A Secret Language of Seashells and Glass

by lucidscreamer

Shipwrecked after his uncle tried to kill him, Yami finds himself alone on a deserted island. But he may not be as alone as he thinks, as mysterious messages appear on the beach along with gifts and food. Yami slowly falls in love with his secret admirer through the language they create together, a language of seashells and glass. Mermaid AU (Not a fusion or xover.)

9. Chapter 9

(9)

Daily, Yami hopes for rescue.

He spells out SOS on the beach above the tide. He burns bonfires day and night, hoping to attract the notice of a passing boat or plane.

Tending the fires helps pass the time. But there are no boats or planes, no zepplins, or pirate ships, or sea-gods riding dolphins. Nothing but endless sea and sky.

Movement out past the breakers catches his eye: a flash of fluke or fin disappearing beneath the waves. Perhaps a curious, spy-hopping dolphin?

Struck by sudden whimsy, Yami smiles. Maybe the dolphin's gone to fetch its sea-god to save him.

o0o

Some days, the anger threatens to consume him. His uncle's actions were premeditated, cold and calculated rather than an act of momentary madness. Any familial sentiments that Yami might still have clung to drowned in the cleansing waters, and he (born anew) arose from their foam a different creature than the broken man who fell in. Strange visions haunt his sleep, like second-sight unfurling "what-ifs" and "why didn't I's" in the peopleless silence. Under his uncle's thumb, Yami now sees that he was a poseur in his own skin, playing at being himself. Now, here, the silence strips away layers of artifice worn as armor, baring the true self beneath. Unfurling like a lotus in the first breath of creation, arising as a new sun from the open petals, he settles into his skin, feeling alive for the first time since his father died.