Uggghhhh. Life is bland!
Anyway. Sorry it took so long…I am a horrible updater. This chapter is a bit short, so sorry about that too. I am thinking about doing the next chapter from Lavi's POV…I think that would really help the story along.
Also! Thank you sooooo much for all your comments! They helped me to get going again. ^_^
At first, he had been terrified. Eventually, that had given way to a hollow, aching numbness. After that had come a sense of apprehension tempered by careful plotting.
And now?
Now, Allen was pissed.
He'd been in the cramped little tank for the better part of a week. That much, he was sure of. What he wasn't sure of was the humans' intentions toward him.
The days had fallen into a strange routine, the cycle repeating every morning, which gave Allen some sense of the passing time.
Lavi (Allen had finally picked up on the proper pronunciation of his name after hearing it a couple times, and felt quite silly for not figuring out how to say it sooner) would come in every morning and take a seat, just staring at the merman, as if expecting some change. Then, after about an hour, the blonde, who's name Allen still didn't know, came in and studied his captive, walking around, watching, fiddling with things and just generally hovering for no reason. Then the two would chat for a bit, and they would leave.
A few minutes after they departed, Kanda would come in, accompanied by another man he'd never seen, and they would quickly open the tank just long enough to throw in some seaweed. At first, Allen had ignored the offered meal, but eventually, he gave in and ate. The plant was always too tough from having been exposed to air for too long, but it didn't taste too bad.
The dark haired man would always make a point of leaving as soon as physically possible, so after he and his friend left, Allen would have time to himself until the process began again the next morning.
In these long, monotonous nighttime hours, Allen had plenty of time to think. So, he thought. And thought. And thought some more. His brain constantly whirled in circles, spinning too fast for him to really keep up with. Eventually, Allen's mind would tire itself out and he would fall into a restless slumber. He could never remember much of what he'd thought about the next day, only that the thoughts were getting darker with every passing evening.
In the early hours of each morning, he would abruptly snap into awareness again, somehow always waking up before the daily visitors made their appearance.
On this particular day, Allen decided that he'd had quite enough. When Lavi came in that morning, Allen reached out and tapped on the glass once more.
And yet again, there was no response. But Allen was far too angry to take that as an answer.
Instead of falling back into silence, he reared back as much as he could in the small space and slammed his tail into the glass.
The red head made no sign of actually moving, though Allen thought his eye grew a bit wider.
So, he did it again, and pointed toward the lid, hoping that the one eyed idiot would just move already.
Lavi just cocked an eyebrow at him and resumed his pointless staring.
Allen growled, glaring at the room's other occupant.
'You know what? To hell with it. I am fed up with this nonsense.' The merman thought to himself.
He closed his eyes and pressed his palms against the top of his prison. Allen called to his magic and felt it surge up through his arms and into his hands. Putting all the force of his anger and fear into it, Allen pushed.
The white haired boy's intention was to put just enough pressure on the glass box, so that the lock would pop open and he could slide the lid off. However, with all the strong emotions mixed in with the magic, the result was more like a miniature explosion. The lid of the tank blew clean off, and much of the water followed suit, spraying the entire room with stale smelling ocean.
The brief surge of upward motion that Allen's body took was almost immediately cut off by something pushing down on his chest.
Slowly, Allen opened the eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed to see a hand pressing against his collarbones. He let his eyes travel upward, following the lines of the strong arm, to a well defined shoulder, let his gaze slide past a slender neck and finally come to rest of the face of his captor.
Lavi was panting very hard, standing over the tank, looking ready for a fight. Of course, the effect was dampened a bit by his being absolutely drenched. Seeing this land loving human sopping wet sort of made Allen want to laugh, but also brought along with it a strange heat that pooled in his stomach.
Pushing away the odd sensation, Allen went with his first instinct and laughed. And once he started, he found that he couldn't stop. Allen laughed harder than he could ever remember, releasing all the stress of the past few days in the form of hysterical giggles.
"W-What's so funny, merman?" The disgruntled human asked.
Allen tried to calm his laughter, desperately dragging air into his lungs, secretly proud that he'd remembered to use his windpipe this time. Slowly, he came down off the miniature high, wincing a bit because of his now aching sides.
When the merman could finally breathe enough to answer, he smirked at Lavi.
"I finally got you to move." Allen said, flipping his fins happily.
The redhead just blinked and shook his head slightly.
"Just because you did that, don't think you can esca-"
"What, are you kidding?" Allen asked, cutting the human off. "If I thought I could get out of here on my own, don't you think I'd have done that already? I was just sick of being stuck in stagnant water with nothing to do. Really, you should change that vile stuff more often."
"You…you sprayed me with water just so I would change it?"
"Well, that wasn't my initial intent, but that will do nicely. Call in your blonde friend and tell him to stop standing around so uselessly and get me some fresh ocean water."
Lavi gave Allen a dry, untrusting look. "You know, the prisoner doesn't usually get to give orders."
The merman shrugged. "Eh. I've never been one for sticking to the norm, even among my own people. Why should I bother adhering to the standards of yours?"
The human gave a long-suffering sigh. "I guess you wouldn't…I have a question for you."
Allen cocked his head to show that he was listening.
"Though you have a bit of an attitude, you haven't made any move for violence since we captured you…even if you can't get off the ship, you could have done something, if you have enough power to blow your tank…and yet you attacked us that first day. Why?"
The white haired youth looked down, remembering the ceremony and his mentor's words with crystal clarity. "I didn't really have much of a choice…" Allen murmured to himself.
"Didn't have a choice? Someone forced you to do this?"
Allen started at Lavi's words, and pursed his lips, clearly unwilling to speak on the subject any further.
"Just…get me some more water."
Allen turned his head away, completely missing the odd look that passed over the human's face.
Had the merman bothered to look back as the redhead walked to the door and called for assistance with the mess, he might have noticed the expression was something akin to concern.
To My Reviewers:
HeidiFox- A meanie face? ~giggle~ Yes, I suppose he is.
Belletiger BT- Torture? No, probably not. ^_^ I just don't have the heart to do that.
sweetcakes35- I understand how you feel. Even though I am horrible at updating, I will keep my promise. ^_^ The story shall go on.
Cah-n-Dah- XD I dunno about quicker updates. Sorry about that. I will do my best though. Thank for reading! (PS, love the name!)
Forgottenpassword- XDD Thank you! I like mermaid stories, so I am glad to hear that you think I am doing this well.
Meyumi- Thank you!
Hard Candy- Entiendo. No se preocupe. Gracias por su alabanza.
Sweet Veleno- I am so happy you are liking it!
Fool'sNocturne- Thank you so much! ~hug~
LiveInTheMomentx- Wow, thank you.
xenawp532- Thank you!
Pawliine- I am so happy you like it!
wooooooooooxj- Capt-n-Crunch….LOL!
neko-san- Yullen is fun, I agree! Kanda is super sexy. XD
Kono-kun- ~noms cookie~ It hasn't stopped. Just took a short nap. XD
Lazycookies- WHY ARE YOUR REVIEWS SO AWESOME?
moonchaser316- Thank you soooo much!
i1love1yaoi- Dun die. Here's more. ^_^
Tomoyo-chan284- Thanks! Allen is just awesome in general.
Conrii- T^T Sowwy. I'm bad at writing long chapters.
Silvermane1- Updated!
Glassy- Thanks! I am excited as well!
RBO- The blonde one is Bak, I just haven't introduced him to Allen yet. ^_^
kandaz- I'm so sorry it took so long! Here you go!