The cerulean waves crashed softly against the rocks around them, licking at Blaine's bare feet and sloshing around the merman's pale waist, where he was half-submerged. Blaine closed his eyes and let the sound sooth him. He'd always taken comfort in the sound and motion of the sea, ever since he was a little kid.

The waves now were smooth and rhythmic, nothing like the terrifying violence of just a few hours prior. God, had it really only been that long? Not even a day earlier, Blaine had been happily going about his business on the Dalton as usual; dutifully laboring in the sun, joking around with his friends, contemplating plans for his next shore leave...

It all seemed like a lifetime ago.

"How do you feel?"

The angelic voice cut through his ruminations. Blaine opened his eyes and looked down. Kurt was staring up at him with wide, questioning eyes. Blaine swallowed, "I- I honestly don't know." Kurt smiled a little.

"Guess?" He prodded.

"Confused?" Blaine tried, "Dazed...overwhelmed...scared-"

"You're still scared?"

Blaine met the merman's eyes, "Yeah," he answered honestly. "Not of you, exactly, I don't think" he amended, "Just... of everything. Everything that's happened, you know? It doesn't make sense." Kurt nodded for him to continue and the worlds began tumbling out of his chest, panic-filled and beyond his control, "I don't know what's going on or what's going to happen. I don't know what you just did to me or who you are or what you are or where I am. Or if any of this is real or if I'm just crazy. I'm... I'm scared." Blaine swallowed and looked down, feeling slightly ashamed at displaying such weakness.

Kurt was quiet for a moment. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said finally.

Blaine nodded, "I know." At least, he was pretty sure he knew. He hoped he knew.

"And... you're not going to hurt me?"

Blaine barely managed to bite back his disbelieving bark of laughter. He, Blaine, hurt Kurt? The mermaid?

"Are you serious?" Kurt frowned and Blaine realized that yes, yes he was. Oh.

"I couldn't if I tried," Blaine explained,"-Not that I would try!" Blaine added quickly at Kurt's unsettled expression, "I wouldn't! Of I course I wouldn't. Why would I want to?"

Kurt looked down,"I don't know. People do all kinds of bad things when they're scared." His voice was quiet. Blaine wondered if the other boy had had that sort of experience before.

"I'm not that kind of scared," said Blaine after a moment, "And even if I was, I don't think I would try to hurt you. You're all I've got right now." Despite the heat of the day, a chill settled over Blaine as realized how true his words were. He was all alone but for this boy who may or may not have had a hand in murdering his best friends.

Kurt moved until he could brush his fingertips against Blaine's. Blaine didn't pull away.

"I'm scared, too," the pale boy confided. Blaine's eyes widened in surprise.

"What do you have to be afraid of?"

Kurt pulled his hand back so he could better balance on the rock he was leaning on. He shrugged. "The same things as you, mostly," he said, dropping his gaze, "I don't know who you are either. I don't know if I can trust you or if I'm going to regret what I did. What I'm doing." He bit his lip, "No human's ever seen a mermaid and lived to tell about it... at least not up close. I know for sure no human's ever been healed by a mermaid... I'm scared of what my family will do if they find out. I'm scared of what everyone else will do if they find out... I'm scared of where we go from here."

Blaine could only sit and stare in quiet awe as boy before him expressed his fears. His real, human fears, free from all shame or attempts at bravado or mystique. And Blaine realized, really understood, for the first time, that underneath that monstrous tail, sharp-teeth, magic-powers, and unnerving beauty, there was a person. A young boy who was curious, brave, and scared and who might just be just as far in over his head as Blaine.

The sailor suddenly felt drawn to the merboy in a way that he couldn't quite understand. But it was a connection he didn't want to shy away from.

He waited until the mysterious boy met his eyes again. "So," he said finally, "Where do we go from here?"

"Well..." Kurt looked as uncertain as he felt, "We could go back to the beach for starters. Those rocks can't be too comfortable."

Blaine hesitated.

"What?"

"I'm... I'm just afraid, if I take my eyes off you, you'll disappear." Somehow, this fear, more than any of the other more rational ones, hurt to say out loud. But at the same time, it also seemed the most important.

But Kurt actually smiled at his words. That same breath-taking smile that made Blaine's traitor heat skip another beat. "I'm not going anywhere, Blaine," he said, "I've got questions too."

So, the two of them moved back to the sand, Blaine carefully picking his way along the slippery, lichen-spotted rocks and Kurt dipping under the water and reappearing a few feet from the shoreline only seconds later. Blaine finally reached the beach at the same time Kurt finished dragging himself mostly out of the water, with just the broad end of his tail flapping lazily against the wet sand and flirting with the cresting waves.

Blaine's leg only hurt a little now, it really just itched more than anything else, and he found it could support his weight with only the slightest of limps required on his part. He stepped off the last rock and hobbled over to where Kurt was waiting patiently, stretched out on the sand. He really looked so gorgeous like that. His pale, damp skin shining like smooth porcelain in the sunlight. The fiery red colors of his tail made even brighter, contrasting with the deep blue waters behind. Blaine shook his head and sat down next to the beautiful merman.

Of course, he was even more stunning up close. Blaine forced himself to look away.

His wayward glance happened to land on Kurt's gently shifting tail and he frowned.

"You're tail's healed," he blurted.

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah," he said, dismissively, "It does that." Blaine was more confused than ever. He quickly looked at the boy's hand and found that it, too, was scar-free.

"But, how?"

"I went in the water with you, remember? It only works in the water."

Blaine stared dumbly as his brain slowly put the pieces together. "That's..." he started, realizing the vast implications of what Kurt had just said, "That's... wow. T-That's amazing."

Kurt raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Yeah, I guess," he agreed, glancing at his own healed hand, "But what about you? How do you feel? You know, physically?"

Blaine mentally shook himself of the awe inspired by this latest revelation and thought about it, taking a quick diagnosis of all his body parts. "Fine. I think. Which is...weird."

"How come?"

"Before you... you did whatever, I was hurting all over. But now..." Blaine spread his arms to show how fine he was. Even his sunburn was fading away.

"That's good," said Kurt, "I think that's a good sign. It means your body's okay with it."

"Okay with...?"

"Mermaid blood," he suddenly smiled, "We're blood-brothers now." Blaine gaped at him and Kurt's dazzling smile fell. "What's wrong?"

Blood brothers, Blaine thought. Two simple words he'd head often enough. Just not often together, at least not anymore. It was a child's phrase. Something little boys claimed when their summertime antics led to leaking cuts and finger-pricks and the fever of sophomoric ritual possessed their tiny minds. He and his childhood playmates had treated the "bond" is as something sacred, not to be ventured into lightly, never to be broken. Of course, Blaine was older now, he knew better. Hell, he couldn't remember the names of half his "brothers," but, still. The idea of having Kurt's blood inside of him, of his blood inside of Kurt. Of being connected in that way. It sent shivers up his spine.

"What does that mean?" He finally asked.

Kurt narrowed his eyes. "That we're bonded for life."

Blaine's jaw dropped.

"Oh my god, I'm just kidding!" The boy laughed, "It doesn't mean anything, silly. It's just something kids do."

Blaine let out a breath, "Oh."

"God, you should've seen your face," Kurt said, still giggling.

"Stop it," Blaine mumbled, embarrassed, but it was hard to stay sullen for long. The merman's joy was infectious. "But, really, though," Blaine ventured after a moment, "What does that mean? I have your blood in me? Is that... is that why I healed?"

Kurt nodded.

"But... how? Why?"

Kurt shrugged and stared at the sand. "I don't really know," he said quietly, all humor fading from his features,"It's just...something I've noticed that happens. I figured it was worth a try." Kurt poked nervously at the wet sand with his fingers. Blaine paused.

"...Are you okay?"

Kurt didn't answer right away. He kept poking little holes in the sand, keeping his eyes downcast.

"Kurt, what is it?"

"Are you going to tell them?" The merman spoke so quietly, Blaine wasn't sure if he'd heard him correctly.

"Tell who?"

"The humans," Kurt answered, finally meeting Blaine's eyes, "Are you going to tell them what I did?"

"What humans?" Everyone I knew is dead.

"Any of them." The merman was looking at him so earnestly, his eyes begging, it seemed, to be able to trust Blaine the way Blaine had trusted him. "It's a secret, Blaine," the boy whispered, "I need you to keep my secret."

Blaine's insides grew warm at the faith he could feel being placed in him by this gorgeous, perfect creature. He found himself nodding.

"You can trust me." Blaine said, resolving to make his words hold true. The merman searched the sailor's face for a long minute, and then finally he seemed to relax.

"I know."

And so Kurt told him the story. About the time he'd found an injured dolphin, caught and bleeding in a fisherman's net. How'd he cut himself trying to free the poor animal and how he'd accidentally grazed the mammal's open wound with his own. How he'd watched their blood mix and the dolphin heal under his touch.

He told Blaine how he'd relayed all of this to his father who'd asked him to keep quiet about it. Who'd told him it was important this power remain a secret, even from their own kind. Humans already knew about the existence of the merfolk, no matter how discrete they'd tried to be over the years. If even rumors got out that mermaids had healing abilities, who knew what perils might befall them?

Images of mermaids being hunted down and trapped plagued Blaine's mind at the terrified look on Kurt's face as he spoke. He wouldn't put it past his own species to do something so cruel. To hunt down mermaids and harvest their blood the same way poachers hunted animals for their pelts or their horns.

Blaine promised he would never tell.

Mermaids, themselves, may trap and kill humans, but it was like Kurt said; they had to eat. Right?

"Do you guys..." Blaine started, but trailed off, unsure how to phrase his question without sounding accusatory.

"What?"

"Well... you said you eat sharks, right?" Blaine was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea of this innocent-looking boy taking on one of the most ferocious creatures Blaine had ever heard of. And eating it.

Kurt nodded.

"So... you can survive on just fish. And that's, like, that works?"

Kurt gave him an odd look, "Well, yeah."

"So then...why doesn't everyone... you know, eat fish. Why do you eat people?"

Kurt cocked his head, "Why wouldn't we?"

Blaine was too stunned to answer.

"Why don't all humans just eat plants?" Kurt elaborated at the sailor's baffled expression, "It's how it's always been. Mermaids were around long before humans, Blaine. My species has been feeding off yours since before mankind discovered fire. Since before they could even speak."

"But we did learn to speak," Blaine protested, "We learned to do all sorts of things."

"I know," said Kurt, "They teach us all about it in school."

Blaine blinked, a little thrown, "You go to school?"

"Don't you?"

Blaine paused. He hadn't been to school in nearly five years. Not since he'd run away.

"I used to."

"Well, I go to school," said Kurt, "They teach us our histories and we have stories about the humans too, and how they rose over thousands of years from brutal, mindless animals to creatures almost as intelligent as we are. In all our lore, you're the only species to ever do that." Kurt paused. "It's kind of fascinating actually," he added shyly, "those stories were always my favorites."

Blaine, himself, was increasingly fascinated. The merman's eyes lit up when he spoke of the world of humans, a world Blaine strongly suspected he had never actually witnessed for himself. A world he wondered after so fiercely, he was risking everything to talk to a human. And Blaine suddenly realized he'd been blessed with a unique opportunity. He was perhaps the first human in all of history to encounter the merfolk and live and, though his future was still in a frighteningly nebulous state, he was here presented with a chance no else had ever had before, and may never have again. They both were. A chance for each to learn about the other, about a creature so completely alien and intriguing, yet somehow still disarming and oddly familiar. Even if, as it probably should for both their sakes and that of their species, their meeting would always remain their secret, it wouldn't matter. They would know. Their time here together would still be revolutionary. An unspoken legend for the ages. A collision of two worlds that might otherwise never have touched. A revelation.

Blaine once again found himself growing breathless.

"Tell me more," he said. And Kurt was more than happy to oblige.

A/N: Whew! This girl is on fire!

Happy New Year's everybody! Another long one for the chopping block, so its other half should be up before the end of the calendar year :p

I know it's been far too long, guys. Thank you so much for your patience and your support. You have no idea how happy your reviews make me, so drop me a few and keep me motivated! I'll see you soon!

-Alaska