as far as he could, stretching down.
The tip wouldn't quite reach the shaft. Dick strained a little further.
His foot slipped on the damp rock.
Dick gasped, flailing, dropping the stick, finding himself falling face-first towards the pond.
A pair of hands came up out of the water, catching him an inch from its still surface.
Dick blinked in shock at a set of green eyes that were staring up at him from under the water.
The hands gave a small push, just enough to tilt his balance back over the bank, and Dick yanked backwards, his eyes widening as a head broke the water's surface.
"Woah!" he exclaimed, scrambling back on his hands. He gaped at the creature. "Uh…" he stammered, a bit a loss for words. "Hi."
It had a girl's face, smooth and round, with warm golden skin framed by long, dripping red hair that made flaming trails behind her in the water. Pink frills flared behind her ears, like decorative fins.
Fins…
Dick checked down under the water. The girl's torso stopped at her hips, slowly fading into a bright pink and magenta tail. He stared at it, open-mouthed, marveling at the neon blue piping along the sides, the feather edges of her fins, and the way the scales glistened.
He was moving closer before he realized it, and only noticed when she startled, pushing away from him a little.
"It's okay!" he said, holding up his hands. "I promise I won't hurt you." He offered her a smile, hoping she'd see he wasn't a threat.
Cautiously, her face came back out of the water. She stared at him, her green eyes mesmerizing and deep and he felt oddly… light. His heart stuttered and his cheeks seemed to warm.
"Um…" he said. He was looking for something wasn't he? What was it? Dick shook his head, coming to himself.
That's right, my idiot friend's arrow, he remembered.
"Hey, uh…" He pointed down past her at the arrow on the pond bottom. "Can… can you help me get that?"
She tilted her head curiously, her eyes squinching like she hadn't quite understood what he'd said.
He stretched his arm, trying to direct her attention. "See that arrow?" he asked.
She glanced from him, down into the pond, and back again. She pointed down at the gleaming silver shaft.
"Yes, that," Dick confirmed.
She gestured questioningly at herself.
"Yes!" he exclaimed, relieved that she understood. "Yes, can you get it for me?"
She smiled, a gorgeous sight that had him almost falling backwards, and pushed away from the bank, sinking beneath the surface. Her brilliant pink tail flashed up, sparkling in the sunlight as she swam down and retrieved the arrow.
She emerged momentarily, the silver shaft clutched tight in her hand, raised triumphantly. Drifting forward in the water she held it out to him.
His fingers brushed against hers as he reached out and took it, sending some kind of tingle through his arm. Dick flushed, losing track of his thoughts again, staring down at the contact between their hands as if in a daze.
"Hey Talentless, you find my arrow yet?!" Roy's voice floated up shrilly from behind him.
Dick broke out of his trance, shooting the girl an apologetic look.
"I have to go," he said, taking the arrow and standing to his feet. "Thank you."
He had already turned around to clamber back up the slope and didn't see the way her eyes saddened or her forlorn hand lingering in the air after him.
-TT-
The land boy visited her several more times after that. He would bring her treats, delightfully sweet little morsels of human food, and grin every time her eyes lit up upon tasting one. He would chatter at her, trying to communicate, and she would politely smile and shake her head when she didn't understand. Human language was awkward and fumbling on her silken tongue, and even less could parse through her keen ears, but one word she learned and remembered well—the boy's name.
Dick. An odd word, but one that seemed to suit him. He'd tried to get her to pronounce it, and she'd come to a close enough approximation that he stopped correcting her when she said it.
She longed to tell him her own name. She could feel her soul bonding more and more to this boy every time they spoke. She practiced saying it to herself, forming the syllables with her mouth, trying out her air voice.
Kory. Kor-ee. Khory.
She was whispering it under her breath, waiting with anticipation for him to come. Her heart leapt as she heard his footsteps crunching through the short green grass. As soon as she saw him she blurted it out.
"Kory!"
He stopped, blinking down at her in confusion.
"What?"
She pressed a wet hand against her chest, eyes earnest. "Kory!" she repeated. She tapped her collar insistently. "Kory!"
He gasped, dropping to his knees and peering into her face. "Kory?" he said.
She nodded vigorously. "Kory!"
The smile that broke across his face caused firecrackers to spark inside her chest.
He breathed her name, reverently, in awe, and she felt herself melting into a warm ball of light. Her heart suddenly ached looking at him.
Oh dear… she sighed to herself, realizing with dismay how far she'd fallen.
-TT-
The witch brushed a strand of long purple hair out of her face, concentrating on the small text in her dusty spellbook. The restoration process was going much slower than she liked, but if she could just get one good stretch without any interruptions—
"Hey Rae!"
Raven puffed out her breath in aggravation, swiveling around to see her changeling familiar hovering in the doorway, one hand on the ancient mahogany to hold it open.
"What is it, Gar?" she asked wearily.
He thumbed over his shoulder towards the opening. "Someone here to see you."
He offered nothing further, prompting the witch to cross her arms. "Well, what do they want?" she demanded.
"I dunno, I didn't ask," he said, shrugging.
Raven sighed in frustration, getting up from her seat and crossing over to the door. Gar moved out of her way, letting the door begin to swing closed. Raven caught it, curling her fingers around the edge and poking her head out around it.
She couldn't see anyone, at least at first. Then a sloshing sound came from somewhere at her feet.
Raven glanced down in surprise at the young girl hanging half out of the stream that flowed in front of her cottage.
The girl was wringing her fingers together, shrinking bashfully into her bare shoulders. She peeked up and offered a shy smile.
Raven stared flatly, expression vaguely confused.
"Can I… help you?" she asked.
The girl swept an arm backwards, lifting up her tailfin, waving it slightly.
Raven's eyes and expression were blank a long moment. "Yes, it's a very lovely tail," she finally commented.
The mermaid dropped her fin back into the water, pointing anxiously towards the witch.
"What?" Raven came out of the hut, closing the door behind her. The mermaid continued gesturing insistently at her. "Me," Raven guessed.
A shake of the head. The pointing finger jabbed downwards.
Raven glanced down.
"My legs."
An enthusiastic nod and a bright smile.
Raven stared for half a second more, mulling that over in her head. She slouched a bit when her mind figured it out. "You want me to give you legs," she drolled in conclusion.
Another happy nod.
Raven sighed deeply, massaging her temple. "Is this about a boy?" she groaned.
The mermaid ducked her head, looked sheepishly down at her hands and tapped her fingers together with a cute blush.
Raven made several private grumbles to herself before sighing again. "Fine," she agreed reluctantly. "But if things don't work out, don't come crying to me," she grumbled, already turning around to go back inside her hut.
-TT-
She emerged momentarily with a bubbling potion in a clear glass bottle.
"All right. This will let you walk on land for seven suns," Raven told her.
Very gently, she handed the glass to the mermaid, who took it in her slightly webbed fingers with wide eyes and an awed expression.
"Be careful," the witch cautioned. "Under moonlight or in water the spell reverses." She stepped back, brushing her hands off. "You'll need to wait for sunlight or to dry off to change back."
The mermaid nodded, seemingly understanding. Her mouth opened and a strained attempt at words came from her throat.
"Thaaannk… you…" she said. A little more confidently she repeated. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome," Raven muttered, pulling her cloak tighter around herself as the mermaid flipped and dove down into the water.
-TT-
"And… tada!" his friend exclaimed with a flourish.
Dick stared down at the concoction, watching cool mist drift up from it.
"All right, I give up," he said. "What is it?"
The alchemist grabbed a wooden dowel from his rack, dipping it into the blue mixture, giving it a few good swirls and then pulling it out.
"Instant gilding!" Victor announced, proudly showing off the thin gold coating now lining the dowel.
"Woah!" Dick breathed, putting his hands on the table, suitably impressed.
"Admittedly not quite as impressive as the ever-elusive turning lead into gold," Victor said, setting the dowel off to the side and grabbing a towel to wipe his hands off. "But quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself," he added with a wide grin. He stepped back from his workdesk, crossing his arms. "So what brings you by today?" he asked.
"Well, I was looking for—" Dick started, but then cut off as shouting rose up from outside, making him swing his head around, looking out the window of Victor's apothecary shop, puzzled.
Victor squinted his eyes too. "Now what's all that fuss about?" he wondered.
The two boys wandered over to the door. Dick stepped outside curiously.
A jumble of frantic voices met their ears.
"Don't touch it! You don't know where it come from!"
"She walked outta the wood I tell ya! Jus' like that!"
"Momma! She hasn't got any clothes!"
Startled, Dick looked down the street, peering past the rustling wall of bodies that both crowded around something and fell over themselves trying to get away from it.
"Goodness dearie! Are you all—"
"Stay away from it, Marjorie! It's onna them fae I know it!"
Dick pushed past a few jostling shoulders, Victor on his heels, clearing a path towards the source of the disturbance. Dick's peering eyes caught a flash of familiar bright red hair and he stopped in his tracks.
It couldn't be.
The crowd finally parted enough for him to see her. A beautiful girl with golden-orange skin and long crimson hair, stark naked, making her way forward through the crowd on wobbly, unsteady legs.
His mermaid.
She spotted him, her face lighting up with a gasp and a smile.
"Dick!" she called, stumbling her way towards him.
His face had warmed at least ten degrees hotter. "Kory?" he squeaked in disbelief.
Kory blundered the last few paces, tripping on the last step. Dick rushed forward to catch her, his arms grabbing hold of hers.
Her hands clutched his face, pulling him down towards her until his lips met hers.
"Hhmmgh?" he muffled in shock, his brains dropping straight into his boots.
Kory wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, her skin warm and fragrant and her heartbeat sounding against his chest between the soft… things… pressing into his tunic.
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Friend of yours?" he quipped.
Dick couldn't respond, all his mental faculties shutting down one by one.
-TT-
Her land boy was in a daze when she finally pulled back, the words of his human language storing themselves in her mind, ready to be used.
Kory brushed a strand of hair from her face, pulling herself upright against him. She didn't care about the fearful whispers from the villagers, their suspicious looks and how they shied back as if she were a cursed thing. She didn't care that it was forbidden by ancient law for merfolk to tether their hearts to mortals. She didn't care about the ache in her strange new legs that tilted and bent in odd ways she wasn't used to.
She was just so happy he was here.
"I missed you," she whispered in his ear, sliding her arms around him and holding him close.
He was still wide-eyed, his expression dull.
And all he could say in response was a breathless, "I can tell…"