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.)

17. Chapter 17

(17)

How different this is from Yami's life before.

He had never wanted for company, even if true camaraderie was rarely found. He learned early on that sometimes the loneliest place to be is

surrounded by people, knowing not one of them gives a damn about you.

Thoreau said the language of friendship is not words but meanings. For the first time in his life, Yami thinks he understands.

This invisible companion, this "Yugi," may be the truest friend he's ever had.

o0o

Life is different, lived mostly under open sky. Yami's world is small, shrunken to the drumbeat of the relentless surf on the reef that shelters the lagoon, the wind's breath tangled in the shaggy crowns of the coconut palms, the shelterless sky above, and the shimmer-heat of the white sand below. This safe cresent, gleaming pale curve like the horn of the newborn moon. This untouched atoll, white sands pristine and painful-bright beneath the sun. This shelter, this prison, this lonely paradise.

Palmy days elide into sun-baked weeks, and weeks to months, notched palm ribs marking time. Hope of rescue withers like an unwatered garden. He burns the palm ribs on the signal pyres like an offering to Fate, and watches the smoke carry his prayers to an uncaring sky. Still, Yami refuses to fall into despair and death; he is not alone. Though yet unseen, his friend is as constant as the heat, as predictable as dawn... and as necessary.

Their language is like the sea, mutable and strange; a game to pass the time, ever evolving as the days pass between them. Yugi is both anchor and buoy, tethering Yami to sanity and lifting his head above the waters when isolation threatens to drown him. He is not forgotten, he is known and (for perhaps the first time in his life) not found wanting.