"Holy shit! Oh my god!"
"Thatch? What's wrong-yoi?"
"They dumped someone into the bins! I swear I daw a body, Marco! We need to save him!"
-Or-
How the Whitebeard's found a freckled merman in the trash-bins of the celestial dragons and gave him his freedom again.
(Idk how to make a summary for this)
Longer one chapter story then my usual ones, I just didn't want to bother with splitting it into different chapters this time. So enjoy this story being completed in one go haha. Got bored towards the end so excuse me that it may feel ended far quicker then you would expect.
This is in dark flames mostly because the injury Ace has is kind of brutal, as well as the solution to help him.
Happy ending
Hurt/comfort
Blood and injury
Mer!Ace
Somewhere in Sabaody Archipelago
"Holy shit! Oh my god!"
"Thatch? What's wrong-yoi?"
"They dumped someone!"
"Huh?"
"Over there!" Thatch pointed to big steel bins, hidden behind some lower-class houses. "I saw a body with the trash!"
"... They're probably dead."
"Still! Why would they just-"
"Because they're scum-yoi." Marco frowned at the bins, not at the retreating cleaners, they had nothing to do with this and were slaves of those higher up, "Everything and everyone are just toys to these people. Just because they're celestial dragons they think they own everything. It wouldn't be strange for them to throw their discarded slaves away with the common trash."
Thatch bit his lip before speaking again, "I'm going to search for them!"
"Thatch-"
"What if the person is alive Marco! You said it, they're scum! Absolute scum! As soon as someone isn't useful they toss them away, they wouldn't even care if they were dead! I- They would- they would throw a living person away just the same as a dead one, no? If they're alive- They're going to die in those bins soon! What kind of death is that!? And- and- Even if they're dead, I still- I still want to look. To give them a proper burial. They deserve that, no? No!?"
Marco looked to his brother who had tears in his eyes from not only sadness and anger before nodding, "Alright, but wait until the cleaners are out of sight, they'll report us even if they don't support this. We can't get into a fight here."
With this they watched carefully as the cleaners did their jobs until they left, the second they were out of sight they ran to the bins.
"Urgh- aaa! Cmon!" Thatch struggled with the bin that was maybe 5 times his size. "Marco!"
"Coming-yoi." Marco jumped up to be next to his brother on top before nudging him aside an off the lid as he transformed and tore his talons into the metal, flapping his wings as much as he could to be able to lift it. Even with his strength he wasn't able to open it fully and only got a small spacing open.
"W-wait, hold on Marco! I'm going to jam something in between!... Done!"
The second Thatch called out, Marco let go and there was a creaking but no slam of the lid to show it shut, flying down he saw some iron rod close to the hinges. "Goodjob Thatch. Now, ready to go trash diving?"
"Everyday brother."
"Man, what do they all throw away! These things are all in perfect condition! And the amount of money and gems, what the hell! You can start a whole life in here with all the food end everything.
"And yet being tossed in here wouldn't be your exit to freedom, not with how heavy the lid was." Marco frowned while he scoured around the trash for the body his brother saw. "You would suffocate if the lid is airtight-yoi, and in the end you would run out of food even if the lid let air in. And seeing these grooves on the walls I can only assume the trash in here is squeezed together every so often to make room for even more trash. If you're in here when that happens..."
"Stop stop! I don't-" Thatch covered his hears, he knew what would happen, but he didn't want to hear it. "Just- just focus on searching, we'll find this person before that happens."
After a while of searching, Marco was really starting to doubt if there had been a body thrown in here. He was certain it was something the celestial-dragons would do without batting an eye, but maybe just not this time. There was no one to be found anywhere-
"I found a hand!"
Marco rushed to Thatch's side and saw a hand sticking out from the depths of the bin and immediately went to grab the wrist. This much to Thatch's confusion.
"What are you-
"Shhush."
"..."
"He-'s oh god," Marco whispered as his eyes widened and looked at his brother, "There's a pulse-yoi. A weak one, but it's there, they're still alive!"
"Those bastards!" Thatch cursed loudly as he started to remove the junk, "Don't worry!" He called out as he dug deeper to the person underneath, "We'll get you out of here!"
They made sure to move carefully but fast. Fast to get the person out and quick so they could move them to their ship, but very carefully because with the person alive, they couldn't afford anything to lose balance and fall down more on top of them. Anything could hurt them and they had no idea what state they were even in right now.
Soon they had the torso uncovered and it made them both frown even more, cursing the whole existence of the celestial dragons. The person wasn't even an adult, maybe hadn't even reached his twenties, yet he was already thrown away to die like nothing more but trash.
"O-oh" a stuttering breath was there and it got Marco's attention, looking over to see his brother's stunned looked.
"What's wrong? Are they hurt?" It wouldn't be strange if they were impaled somewhere with being thrown away with everything. He couldn't heal the other, but maybe stop a bleeding if it was there.
"No no" Thatch hurried out and started working again, "He's a fishman. I- I see scales."
"Be extra careful-yoi, don't want anything to get stuck under one of those and rip it off."
Thatch nodded to it as he removed things, changing his motion to pull the items away from the scales and not against it. Poor kid. Human slaves were already treated poorly, but they were at least still seen as some kind of human. Fishman on the other hand weren't even seen like that, they were seen like pure animals through and through.
"You got him, Marco?"
"Yes-yoi, if you jump down, I'll fly him down to you."
With a nod Thatch let go of the boy who was now securely in Marco's talons and jumped down, opening his arm to show he was ready.
As gently as he could, the phoenix flew out with the other dangling in his talons. This certainly wasn't the best form of transportation, but jumping down with the kid in his arms would give too much of a hit on the person's body when they landed.
"Okay- okay- Little lower, lower- Alright, I got him!"
Slowly he released his talons before flying up and pulling out the iron rod, letting the bin close. No need to get the cleaners in trouble for letting it be open.
Next he flew down to his brother who was already running to the ship and transformed to run next to him. Keeping a close eye on their charge.
The boy, a merman they had found out, was looking at him with the smallest eyes, tears forming inside them.
"We got you-yoi" He tried to give his most reassuring smile, "We're going to our ship. We'll treat you. We'll bring you back home. You won't be a slave anymore, you're free now."
The tiniest quirk of the lips was there at his words before the eyes closed, scaring the shit out of them for a solid minute, but the small movements of his stomach assured he was still alive and breathing. Yet it did make them hurry up even more.
After having gotten to the ship, Thatch brought the merman to the infirmary while Marco had gone to explain their situation to their Pops. The elder immediately send out a message for everyone who was still on the island to return so they could leave. Even if no one had seen his children, he did not want to risk a battle here should it somehow get out. Luckily they had already stocked up the day before.
"Sorry to cut everyone's off-day short." Pops started once the last boarded, "We had a little situation, more info will follow on it later, for now we will set sail to one of our islands close by where everyone will get a new chance to take a breather." He did want to ensure his loyal crew got some days rest and do what they wanted to do on land, it's what they deserved for always being ready on these harsh seas.
"Now, Marco-son, keep me updated on the situation with the kid, okay? We can come back here after a few days when he's ready for a bit of travel and get coated and go down to fishman island, bring him back home if he so wishes."
"Thank you Pops, I'll be sure to tell him that when he wakes up." Marco smiled at his father, he knew the elder wouldn't hesitate to help the former slave and even bring him home, no matter if it was close or far, but it still always amazed him how big his heart was.
"How is he? How is he?" Thatch was instantly in Bay's face the moment she stepped out of the infirmary, not stopping his questions even at the woman's sigh and the hand in his face pushing him away.
"We're having a meeting. Get Pops and Marco... Namur too."
"But-"
"Now."
With a loud groan the chef turned around, showing his dissatisfaction before running to gather the other commanders. When he got them all, (pushed them all), into the meeting room, Bay was already sitting there.
She patiently waited for everyone to sit before speaking. "I called this meeting because we have a little situation. Pops, you're here ofcourse as the captain. Thatch and Marco because you brought him in. Namur, you're here because you're the most knowledgeable about fishman."
"Is he not okay, Daughter?"
Bay hummed, "You can say that he's healthy. He's in no danger of dying right now."
A few breaths of relieve was there, but the first commander knew better.
"But there's still something wrong-yoi? You wouldn't have called this meeting otherwise."
"Yes. I think I have found the reason why that filth threw away a... perfectly good merman." She hated to word it like that, but that's what the merman looked liked to them. He was young, was gorgeous in as well his human side as fish side. The tail was a stunning bright orange and the fins were big and elegant. His human side was young, no flaws on the skin. He was perfect to swim around in an aquarium and be shown off to others, so everyone had been a bit confused as to why he was tossed aside as there had been no signs of being beaten. They had expected that maybe the merman had fought back, was beaten in return and thus tossed since he was not pretty anymore, but there were no signs for any of that.
"What is it?" Thatch asked at the edge of his seat, nervous of Bay's silence.
"He can't swim."
"Excuse me?" Namur voiced his confusion, "He's a merman, they're the best swimmers around, don't even need to be taught how to do it." He snorted, "Even a baby mer is faster then me."
Nodding Bay started to rummage through the file she brought "And I am sure he was a great swimmer right until..." she paused to pull out two papers and held them up so light could shine through them, "right until they shattered his spine."
Besides intakes of breath, silence echoed throughout the room. After a minute the sliding of a chair was there and it was Namur who stood up to be able to reach out and take one of the X-rays Bay was holding out, hand trembling as he looked at them.
"Is- is there anything you can do?" He asked in a whisper. Even without being a doctor himself, he knew the answer but... he just... He can't believe this.
"As you see, the damage is severe, very severe." Bay started slowly, pointing at the X-ray she still held. "The damage already starts a little under his waist, displaced vertebra coming into 2 broken ones that lead up into 5 that are just smashed beyond recognition before the damage lessens again until it's gone. I've not been able to test nerve-responses with him not awake, but with this amount of damage I don't need to even do that to know that any nerves that existed between those 5 vertebra are now non-existent."
"B-but-" Thatch's stuttering voice was there, "he needs t-those right? To move? What- You need to help him, you're the best doctor out there, for sure you can-"
"I can't perform miracles. I cannot re-connect nerves."
"M-marco- and you- your flames-"
The blond sighed, looking at the picture with sadness, "I can only heal superficial wounds, nothing to this degree, especially not nerves. Maybe if it was just slight damage I could have helped the healing process, but my flames won't do anything for this."
Tears sprung in the chef's eyes for the boy he didn't even know the name of, "b-but he has to swim- h-he's a merman! How- how do we tell h-him he's free but that he can't swim!?"
Bay was silent just like everyone else and sat down, putting the picture down. "There's still a decision we need to make." She announced seriously not long later. "Do we, or do we not amputate the tail."
BAM
"YOU CAN'T!" Namur had slammed the picture down, eyes wide, "That's his tail-! Their tail is everything to them!"
"Son-"
"Pops! He's no merman without his tail! We can't- we can't cut it off!"
Pops frowned at the tears falling from his son's eyes, now two people in the room crying. "I think-" he started as he kept his calm, "- that Bay had a good reason to suggest this. Don't you, daughter?"
"Yes," she nodded and once more used the picture to point out parts, "As you can see, these vertebra are shattered, not just cracked or broken into a few big pieces. No. These are broken into a hundred tiny bits and pieces, into shards that stab into his skin and have moved to be over a bigger area. Even if I operate to get these pieces out, I will miss some, I can't even reach all of them. For now they haven't caused any infections as the break seems recent-"
"What happened-yoi?"
"Judging from the damage inside and outside... Blunt force. His tail was beaten with something or... or something heavy was rolled over... just blunt force, this doesn't accure naturally or is from a fall."
"FUCKING BASTARDS! I'LL FUCKING SKIN TH-"
"Son-"
"POPS WHAT DID HE DO?! HE'S JUST A CHILD!"
"I know son-"
"THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALLOW-Al-allowed t-to do this-"
Without words Pops picked up his 8th commander, holding him close. He really wanted to stop this madness too. Slavery shouldn't exist in general, but these people added another inhumane scoop on top. Yet, with them being protected there was nothing they could do.
"Please continue daughter. You said they aren't infected for now, so they will in the future?"
The doctor nodded slowly, she knew very well her brother wasn't mad at her, didn't lash out at her, but it did make staying composed a bit more difficult. Even if people said she sometimes didn't show enough emotions or compassion, it is what kept her from breaking every time she got incurable patients. Someone had to be there to give the hardest news and stay on top of it to fix whatever is possible.
"Yes. I could try to take out as much as I can, but pieces will remain. And even if it heals well now, the skin around the pieces that stay can get infected in the future. If sharp pieces remain they can dig more into the skin and not only get infected, once a sharp piece moves higher, where the nerves exists, it will always feel to the merman like he's being stabbed on the inside on a daily bases." she explained neutrally, "The tail has no feeling below the break, so he wouldn't even be able to tell if it started to hurt from an infection. If he hurt his tail in any other way, even a gash on the outside, he wouldn't feel it. And besides it all... He can't use his tail. It will just be in the way."
"Can't we add motion on it from the outside-yoi? Create some sort of skeleton around it to move?"
Bay was silent for a minute, "Yes... and no... I think you're thinking of like how we replace a human leg with an artificial one and the knee bends." at the nod she continued, "In theory, we could do the same thing for his tail, maybe even connect them to his nerves for some movement."
"Aaah then you can fix him!" a gasp left Thatch and he looked at her with hope, "add that skeleton whatever and he can swim!"
"It's not that simple. Our knee, these artificial knees have one basic movement, they just bend in one direction. His tail, even if we found a strong enough motor to move that whole body part, it would never be strong enough or durable enough to be in the sea, how would we even attach it without it tearing into his skin? And still, that tail has a variety of movement, it's not just an up and down motion, we can't- we don't have the technology to simulate the movements of a tail, let alone resist the pressure of the sea while doing that all."
She sighed, wiping over her face, "I could keep the tail. Operate to get pieces out. Let it heal. Do more scans and operate again. Repeat the process until all the pieces are out. But even then... if he keeps his tail, it will be in the way. He can't move it, it's too heavy. In the water it would drag him down and he would drown as he's not able to ever come up. And on land it would add on more than half his body weight that he has to lunge around, that drags on the floor. And it will get damaged and he won't even know. The bubbles won't work either, they need the movement of the tail to move. He may be able to move the tiny part of his tail that's under his waist, but nothing lower so it won't be enough, the limp part of his tail will even make the movements of that small part more difficult. He would be floating in the same space, his tail would even lay on the floor as he can't lift it up."
"You think removing is better, daughter?"
"I... Look... On a medical perspective... yes. Not only will the tail, that at this point is just a lump of flesh, not drag him down. He also can't accidentally hurt it or be hurt by any fragments that still reside inside. And most of all, by removing the paralysed part, he will regain proper movement of the little part he still has left. While now that movement is wasted since it's attached to kilo's of unmovable mass, if I turn it into a stump that is able to move, he will have a lot more freedom. Moving around will be easier without dragging the whole tail with him."
"And..." Namur started slowly from his spot still in pop's hand, "can we then... like... make something for him to swim?"
"I can't promise anything." Bay replied instantly, "But. The chance of finding something to help him move underwater again will be higher than if we keep the whole tail."
"...but the tail still makes him a merman..."
They all frowned at it, they knew the importance of a tail to them yet... all the points made by Bay...
"Daughter. Is there time to let the boy wake up? Let him decide for himself?"
"Every second we wait an infection could arise... but..." Bay hummed for a moment, "I'll start up a light antibiotic to stop it, if he wakes up by tomorrow, there should still be enough time to remove bone or amputate the tail depending on what he wants."
"Then let's wait. When he wakes up, give him his options, explain what's going on."
"Ofcourse pops."
"Everyone agrees to let him decide himself?" The elder turned to his other commanders who in the end all nodded. "Alright, then everyone is dismissed... Namur, you can stay with me as long as you want."
With nods and a silent 'thank you', everyone besides the 8th commander and Pops left the room. Everyone who left going to their new resident to stay by his side even if he wasn't awake.
While they had been closely monitoring the raven, of course he was bound to wake up in the small time frame that he was alone. Bay was working on another patient, Thatch was working the dinner rush and Marco? He had literally gone for a 2 minute pee break, only to return to see the merman awake.
And...
His heart broke.
Distressed tiny noises left the being on the bed as he was sitting up and hands were touching his tail. Marco watched on how the merman lifted his tail as best as he could before letting go, making the tail fall back uselessly onto the bed.
After a few times the blond noticed the belly muscle flex, and like Bay had said, the small part of the tail above the break moved a little so it was clear that the boy was trying to do some form of movement with his tail... but was failing... The distressed noises becoming louder every time the tail flopped down.
"We're s- oooh! Careful!"
He transformed his arms into wings to push himself closer within seconds and catch the tail that had fallen next to the bed, barely catching it and preventing the teen from being pulled down to the floor. Shit, so this what Bay meant when she said that the paralysed tail would bring extra dangers to the kid since he couldn't move or lift it.
"I got you-yoi." He said softly as he placed the tail back on the bed, gently stroking over it to make sure it was laying down flat. "There we go." he smiled a bit as he looked up, "all back in place-hey hey It's okay- it's okay-"
As he had looked up he saw the teen's whole body trembling as if he was in a snowstorm! He hadn't even felt it as he was touching the tail but now indeed noticed the trembles stopped at the break.
He raised his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm but that only made the merman raise his own arms before his face and lean away from him, obviously scared to be hit.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I'll back off-yoi, look, I'm out of reach, I can't hurt you." Marco said as non-threatening as he could as he backed off, leaving a decent amount of space in between them. It seemed to reassure the merman a bit as his arms slacked off a little yet were still flexed to raise in defence at any second.
"You're safe here. You're on our ship-" okay wrong thing to say! "I'm with the Whitebeard Pirates, My captain is Edward Newgate, we're friends with fishman island." He hurried out in the hopes the small merman at least knew of them and hopefully wasn't bred in captivity.
Marco gave some time for the merman to take in his words and relax the slightest bit, continuing when he saw the raven look around a little intrigued.
"You're in the infirmary right now. My name is Marco and-"
"Ace."
"h-huh, Ace?" he repeated the word he only heard thanks to his Phoenix's hearing abilities, "Is- is that your name?" a nod was there and it made him smile, "Ace, that's a nice name. It's nice to meet you Ace."
He almost chuckled at the little nod he got in return, cute.
"I don't know if you remember, but me and my brother, Thatch- He had very big hair! Like he had a loaf of bread in it." Marco could only smile brighter at the tiniest chuckle that left the merman, that was such a good sign for a slave, to still be able to laugh, "We got you out of the big bins, you were tossed away in, we got you out and brought you here. We've set sail from that place for safety while we take care of you. But we promise, and the captain has already giving permission too for this, that we will take you wherever you want. We can bring you home, to fishman island, or any other place you want to go."
The soft laughter stopped and gray eyes stared at him, earsfins perked up, "H-home?"
"Yes, wherever your home is, we will get you back safely-yoi."
Tears sprung to the boy's eyes and Marco panicked a bit, he wasn't the best at comforting people, especially not children! Where is joyful Thatch when you need him!
"Hey hey it's okay!" Very carefully he moved closer, debating what to do before hugging the boy gently, making sure not to squeeze.
Almost instantaneous the mer flinched but soon latched around him, arms around his back and sharp nails digging into his skin as the boy sobbed. A mixture of cries and clicks in his ears.
Marco ignored the sting of nails, it wasn't on purpose and he would heal once they were out anyway, instead he focused on very slowly rubbing over the other's back. "You're okay now. You're out of that place and you're never returning-yoi."
Long minutes of crying later the body wracking sobs slowed down until they were non-existent and very slowly Marco pulled back, resting the boy against the back of the bed. Eyes closed and cheeks tear stricken as soft even breaths came from him.
Gently he stroked with his thumbs over the cheeks, cleaning his face before laying the boy back down and pulling the blanket up. "Everything was a lot, wasn't it, huh? Rest, Ace-yoi."
When the others returned, Marco shared the good news of the mer waking up and even still being able to laugh, though warning that they need to be careful of quick movements as it had seemed to scare the boy.
"Don't pout, Thatch-yoi."
"Don't tell me what to do. Why did he wake up the one second I am not here! I wanted to introduce myself and ask what he liked to eat!"
"And you'll be able to," Bay sighed, she had a lot to do and Thatch whining was not something she wanted to listen to, "Him waking up is a good sign, he should be awake soon again."
"I want him awake nooooowwwww~"
"Alight, yea, no, Marco, please let me know when he wakes again and I'll come back then."
Snorting Marco nodded and waved as Bay left, tuning out his brother who was whining in favour of working on the paperwork he brought into the infirmary. No reason he couldn't finish some work while the mer slept. A lot of his worries eased with the teen haven woken up before.
A couple hours later, just before the commanders wanted to turn in for the night was there movement from the bed, Thatch instantly besides it.
"He's waking up!"
"Don't scare him-yoi." and tugged his overly eager brother away.
"I'm not scary!"
"No, you're only a stranger that's like 4 heads taller than the boy. 5 If you count your hight including your pompadour. So just give him some space."
With a few grumbles the chef took a step back, sitting down again in the stool next to Marco but not losing eye-contact with the twitching body before him.
A minute later eyes blinked open, looking around slowly as to where he was before locking eyes with Marco.
He gave a small smile in returning, almost whispering a simple, "Hi-yoi." to the boy, he didn't want to scare or overwhelm the kid.
"Hi... Mar...Marco?"
Oh, he remembered, that's good! "Yea, that's me. I'm glad you remember." Raising an arm slowly he gestured to his brother, "Remember I told you Thatch helped you too? This is him."
The eyes turned to the other, blinking a few times before uttering a word that had both quiet before Marco couldn't help but laugh.
"Bread."
"Hhahahha yea! I told you, didn't I hahaha –sorry sorry." he stopped himself as the other reeled back, "didn't mean to scare you. Yes, bread-hair-yoi."
Thatch kept in his curses at his older brother, how dare he insult his hair! Now more importantly was the one before him. He had his hands on his knees, squeezing as he wanted to get up and be close, but having seen the boy's eyes turned scared just by Marco laughing he kept his calm and just released one hand to give a small wave.
"Hello, I am Thatch indeed. I'm so happy to see you're awake! I was so worried when I saw them toss someone away, I'm glad you're alive. Marco here probably explained where you are." He smiled at the nod he got and continued, "I am the chef on board here."
"Make... food?"
"Yeap! That's my job. I make sure everyone's bellies are filled to the brim!" he gave a big smile to the mer, "What do you want to eat, hmm?"
"..."
"Don't be shy. You must be hungry, it's already been over half a day since we got you back to ship and who knows when you ate before that, if the things you got before can even be called food! So tell me what you want, we got a lot on the ship! I'm sure I can whip something up for you! Anything!"
"..."
"Thatch." Marco whispered leaning over, "don't overwhelm him. I know you mean well, but maybe it's too much."
"But... He needs to eat. I want to make something he likes..."
"I know-yoi." his brother had such a big heart, "but it all must be a lot and he looks young too. Maybe just make something simple, like soup."
"Soup?"
Their attention turned to the raven on the bed, head cocked to the side.
"Yea," Thach started, "do you know it? Soup. It's a liquid you can eat, different veggies and meat can be in it too. It's like a broth."
"Fish?"
Thatch blinked before smiling, "Yes! Yes." he repeated a tad softer as the boy flinched again, "I can make fish soup, would you like that?" he only smiled brighter at another nod, "Want me to add things into it? Seaweed. Chunks of fish or just broth. Clams. Lobster. Squid. Anything you want."
"I- ehm" unsure the mer looked between Marco and the chef, very unsure of the whole situation. Not even a day before he was being shown off in an aquarium, only able to watch the guests eat delicious food while he got the leftovers, and now here a chef was going to make him food that he wanted.
"It's okay-yoi. He loved cooking and he's been eager to make something you like."
"Ehm... Chunks... chunks of fish..."
"Chunks of fish" Thatch nodding writing down on a pad he pulled out before looking back up, "What else?"
"More?"
"You can add everything you want!"
"..." Hands came up and fingers played with each other, nails picking at the few scales scattered on the top of the hands.
They wanted to stop the boy, not wanting him to hurt himself, but none of the two commanders felt close enough yet to really make the boy stop without scaring him.
"-d-"
"Hmm? What was that? It's okay, I just didn't hear you."
"S-squid. A-and seaweed... please."
"One fish soup with plenty of fish, squid and seaweed coming right up!" Thatch smiled getting up, "I'll bring it over as soon as it's done!"
There was a silence between them when Thatch left, trying to ease the tension a bit that was gathering, Marco offered some water to the mer.
"P-please."
Not mentioning the stuttering he stood up and went to get a glass, the mer probably getting nervous now fully awake or just not knowing how to act in the current situation.
Soon returning he stopped at the edge of the barrier they had around the bed, just a curtain to give privacy, through the gap he saw the merman looking worried and a bit desperate as his hands were once again on his tail. Seeming to be poking his tail in different places, maybe trying to locate feelings...
It pained him that he wouldn't find anything anymore, and it reminded him the boy was seriously hurt. Even if he seemed healthy and fine, he wasn't at all.
Clearing his throat he walked in, the hands immediately back into the boy's lap, "I got you some water, take small sips."
A small thank you was there as the glass was accepted, about half was drunk before he handed it back.
"I'll put it on this stand, you can take it whenever you want. Tell me if you want more."
Another small nod there, but no eye-contact as the boy looked down and Marco saw he itched to touch his tail again, every now and then seeing the hands move lower before quickly back up again. He saw the muscles in his belly flex every now and then, the beginning of the tail moving but nothing more. He should call Bay... let her know he's awake properly so she can tell him what's going on but... that means he'll get the news that he won't ever swim again... Maybe after dinner... He'll let the boy eat his fill first, then get Bay to talk.
Tears were in Thatch's eyes as he watched the mer eat. The merman himself crying as he was eating the soup slowly. Small purr like sounds coming from his throat when he bit into a piece of fish or squid.
How he wanted to hug the boy close! Give him all the fish and squid the boy could eat! He would have such a round belly and still have food left over!
No one should need to go hungry! No one should cry for something as simple as fish soup!
He almost started bawling into Marco's chest when his brother rubbed his arm. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah he hated to see this! Knowing so many others were still in captivity and most would never ever get out! And then this one fishman they were able to save, give his freedom again, wouldn't even be able to really be free with his ability to swim taken from him for life!
"oh you're up. How nice of the commanders to come and get me."
Tears were lost as Thatch paled at the sight of Bay, hearing the threatening undertone in her kind voice. "I- I was making dinner for Ace! It's Marco's fault!"
"Oi... I was comforting you..." Marco deadpanned to his brother, way to throw one under the buss. "ahem, Bay." The first commander looked to the woman, "I thought it was better for the boy to eat first before speaking. And speaking of eating... place take a step back, you're scaring him."
The doctor who was already next to the mer blinked at the boy's frozen state, spoon halfway to his mouth but contents already dribbled down back into the plate. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, please finish your food in peace. If the others come and get me this time." she glared at the others, "I will leave you to eat alone with them."
"Yes-yoi, we wil get you... promise."
With a nod Bay left the area, closing the curtain behind her, and with that getting a relieved sigh out of Thatch. "Geez, Bay is always so scary- I mean, she's really nice!" he quickly looked to the boy. "She is! She is just a little strict! She wants us all healthy!... I'm sorry, please don't worry, eat your food. Is it good? Do you like it?"
"... Yea...-s good."
"I'm glad! If you want seconds just let me know!"
"So." After Ace had finished eating, Bay was called back in and she stood a few steps away from the bed to not scare the boy. "I assume these baboons have not told you anything right?"
"B-baboons?"
"These two." She pointed to the two commanders who waved shyly.
"... But... Thatch... Marco?" the mer pointed to them before seeming to freak out, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to talk back! I-"
"Woah woah, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you. You can say whatever you want here." Bay assured quickly, "And yes, Those are their names. I just call them baboons to have some fun. Now, did they tell you anything."
"Ehm... I am on a ship... And... they..." Ace looked down, once more tugging at his scales, "Will bring me home?"
"Yes," she nodded, "that's already correct. But before we bring you home, we want you to be in better health. It's dangerous to sail to fishman island if you're injured, a lot can happen on the way down. Now..." she sighed inside, she really hated this part of the job, "you probably noticed something is wrong with your tail, correct?"
"...I ... Can't move it..." The mer said slowly, "and ... hurts..."
"Hurts? You didn't tell us you were hurting!" Thatch was up and holding Ace's hands, not even realising he was scaring the boy. "Why didn't you say so! Oh my god! We let you be in pain the whole time!"
"Thatch!"
"Aaaaaaah we are terribleeeeeee!"
"Thatch-yoi! You're scarring him! Let him go!"
"Huh- ah!" Letting go quickly of the trembling boy he stepped back, "I'm sorry! Aaah I'm fucking up so much! I'm sorry, Ace!"
Ace was quiet, just cradling the hand that had been held to his chest. No one held his hand without hurting him. Everyone always hurt him, but Thatch didn't so... "-s- Is okay."
"Ace." Bay called the mer's attention, "You said it hurt, where does it hurt? Can you point to the area?"
Nails fidgeted around, even tugging off a scale and making the commanders hiss before one hand went down and pointed to the middle of his tail about 3 – 4 hand palms with lower than the start of his scales.
Bay hummed and looked to the drawing she held hidden on her clipboard, that spot marked the first broken vertebra. "And does the pain trail down lower?"
A shake of the head made Bay nod, confirming her suspicions of the nerves being cut at the fractured parts.
"Ace. This is not easy for me to say and I am not going to beat around the bush."
"Beat a bush?"
"... I won't make long stories and waste time. I'm going to get directly to the point." she explained before taking a breath, "You won't be able to swim again, you tail is paralysed."
"Not- not swim? But-" Ace looked betrayed to Marco, "Marco- Marco said I would be free? I can go home."
"And you can-yoi. You're free." Marco spoke, taking a step closer, "You're not a slave, we'll take you home and you can do what you want-"
"I- I wanne swim!"
Marco frowned at that, "We... we can help you in the water... Maybe in the Pop's tub... But you can' swim. It's... it's not because we don't want you to swim, Ace. We would love for you to be able to swim, but the celestial dragons hurt your tail. We think that it is the reason they tossed you out."
Lips trembled, "What- what is wrong with my tail? Won't it heal? I just- If I eat lots and lots of fish I grow strong and heal!"
"Your wounds are too excessive" Bay started, "Ace, your spine that runs through your tail is shattered, your nerves are cut. Even if we could replace your spine with something else to give stability, your nerves will never be able to recover from this. You will never be able to move your tail past the point you just showed me."
Scaly hands grabbed onto the side of the tail, harshly shaking it, tearing hisses of pain out of the mer but he didn't stop.
"Ace! Stop!" Thatch moved to next to him, taking his wrist, "you will hurt yourself!"
"N-no! M-my tail n-needs to move! Move to swim!"
Marco came to the other side, taking the other hand and praying the fingers off. Tail bleeding as nails pulled out of the skin. He didn't want to restrain the younger but he really was hurting himself, already on the outside and who knows on the inside.
"Ace-"
"No! Move!"
With a sigh Bay stood right next to his face. "Ace." she spoke in a gentle but resolute voice, "None of us wanted you hurt, if I could help you I would, If we knew anyone capable of helping you we would have already set sail towards that place. But no one can fix this. You have two options. One, I will need to operate on you multiple times to remove the broken parts of the spine that can't be saved. You will keep your full tail even if you can't move it and you have no feeling in it. But know this will bring a lot of trouble along the way." She explained everything she could think of just like she had done in the meeting. "The other option is amputation."
This made Ace open his eyes wide and look at her, showing teeth as he hissed and screeched, "Don't touch my tail!"
"I'm not doing anything right now. You need to think it over. If we amputate-"
"No!"
"Then you regain movement in the small upperpart of your tail. You'll be able to move more freely without the paralyses part attached. There's also no danger of hurting your lower tail without you noticing."
Even through hisses she explained the other option as best as she could before she backed off. "You have until tomorrow to decide, it's for your own safety and health."
Once Bay left the hisses turned into sobs and Marco and Thatch slowly let go as they felt the hands no longer fight them and instead went up to other's face. Thatch the one to embrace the other, chanted 'we're sorry' over and over again until once more the mer fell asleep.
"W-what do we do Marco?" Thatch pulled away, own face tear struck as he tucked in the Mer.
"There's nothing we can-yoi." The blond voiced sadly, "We can only try to support him and maybe talk to him about the options if he wants to. We need to help him in recovery as bet as we can. But... we can't do anything more... Go to bed, Thatch."
"But-"
"I'll keep watch. He'll probable sleep longer, it's been a long day and now this news... You sleep, you need it too. You know I don't need it. I'll stay up for when he needs someone."
"... Okay... But wake me if he wants food!"
Knowing he can't fight the chef he promised he will and made sure the other went to bed properly before sitting down in his chair again. Looking sadly at the merman for a while before slowly starting on some paperwork to get his mind off of things.
At some point he must have fallen asleep for he woke up to a loud bang and a cry of pain. Instantly alert for any attacker he searched for the cause. To his luck, his Phoenix could see better in the dark then a human and he quickly spotted the origin of the noise.
"Ace!" he hurried to the mer's side who was on the ground, fat tears in his eyes as he was curled in on himself, cradling his tail as close as he could. Breath stuttering with his sobs.
Reaching up he pressed on the light on the stand next to the bed to see a bit better and so Ace could see him too.
It made him properly be able to see that Ace was in pain, in a lot of pain but trying to hold back.
"I'm here-yoi." he tried to reassure and asses the situation. Or the boy had tried to get up, or just rolled over in his sleep and just like the day before his tail fell off the bed and dragged him with it with no one to catch it.
"I'm going to put you back into bed, okay? Is that good?"
Hiccups were there and a nod soon followed, making Marco move to pick up the raven.
"A-ah! S-sstop!"
Immediately freezing from his position he slowly lowered the tail again, he had been trying to lift the mer princess style, one hand around his back and the other under his tail.
"What's wrong?"
"T-tail- Don't- don't touch t-there."
"I have to pick you up..." he said slowly looking down, his eyes widening at the position of his arm. Ofcourse it hurt! He had his arm right under the smashed spine and with lifting that area he put immense strain on the part that still had feeling. "Shit- sorry. Let me..."
He moved both hands to Ace's torso, planning on lifting him up from his chest, get him on the bed and then get his tail up, but stopped before he really had Ace off the ground. This would have the same effect. Once Ace was higher the tail would pull down.
"I'm... let me lower the bed-yoi."
Gently he put the hurt mer back down and moved to the bed, location the buttons of the bed and lowering it as close to the floor as he could. The matrass now sitting at just under his knees, this should work.
"I'm going to lift your upper body onto the bed, and then move your tail. I'm sorry, it will still hurt as I need to touch it, but this should put some less strain on it then get you into the higher bed."
With the explanation in order he once more embraced the raven, arms going under his armpits and lifting the torso up until he could slide his bum... scaly bum? onto the bed.
"Can you try to hold onto the bed, Ace? I don't want you to slip off the moment I let go."
"Y-ye-ea."
"Thank you-yoi." He waited a moment before letting go, and went for the tail limply flowing down from the bed to over the floor. Crouching next to it he slid a hand under the middle and one a bit lower, frowning at wetness he felt but didn't let it stop him from lifting the appendage and getting it into the bed.
With the teen in bed safely, even if he was panting from the pain, he inspected his hand and noticed the redness. Blood. He was bleeding. His tail was bleeding and even if the boy was in pain, he didn't hiss more when he touched this apparent open wound and only if the tail tugged him down. He really doesn't feel anything in this area.
"I'm getting, Bay, stay still."
The doctor tss'd when she came to examine the tail, the frown on her face worrying the blond.
"What's wrong-yoi?"
"A sharp part of his spine pierced through the skin."
"Excuse me? The spine is in the middle of his body, how can it pierce the back."
Bay rubbed her nose with a heavy sigh, "I told you guys that there were a lot of splinters and they had already moved a lot, he was thrown around after all and who knows how much they already moved from how they beat up his tail. Your flesh," she reached out and squished Marco's arm, "is squishy and soft. Sharp shards can easily pierce through and move if the flesh is squeezed onto it. With Ace falling, the flesh of his tail must have pushed down just at the point of this splinter and it pierced all the way to the outside, then when the skin bounced back it retreated to the middle. Maybe. Maybe it's also moved closer to the outside of his skin. This is one of the reasons why I said it's dangerous to keep this part of the tail as I can't properly remove all the tiny splinters."
"It-" a small voice was there, "It c-can h-happen again?"
"Of course it can," Bay didn't sugarcoat anything, "and unless you plan on not moving an inch for the coming months, maybe even year until I have made sure every single splinter is out, if that's even possible, it will happen again."
The boy was silent and Bat just got her stuff to work, putting a few stitches in to close to exit wound and putting a patch over it. "There, for now this should be good, you're on antibiotics so it shouldn't get infected. I'm going back to bed, I'll be back later to hear your decision to keep your tail or not." And left the two alone with that.
Ace didn't speak, and Marco didn't urge him too. He simply let him have a few sips of water and sat down next to him. Gently taking his hand when the mer started to peel at his scales and held the hand in his, softly caressing the back of it with his thumb as they stayed in silence.
Only when the merman spoke, did Marco speak. Answering his questions as best as he could, but most of all he ensured that they would take care of him as long as he needed them, no matter the decision he made.
The next morning Marco still sat next to the raven and held his hand, not a lot of sleep had come to the both of them after everything, the mood a little down.
Luckily there was Thatch that came to make it all a bit better when he wheeled in a cart with trays.
"Goodmorning, Ace. Were you able to sleep?... a little? That's good. I brought you some food." And moved to get a table over Ace's lap and placed a plate on there. "It's omelette with fish pieces and shrimp. Do you like shrimp?"
Blinking slowly the boy nodded, "yea... Shrimp is nice... Hard to catch... thank you."
"No problem, aaaand" a large glass was added to the table, "a glass of orange juice!" Thatch smiled at the boy, sitting down himself next and grabbing a plate, handing one to Marco and taking one for himself. "Thermos is your too strong coffee."
"Thanks Thatch-yoi." He looked to Ace, giving a small squeeze to the hand he still held under the table before slowly letting go, ready to grab again if the mer showed he didn't want to let go, but he was glad to see the mer moving to pick up his own utensils.
During the meal Thatch chatted away of everything he thought of to make for the merman, almost all including some form of seafood, making notes throughout it all on what seemed to make the Mer most excited and which items not.
Just as Thatch put the table away at the end of the meal and put the leftover juice on the bedside stand. Ace surprised both of them.
"I'm going to... a-am-amputate my t-ta-tail."
"Are- are you sure? Your tail- it's what makes you a merman no?"
"Thatch." Marco hushed and nudged his side with his elbow.
Before Thatch could apologize, Ace gave a weak laugh.
"I... I'm still a merman without... just... not a complete one..."
"You are still a complete merman-yoi." Marco came in between and reached to take Ace's hand again. "With or without your tail you are a merman. If I were to lose an arm or my legs, I would still be a human too. Just because you will look a little different, doesn't change who you are."
"... Thank you."
"Can I ask what made you come to this decision-yoi?" Ace had been very keen on keeping his tail the day before.
"... the... the fall tonight..."
"You fell!? Marco, you were going to watch him!"
"A-ah it's okay! It's my own fault... I tried to sneak away... I... thought you were lying to me... about my tail being hurt... but... I... got hurt... Like the doctor warned me. It still hurts now..." Ace whispered the last part. "I don't want to hurt like this forever... and... I spoke with Marco."
The blond averted his gaze from the glare of his brother, knowing he wanted to say some harsh words to him for not keeping him up to date on any of this. But c'mon, it was barely morning.
"And like... I will be able to move my little part of my tail I still have left." his free hand went down to stroke the scales over the upper area, "that's... that's more than nothing. And..." he looked up with beady eyes to the others, "Marco said... he said you guys will help me get better as long as I need."
Thatch nodded at that, "yes! Ofcourse we will! And I! Thatch the great! Will make sure you eat your fil every single day! And I will carry you around! Everything you need I'll do!"
Ace nodded back, trying to form words to say thank you, but only succeeded in starting to cry. Clutching to the chef when he hugged him. Everything was overwhelming. He was going to lose his tail. He already lost his ability to swim. The fall, the splinter, it had hurt so much, he didn't want that anymore. So hopefully... this will allow him to live on pain-free.
"Is he okay? Is he okay?"
"Urgh, Thatch, get out of my face-"
BAM
"You didn't need to hit me!"
"I didn't need to if you just kept a normal distance." Bay huffed as she straightened her surgical gown. "Yes. He's fine- DON'T GO IN!"
Marco rolled his eyes at Thatch screaming as he got kicked across the hallway, the chef never learned. He on the other hand stayed a good 10 steps away and out of reach from arms and legs from Bay.
"He's still sleeping I assume-yoi?"
"Yes. The girls are cleaning up the area. He'll be moved to the sterile room once it's all done. He should wake up in about an hour. And I want to be called immediately when he does so I can ask him questions."
The glare was enough to make Marco nod furiously.
"Depending on how he handles everything, the shock from his tail being gone and the pain from the wound, since it is a big one, I will put him under again to sleep through the worst of the healing. Only waking up for food and the like."
Marco nodded at that, he already had trouble imagining how small wounds felt as he healed instantly, but the size of Ace's wound must be big since they cut off his tail at practically the widest part.
"What are you going to do with his tail?" Thatch asked returning, staying with Marco at the safe distance this time.
"It's been put on ice and should be in the kitchen by now."
"Oh okay- excuse me!?"
"I talked to Ace about what he wanted me to do with it, he said he wanted to eat it. So I've send it to the kitchen. If you can prepare it in under the hour, he can eat a bit when he wakes up."
"Marco..." Thatch made a motion as if fainting into the blond's arms. "I think I'm hallucinating. Eat... Bay said Ace wants to eat his tail."
"She did."
"She said he can eat it when he wakes up."
"She did."
"Should I make soup? Sushi?"
"You could make both-yoi."
Fully supported by the blond Thatch rubbed his face, "Why does he want to eat his own tail!? That's like us eating our own leg!?"
"He said something about keeping his tail close, and what's closer then eating it." Bay said as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "And we can't really keep his tail on ice forever or dry it, so eating it right now and the next days it is. Besides, I don't think it's really that strange."
"You would eat your own leg!?"
"No. But we don't usually eat human. Ace on the other hand eats fish daily, his tail is essentially just fish and thus his normal source of food."
"I-I-"
"Hmm, that does seem reasonable-yoi. Just watch out for the bone splinters, Thatch."
"You're okay with this?!"
"Not like I'm going to eat it. And like Bay says, if you think about it that way. Now that the tail is separate, it just looks like any other fish tail from a big orange fish. And it's his own tail that he decided to eat, not like we murdered another merman to feed him, so why not."
"You guys are crazy... alright! I'll make him the best wake-up meal ever! From- from his own tail!"
Timeskip (A/N: This story has been going on way to long.)
Recovery had been difficult, more mentally so then physical, but it was something to be expected.
After having woken up from surgery, Ace first of all ate his meal while crying about everything, making a comment that he tasted good in between, scarring Thatch about the sanity of the Mer. He answered Bay's questions next before they let him sleep again, the pain too much once narcotics wore off.
They let him sleep on and off for close to three weeks. Enough time for the skin to mend enough so the stiches could be taken off.
While the raven told of his skin seeming to pull, nothing hurt and Bay explained gently that that feeling would last a while longer until his body fully settled on this.
When a month passed it was deemed safe for Ace to move around the ship and with the help of Marco or Thatch carrying him, he got to explore everything. After having been confined to the infirmary for a whole month, the mer was obviously excited for this and the first steps out on deck the merman was a crying mess and they sat next to the railing so the mer had a good view of the ocean beneath them.
After getting all the emotions out Marco and Thatch introduced the raven to their captain.
"You're as big as Neptune!"
"Gurarara, He's just a bit taller than me!" the elder smiled at the small mer. As the captain he had gotten all the reports on his recovery, but had not gone to visit in fear of scaring the little one. Ofcouse he should have known he wouldn't fear him with their own king being bigger them himself.
"Now child, enjoy your time on my ship. Make these two pamper you to the brim and you're free to use my bath."
"Bath? I stink?" The mer asked and smelled his armpit.
"Gurararraaar! No my child! I mean to swim!"
"But, I can't..."
"Hmmmmm? You didn't show him yet my sons? Go on, what are you waiting for!"
"Ay captain(-yoi)!"
The duo of commanders almost ran inside, excided to show the merman what fossa's and Izou's division had made even if it was just a proto-type.
"What- what's going on? I can't swim anymore, you all told me."
"Just wait." Thatch grinned wildly, "You'll see!"
At the tub Marco and thatch stripped to their boxers, not wanting to make the boy uncomfortable being fully naked and Marco carried the boy inside the room while thatch ran ahead to get the device.
"Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Thatch smiled brightly, already standing in the tub and holding some floating device.
"What... What's that?"
"Well!" Thatch pushed the thing closer to the edge and waited for Marco to sit down on the edge of the bath, the blond not fully submerging or he would drown. "Fossa and Izou, two other commanders made this for you! It's not perfect yet as they didn't have much time and didn't have any of your measurements. But essentially-"
As Thatch spoke he went to lay in between two cylinder shaped wood blocks on top of a cloth, the cloth being attached to both logs and essentially making a hammock between them. Holding onto the small bars attached to the front he kept his face out of the water as the rest of his body was submerged, the cloth sinking low enough so his body was a few inches under the water, probably deeper if he put his full weight on it and didn't keep his feet on the ground.
"You lay down like this, your chest lays on here and because of the logs you won't submerged more than this, you can put your head underwater and everything but with these handles you can pull yourself up to breath! You can lay on here and move your tail and swim around the tub without worry of sinking down to the bottom and not getting up!"
"We don't know however good you will be able to move on your own though-yoi."
"Marcoooooo, don't be a party-pooper!"
"I'm not, just tell him everything without getting his hopes up." Marco sighed as he had already seen the spark in Ace's eyes. "You tail is not that big, so the movement is limited, maybe the device will be too heavy right now, but that's why Thatch will be your personal motor and push you around the tub to get the feeling of swimming. And you shouldn't exert your tail too much, it's still been only a month since the surgery."
Ace nodded along, eager to try already.
"This is just a proto-type. If you like this, Fossa and Izou will work further on it and customise it to make it more fitted for you. Jozu was even thinking he may be able to use a propeller from a small speedboat and attach it to make it move forward. They just need to figure things out like steering and such."
Already tears in his eyes at everything these strangers wanted to do for him, he outstretched his arms for the chef. Letting himself be picked up and be put down in the water. He felt a third hand support and raise his stump to get him settled, but he really didn't mind being touched there right now, he was just excited to maybe being able to swim!
"Hold onto here for now" Thatch instructed as he had laid Ace down, lifting him a bit higher and spreading the cloth properly under him so his whole chest was on it. "We may need to make a strap so you can't fall off... we'll see! How does it feel? Are you slipping off when I release you?" Thatch asked as he let go, but kept his hands hovering close.
Ace wiggled a bit in place and shook his head.
"Alright, then why don't you try."
Nodding Ace let go of the bars, sticking his head underwater, closing his eyes at first before opening them. A bright smile on his lips as he looked around in the tub. It wasn't much of a view, but it was everything he wanted after so long and the fear of never being in the water again.
After a few minutes he put his hands forward, putting his palms on top of each other and straight before him before he started to try and make movements to swim. Lowering and rising his arms and letting the movement travel through his body.
Laughs echoed underwater as he moved just the tiniest bit before he really smiled at moving a lot. He did hear muffled stomps underwater and one look showed Thatch walking with him. And while he knew it meant that Thatch was pushing him, he didn't let it deter his little bout of happiness as he swum around the tub.
A couple of rounds later when he passed by Marco again he unfolded his hands and Thatch stopped pushing him. He pulled himself out of the water with the bars, a beaming smile on his face.
"Do you like it-yoi?"
Nods were there, "Yea! I... I didn't think I would be able to swim again, but this is nice!"
Marco smiled softly, "that's nice... Thatch did ehm-"
"He pushed me right? I saw him following... I noticed I'm not moving a lot of water with my tail now... never enough to really push off. Turning also is a no go." the raven looked down a bit before looking up, "but this was still nice! I-" tears were there again, "I t-thought I c-could never g-go in the water again!"
The chef had gotten very attached to the small mer and easily picked him out of the device and into his arms, rocking him in his arms. "You'll be able to swim again!" he cried himself, "N-not like before, but we'll make sure you can enjoy the water as much as possible!"
Marco off to the side, smiled at the emotional scene, he'll express his absolute thanks to Izou and Fossa for coming up with this in such a short time-frame, being able to give the mer hope this soon on will definitely help in his recovery.
He stood up and moved to hug the raven close too. "We'll all work on this together. Perfect this proto-type and add more onto it, give you the most freedom you ever can. And no matter if you choose to stay with us or go back to fishman island. We'll give you everything you need to use this and visit to do any repairs to it you can't do yourself."
Sniffs, cries and thank you's were spoken over and over again, Thatch crying with the raven and even Marco had to blink away a little tear at it all. The moment was only broken by Thatch hoisten the boy up.
"E-enough crying! We got some swimming to do, don't we, Ace!?"
"Y-yea!"
"Let's goooo!" Thatch smiled, putting the raven back into the device and for practically the rest of the day the chef and the raven could be found in the tub. Doing lap after lap after lap. Even switching things up by having Ace on Thatch's back while the chef swum around. All in all just having the time of their lives. Even without his tail, everything would be okay, and maybe. Just maybe he found a new place to call home.
Art for this can be found on my AO3 and Wattpad!