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Year 16 AL, Seaside Suggestion
The swim through the rest of the Temple was eerily calm.
After successfully avoiding the Anglerfish Girl, Mink and Luka transversed the stony halls with little trouble. Other than the awful low visibility, nothing else slowed the pair down. Even still, the young Hero couldn't help but feel anxious. He truly didn't know what to expect next, not with how chaotic everything else had been on the way to meet this Queen of the Southern Seas.
'All I can do is hope for the best.' Luka thought while doing his best to psyche himself up. Which was a little difficult to do, considering the position he was in. He really did appreciate Mink's help, but the way she insisted on carrying him certainly did not look dignified in any way.
"Looks like we've made it." Mink said, spurring Luka to focus back on the path before them. The purple-haired boy saw what the Mermaid meant, for they had made it to another large archway that resembled the one at the start of the Temple. This one, however, led to a huge and open throne room. The circular room was covered with rugged gray stone from its top to its bottom, adding to the unsettling feeling Luka had been steadily growing since they entered the Temple.
Although the room was very dark, Luka could make out the multiple pillars that rose around its center. The purple-haired boy squinted and was able to see a very large stone throne at the other end of the Temple, one that looked fairly fit for a Queen. However, no Queen was sitting in it.
"U-Uhhh..." Luka drawled as they swam to the center of the room. "...Is this place not open right now?" He asked, looking around the room for anything that looked like a Queen. Mink released Luka and swam forward, shaking her head as she searched the room alongside him. "Wouldn' be too convenient if it were, I'd say that much." The Mermaid remarked, squinting around the large room.
Luka, meanwhile, started shaking his head in disbelief. 'I can't just leave without completing the Marriage Trial though, there has to be something we're missing.' He thought. However, as he started to swim towards the stone throne before him, the room suddenly brightened as multiple torches became lit. Luka and Mink jolted, both of the pair looking up towards the blue fire now burning high up on the pillars of the room.
In doing so, various engravings of aquatic-looking Monsters alongside Humans were revealed to Luka and Mink. From the walls around the room to the pillars holding up the ceiling, the whole room had these stone carvings. Thankfully, they weren't nearly as suggestive as the ones Luka had seen in the hotel of Port Natalia, though they still seemed to imply a certain level of intimacy.
It made sense - considering the nature of this Trial - but it made a slight shiver go up his spine all the same.
Rumble Rumble
Luka and Mink both turned towards the archway, hearing as the Temple started to shake. The young Hero's eyes went wide as he saw movement happening from within the darkness of the hall, and something about it made the hair on the back of his head stand up. It didn't take Luka long to find out why, as the titular Queen of the Temple revealed herself to them.
And there was much to reveal, that was for sure.
First, came the enormous pale-blue tentacles. They snaked out of the shadows like something out of the young Hero's worst nightmares, gripping onto the ground and pulling themselves further into the room. Luka's breath hitched as a very large body - one even larger than the Anglerfish Girl from before - slowly glided across the stone floor, towering completely over himself and Mink.
The Queen was a Kraken.
Her legs were comprised completely of humongous tentacles, each of them easily being several meters long. Up from there, the Monster's body became more Humanoid. Her naked upper body was adorned with dark blue tattoos of tentacles that snaked up her midriff, ending just below her massive breasts. Around her biceps and collarbone were elaborate golden gauntlets, their lustrous exteriors gleaming in the light provided by the blue flames above.
Her head was similar to that of a squid's head, the smaller tentacles trailing down from her scalp and triangular fin acting as the Monster's hair. In between the cascading mass of tentacles that made up her hair, the Kraken's surprisingly gentle face looked down upon Luka and Mink with lazy yellow eyes. She looked between the two for a moment, eyeing them both with curiosity.
Luka forcefully cleared his throat, "E-E-Erm, h-hello, a-are you th-the Queen h-here?" He asked with a very pronounced stutter, keeping his eyes focused on the Kraken's face in order to ignore her waving appendages. Mink started to swim up behind him, eyeing the larger Monster warily as she did.
The Monster gave Luka a nod and responded, "I am the Queen of this Temple, yes..." The Kraken said, squinting a bit as she stared down at them. "...And who are you two?"
The purple-haired boy placed a hand on his chest, "M-My name is L-L-Luka, y-your Majesty." The purple-haired boy stammered, putting a hand on his chest. His arms lightly shook as he gestured towards the Mermaid behind him, "A-And th-this is M-Mink!" Luka said, his clearly anxious tone eliciting a questioning look from the aforementioned Mermaid.
The Kraken nodded, sliding around the edge of the room to make for her stone throne. Luka watched the Queen with wide eyes, not wanting to let her leave his sight for even a second. However, once Mink entered his vision, she quickly grabbed his attention.
"Why ya lookin' like yer 'bout to hurl? Ain't no reason to freak out, now." Mink quietly chastised, helping to knock Luka from his stupor, "S-Sorry, i-it's just..." The young Hero nervously fidgeted as he floated before the Mermaid, "...I-I'm not r-really fond of t-t-tentacles." He revealed.
Mink immediately thought back to Luka's fight with the Sea Anemone, remembering how intense that ordeal had been. The Mermaid hadn't said it at the time, but the sight of the purple-haired boy being surrounded by his own blood while being halfway swallowed had been disturbing for her and wasn't an image she wanted to ponder over any longer.
"Hey," Mink said, swimming a bit closer, "Don't let it bother ya, let's just get this thing done, m'kay?"
Luka shakily nodded his head, Mink's reassurance giving him some comfort. "R-Right..." The young Hero trailed off, looking back up to Kraken, who had just made it to her throne. The Queen of the Southern Seas sat in her stone chair and gazed upon Luka and Mink, "And what is that you are here for?" She asked, folding her arms beneath her large breasts.
Luka began to dig into his pants pocket, reaching for the Marriage Pledge Meia had given him, "...W-Well, y-your Majesty," The purple-haired boy started as he began to pull out the neatly folded paper. "I-I'm to complete this Marriage Trial for ones who are listed in this Marriage Pledge." He answered, holding Meia's Marriage Pledge high and pointing towards the Kraken.
However, the Queen greatly misunderstood Luka's words, quickly assuming that the ones listed in the Marriage Pledge were the Human and Mermaid before her.
"Oh, is that so?" The Kraken asked, her demeanor quickly changing from judgmental to excited as she turned to Mink. "I'm sure it was quite the difficult time getting down here, so let's get you two married right away!" The Queen exclaimed with a nod towards the two. Mink blinked in surprise, finding herself speechless at the Queen's egregious confusion.
Upon realizing what the Kraken had just implied, Luka began stumbling over himself as he attempted to explain. "W-W-Wait, th-that i-isn't what I-I said-" Before he could get much further, the Queen reached out towards the two with her tentacles, grabbing up both Mink and Luka in one fell swoop.
"A-AH!" Luka yelled, the calm he had been attempting to keep quickly dissipating as he felt the much larger Monster's tentacle wrap around his entire body.
"Hey!" Mink exclaimed, futilely struggling against the much stronger Monster's grip.
"My apologies, you two. I really should have been able to guess what you were here for..." The Kraken spouted off as she left her throne, pulling a large book from behind the chair while she drifted to the middle of the room. The Queen reached somewhere off to the side with a tentacle as she neared the center of the throne room, setting off something unseen that caused the room to start shifting.
Rumble Rumble
Rumble Rumble
Suddenly, the round center of the room started to move, a large cylindrical pedestal rising from the very middle. At the same time, a similarly-sized hole in the ceiling opened up, revealing the dark waters outside the Temple. The Queen kept the pair down inside as she stuck her head out to call out to someone out in the open ocean.
"Anko, I need a bit of mood lighting!" The Kraken hollered, ducking back inside soon after. "My apologies, I'd usually have these things prepared beforehand, but I don't usually get visitors this early in the day." She elaborated while floating back down into her throne room.
It was an awfully confusing thing to say, considering that it was likely well past midday by this point.
The pedestal that had been rising made a loud clunk as it locked into place, reaching the halfway point between the floor and the ceiling. Gently, the Kraken maneuvered the shaking Luka and an irritated-looking Mink onto the pedestal, but she did not let them go just yet The Queen then suddenly reached down and removed the Mermaid's gray head rag, revealing the rest of her long white hair.
"OI!" Mink yelled, watching as the Kraken took the fabric away. "The Hell did ya take that fer!?" The Mermaid exclaimed in question, looking even more aggravated now.
The Queen just waved a tentacle a Mink, opening up the large book she had grabbed from her throne. "It's just for the moment, you can wear whatever you want after you wed. I assure you." Luka - who had been furiously fidgeting in the Kraken's grip - looked up to the larger Monster in desperation.
"M-Miss Queen, you d-didn't hear me r-right. W-We aren't th-the ones getting-" Luka paused as a familiar blue light started blinking up above. The young Hero glanced up, becoming very bewildered to see the Anglerfish Girl from before peering down into the Temple while lowering her angler.
"...Brighten..." The odd Monster murmured quietly, blinking her lure steadily until it remained glowing completely, bathing Luka and Mink in what now felt like a rather intimate light. "...Yay..." The one known as "Anko" whispered in exclamation.
"Much appreciated, Anko. Now," The Queen started while flipping through her book. "Human-Mermaid Marriages are fairly swift, so if you're wanting to consummate within the hour, that should be possible..." She gave the two a stern look, "...But you can't do that here. Last time I let that happen, I had to filter the water for weeks-"
"-Hey, would stop talkin' 'bout that crap fer a second and listen?" Mink not-so-nicely asked, spurring the Queen to glance down at the rather upset-looking Mermaid. "Luka ain't lookin' to marry me." The Queen of the Southern Seas hesitated, glancing between the two in confusion before settling her gaze on Luka.
"You aren't marrying this Mermaid?" The Queen asked, to which Luka shook his head. "N-No, I'm completing th-the Marriage Trial, b-but n-not for me and Mink." He elaborated, able to wrench his arm out and raise the Marriage Pledge to the Kraken. She carefully released the two from her grip, taking the small piece of paper from his much smaller hands.
"Ah, so this is for another?" The Queen asked, before recoiling a bit. "Erm, if you're presenting this to me, I must warn you that those proceedings are quite-"
"-N-NO!" Luka quickly cut her off while raising his hands up, wanting to snuff that idea out very quickly. "It is not for you!"
The Queen blinked owlishly, apparently now very lost. She seemed to mull his words over quite strongly before pointing an uncertain finger up to the Anglerfish above. "...Is it for Anko?" Luka stared at the Queen, horrified at the very notion, while Mink threw a hand to her face in exasperation. "He ain't marryin' nobody! The Pledge ain't even his!" The Mermaid yelled.
"...Sad..." Anko lamented from above.
The Kraken became even more puzzled at this revelation. "So you completed the Marriage Trial, with a Mermaid by your side, so that you could not get married?" She asked while looking over the paper he had handed her. Luka quickly elaborated, "L-Like I said, that is a Marriage Pledge, but it isn't mine. It's for a Mermaid named Meia and the Human she wishes to marry." He explained as the Queen started to unfurl the paper.
"Hmmm..." The Kraken hummed while scratching the back of her head with a tentacle, "...So you are here to get my blessings on their behalf? I'm not sure if something like that is even allowed. Let's see, did I ever write anything down about that?" She said out loud, folding the paper closed while opening her large book.
Luka and Mink watched as the Kraken read through the rules that she had, presumedly, been the one to write in the first place. The large Monster hemmed and hawed to herself, flipping back and forth - even turning it upside down at one point - before closing the book shut and handing it off to one of her tentacles.
"Well, guess it wouldn't hurt. That Marriage Pledge did seem to be heartfelt enough, at least. So I'll allow it!" The Kraken said, though her face scrunched up soon after. "Eh, just bare with me, I've never had to oversee a Marriage that doesn't include the Bride and Groom..."
Out of everything that had happened so far, this was the easiest thing for Luka to understand. "Y-Yeah, it i-is a bit strange." He mused, nervously tapping a foot on the pedestal beneath him. The Kraken hummed to herself as she stared off to the side. Her dark yellow eyes came back to the pair of Human and Mermaid once more, and her gaze widened.
"Oh, I know!" The Kraken exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "You two can be their stand-ins!" The Queen decided, lifting her tentacles up and scooting Luka and Mink closer together. The young Hero became shoulder-to-shoulder with the tanned Mermaid, trying not to shiver in response to being touched by the tentacle at his side.
The Queen of the Southern Seas straightened as she cleared her throat. "Now," She said, facing Mink while not-so-subtly reading the Marriage Pledge. "Do you, "Meia", take... erm..." The Queen had to squint back at the Marriage Pledge again for a moment. Luka raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing so that this bizarre ceremony could go on quickly.
"...Take, "Souta", as your beloved Human Husband, to love and cherish for the rest of your life?" The Queen asked, raising her gaze to meet Mink's. The white-haired Mermaid had been uncharacteristically quiet since clearing up the misunderstanding, finally perked up at the question. Her bright green eyes bounced over to Luka for a moment before meeting the Kraken once more.
"Aye, I take him." Mink said simply, something awfully conflicted dancing in her eyes. The Queen seemed to accept the answer, turning to Luka now. "And "Souta", do you take "Meia" as your beloved Mermaid Wife, to love and cherish for the rest of your life?" She asked.
Unlike Mink, Luka took a bit longer to answer. Even though he wasn't actually getting married, the Meer act of standing before the Queen with Mink by his side made it feel terribly real. This was made even worse by the fact that he could see the Mermaid watching him now, her face appearing very expectant of his answer even though they were serving as stand-ins.
He wasn't sure if it was Mink's intense stare or Anko's bright light, but he felt a bead of sweat trail down his forehead.
Thump Thump
Luka gulped before answering, "Y-Yes, I do." For whatever reason, a pit started to grow in his stomach.
"Very good! Then by the power invested in me by the current Monster Lord herself, I officially declare "Meia" and "Souta" to be Wife and Husband!" The Queen proclaimed with a smile, reaching around with one of her smaller tentacles to show a set of black rings. "These are the Rings of Promise, for the newlyweds to wear until death..." The Kraken frowned, biting her lip as she stopped herself from fully delivering the rings to Luka.
"Wh-What's wrong?" Luka asked the troubled Queen. The Kraken deliberated for a moment, "...Well, usually the Bride and Groom would kiss to end the proceedings..." The Kraken looked at the pair with expectation. "...So, you know..." The Queen trailed off, twirling a hand as she did.
Luka bristled, immediately understanding what the Queen was trying to ask without actually asking anything.
Luka tentatively looked over Mink, who had an unreadable expression on her face as her bright green eyes looked down to the side. "W-Well..." The purple-haired boy started hesitantly as he began to turn towards Mink, "...I-If it's just to finish the c-ceremony th-then I guess we could-" Luka never got to finish his sentence as the Mermaid suddenly reached over and grabbed him by the shoulders.
The yelp that came from Luka's mouth was quickly cut off by Mink's lips, which all but crashed into his own. The purple-haired boy froze as the Mermaid began her sudden assault, pulling his body into hers with an unexpected passion. A light groan came from his throat as Mink's breasts pressed into his chest, and he couldn't help but wonder if it was the cold water still causing her nipples to harden, or if it was something else...
Thump Thump
Thump Thump
One of Mink's hands reached up and clasped the nape of Luka's neck, pulling him even closer. Luka felt his lips buzz as Mink let out a moan, leaning into the young Hero even more. Luka's eyelids fluttered, an instinctual urge to close hitting him as he bore the brunt of the Mermaid's affection. Mink had already done so herself, having quickly abandoned the pretense of it being a symbolic gesture.
Luka felt his mind grow hazy as Mink showed no signs of stopping, smothering his lips again and again. The Mermaid's efforts were nearly ravenous, and the young Hero was becoming aware of the fact that he was getting lost in her passion. At that moment, Luka realized that he needed to take back control and reached down to push the Mermaid off him. However, once his hands grasped her waist, Mink moaned into his mouth again and roughly grinded her hips into his.
Thump Thump
Thump Thump
The effect was immediate, as Mink pressed herself right up against Luka's growing length. The jolt of pleasure shot through him heavily, spurring his body to instinctively thrust back into Mink. The Mermaid moaned again, squeezing the fist she had gripped in his hair while she did before releasing his long purple locks. That same hand trailed down low, reaching his waist and feeling a literal handful of Luka's excitement...
...And that's when Luka finally found the will to push Mink away.
Luka panted as he leaned back, his wide eyes looking on in a hazy cloud of excitement and disbelief. The young Hero certainly hadn't expected Mink to jump him so intensely, and it had very nearly started growing into something more intimate. Even worse, the warring sea of thoughts in his head could only agree on one thing: He had enjoyed it.
Mink, meanwhile, very nearly looked as if she was about to jump Luka again but the Mermaid hesitated, seemingly sobering up some. However one thing did stick in her mind, and that was the fact that Luka had taken an awfully long time to resist her advances. And from what she had felt, there had been a desire in the purple-haired boy to go further.
"...Hot..." Anko observed from up above.
"Oookaaay, I think that's made it official and then some." A very confused-looking Kraken said as she presented the rings once more, looking a tiny bit confused at the unexpectedly heated moment between the non-newlyweds. "The ceremony is now complete, so you can make your leave now. Unless you two have changed your minds about marrying?" She asked with a raised brow.
Luka quickly shook his head as he took the rings from the Queen, "N-N-No, thank y-you, your Majesty." The young Hero quickly answered as he quickly pocked the Rings of Promise. "I-I do think we're r-r-ready to leave n-now. It'll t-take us a while to get b-back to the s-surface, I imagine." Luka added.
The Kraken clapped her hands together again, "Oh don't worry, I have a way around that. Anko, give me some space!" With no warning, one of her massive tentacles suddenly wrapped around Luka and Mink. The pair yelped as the Kraken swam up with them in tow, going through the hole in the ceiling to bring all three into the open ocean.
With a hand raised to her brow, the Queen glanced up to where the tunnel of light was coming from while holding Luka and Mink aloft in her tentacle. "Alright, here we go. You two should hold each other tight, just in case." The Kraken said, adding the last part in a hurry.
"W-Wait, th-this seems like a T-TERRIBLE IDEA!" Luka yelled.
"If ya freakin' miss, I SWEAR!-" Mink started, but she was silenced by the Kraken's sudden tightening of her grip.
Not noticing their distress, the Queen of the Southern Seas gave them a smile. "Good luck you two, and if you ever end up settling..." She paused, not sure how to even describe it. "...Whatever it is, going on between you two, I'll always have more rings waiting!" With that, the Kraken reared back and flung Luka and Mink up the tunnel of light with frightening speed, cutting through the water faster than most animals and Monsters could swim.
The Kraken watched the pair vanish from sight, a satisfied smile on her face. She turned, noticing Anko floating up from behind.
"...Odd couple..." The Anglerfish said, spurring the Queen to nod.
"I know, kids these days make romance so complicated!" She spouted off while throwing her arms up, "If there's attraction there, why beat around the bush about it? It really is just silly..." The Kraken kept grumbling to herself as she slunk back into her Temple, leaving the Anglerfish to float alone. Anko deliberated just a bit, the Monster thinking quite hard about everything she had just witnessed. Then, she had a revelation.
"...Love does not shrink when caged. It continues to grow until the cage shatters, as it can no longer endure the suffering of a pinioned heart..." Anko finally announced. However, with no one around to listen to her revelation, the wisdom came to the benefit of no one.
"...Hungry..." With the epiphany having passed, the large and odd Anglerfish Girl went on her way, swimming into the dark abyss in search of something to snack on.
The purple and white blur of Luka and Mink sped through the waters with a mind-numbing ferocity. Neither of the pair could even scream as they clung to each other, riding out the overwhelming ordeal. Their passing through each layer of the ocean was surreal, as what had been a steady change when they had had been descending was now very abrupt when ascending.
The Sun's light grew with each second, making the dark and cold waters of the bottommost layer of the ocean give way to the bright and warm topmost layer within seconds. Then, Luka and Mink finally reached the surface, breaking through the final layer of the ocean and flying towards the beach. At some point the pair released each other, crashing onto the sand in an ungraceful heap.
Luka grunted as he rolled across the ground, hearing Mink curse as she landed somewhere off to his left. The young Hero ended his landing on his back, having to cover his eyes as the bright sun filled his vision. 'Well, I guess that could have gone worse...' Luka thought as his eyes slowly adjusted to the change in lighting. '...But I really do think that I would've rather not been flung.'
"Damnit!" Mink hissed, capturing Luka's attention. The purple-haired boy rose up to sit as he peered over to the Mermaid. He saw Mink frowning as she stood and began to stand up as well. "A-Are you hurt Mink?" Luka asked, though his concern was quickly dispelled.
"Nah," Mink said, though she looked heavily annoyed. "But that Queen never gave me my cap back." Indeed, the Mermaid's long white hair was showing, fully flowing in the breeze unimpeded by the gray fabric that she usually wore. "I got others, but that one was one 'a my favorites." She added with a huff.
A small frown formed on Luka's face, "I'm sorry, I would've asked for it if I had remembered to." Mink shook her head, brushing sand off of herself as she replied. "Ain't yer fault. Between the two of us, I think that Queen was a bit of a ditz..." The Mermaid hissed, accidentally brushing sand into the cut she had made on her arm. The sight of Mink recoiling in pain only made Luka's frown deepen, and the memories of the fight with the Sea Anemone came flooding back.
Luka took a glance around, his pale-blue eyes searching the beachside until he found his traveling bag. The purple-haired boy started trudging over to it, quickly unzipping the bag and searching for his bandages. With the white dressings in hand, Luka returned to the Mermaid.
"Sorry fer layin' on that kiss a bit too much, by the way..." Mink said, causing Luka to falter as he unwrapped the bandages. "...I hadn' meant to get so handsy, but I may 'ave gotten a bit lost in the moment, if ya know what I mean." The young Hero hardly knew what to even say to that, so he just shook his head while muttering, "I-It's, uh, w-well, d-don't worry about it."
Quickly moving on from that memory in order to keep his composure, Luka grabbed Mink's arm and gently raised it aloft. Mink looked a tad bit surprised at the sudden contact, but she didn't pull away. In fact, Mink wanted to move closer, but fought against the instinct in favor of not causing the purple-haired boy to get too nervous.
Luka started wrapping the bandage around Mink's arm, wincing as he felt the Mermaid flinch a bit in pain.
"I-I never did thank you for saving me down there, Mink. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably wouldn't have been able to escape." Luka suddenly softly spoke, keeping his eyes focused on her arm. The Mermaid watched him gently wrap the cut with what was probably more bandage than necessary as she replied, "I'd help ya save face by sayin' yer wrong, but ya were in some pretty bad waters when I got there, I'd say that much."
Mink didn't say it, but when she had first reached the bottom of the sea after Luka was pulled into the dark depths, the Mermaid truly thought that she was too late. With that much blood in the water, it really seemed as if the young Hero was already dead.
If Mink hadn't seen he was still thrashing when she reached the Sea Anemone, she wouldn't have stopped at stabbing just once. But the Mermaid wouldn't let him know that. She knew Luka was a bit too tender-hearted to take something like that in good spirit.
Luka nodded, "I know, I owe you a lot for that." He said as he finished wrapping her arm. Mink felt a twinge of excitement course through her, very intimately remembering what happened the last time Luka dealt with a debt with her, but the Mermaid ignored the urge to ask for a second round of that type of "payment" in favor of pursuing something a bit more delicate.
"Ya don't owe me anythin'. But I do wanna say somethin' pretty important myself." Mink said, peaking Luka's curiosity. He raised his pale-blue eyes up to her, a bit taken aback by her quick declaration. However, before he could say anything, the Mermaid started taking off her backpack.
"Like we talked 'bout down there, ya've got a lot on yer plate with all that Hero-business. And I know all 'bout how important takin' care 'a business is..." Luka watched as Mink pulled something out of her backpack, holding it tight in her tanned hand. "...That bein' said, I wanna make ya an offer. One that I hope ya might consider takin' someday."
Mink reached out with her other hand, taking Luka's hand as she did. The young Hero silently let her do this, silenced by the sudden tenseness of the air. The Mermaid opened his hand up and placed something light in it. Luka moved to look at it and saw a neatly folded-up white paper, but Mink quickly closed his hand before he could see anything more.
"When ya've done what ya need to do, and ya start thinkin' 'bout settlin' down..." Mink trailed off, her words failing her as she released his hand with a shake of her head. The Mermaid quickly shouldered her backpack with something curiously hopeful gleaming in her eyes. "...Well, like I said down there, ya wouldn't have to look very far." Luka watched as Mink started shuffling back to the water, not sure what to say.
"Anywho, I'm gonna go back to scavengin' fer things to sell." Mink said over her shoulder. The water went up to the Mermaid's waist before she stopped and looked back at him. "Just so ya know, I don't plan on changin' that doorknob as long as nobody goes breakin' it again, so it should always unlock fer ya, big boy~" Luka's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Mink winked and swiftly dove into the water.
A cool breeze blew across the beach; this, along with the water crashing against the sand, was the only sound Luka heard as he stood there. The young Hero glanced down at his closed fist, not having opened it since Mink gave him her "offer." Slowly, very slowly, Luka uncurled his fingers and gazed upon the oddly familiar-looking folded paper. His heart skipped as he began unfolding it, and Luka quickly realized why it looked so familiar.
After all, he had just delivered one of these to the Queen mere minutes before. But even more alarmingly than this was the bronze key that came alongside it.
Luka didn't have to wonder long about whose door this key went to. With how new the key looked, it must go to a doorknob that was very recently put in.
The Prophet of Ilias gazed out to the sea, his pale-blue eyes looking out to the expanse of blue before him. His mind was a mess, his thoughts being terribly scattered for the second time in less than an hour. This time, however, it was from the sheer emotions resonating inside. Luka didn't know what to think about the paper in his hands but Ilias's words bounced in his head once again.
"Monsters can't love..."
But if this was so, then why would Mink bother writing up a Marriage Pledge for herself and Luka?
Luka couldn't take his eyes off the paper that had been given him. Now that he knew what it was, it only furthered the conflict building in his mind. Mink had carried this all the way down to the bottom of the ocean with him. This meant, in essence, they had just completed not only Meia's Marriage Trial but had practically done one for themselves as well. Sure, it wasn't intentional on Luka's part because Mink hadn't even shown her desire to marry him until after the fact, but it still spoke volumes.
Mink didn't have to wait until after. Heck, once the Queen asked if Luka and Mink had changed their minds about marrying, the Mermaid could've put him on the spot by revealing her Marriage Pledge right then and there in an attempt to force his hand. But she didn't; instead, Mink had waited until they were alone to give it to him and hadn't even stuck around to see him read its contents. She had left without even looking for an answer, leaving the decision completely up to Luka instead.
Then what was that, if not a declaration of love?
Perhaps it was a bit abrupt of a development, and truly Luka could not say that he felt as strongly for the Mermaid as she clearly did for him, but he'd be a liar if he said his heart hadn't been swayed by Mink's gesture. How could he not be? She had proposed to him, an action that had few emotional equals in life. Even if Mink was roundabout in saying it, the message had been clear. Luka could see it in her eyes, and hear it in her voice.
It wasn't just lust. If it was, then Mink wouldn't have helped him get to the undersea Temple. She wouldn't have cared to make sure to fix the Kraken's misunderstanding. She wouldn't have cared enough to potentially endanger her own safety to save his life.
She wouldn't have cut herself open, to help heal his wounds.
Luka gently folded the paper back up, making sure to keep the key nicely tucked inside. He walked over to his traveling bag and gently placed Mink's Marriage Pledge inside, not knowing what to do with it but also not wanting to leave such a personal thing lying around. All the while, his heart felt more conflicted than it ever had before.
How should Luka even feel? He barely had it in him to deny those feelings, but he was strictly forbidden to accept them as well. It left him in a terrible spot, indeed.
"OW!" Luka shouted, suddenly feeling something pinching his leg. The purple-haired boy glanced down, seeing a small crab hanging off his leg. He reached down and grabbed the crustacean, pulling it off and lightly tossing the crab into the sand. Then, Luka saw something in the sand that certainly hadn't been there minutes prior.
I Mean It, Screw You!
"S-Soapy!?" Luka said incredulously upon reading the familiar message, looking at what he now recognized as the sealed form of the Crab Girl he had fought when first getting to the beach. "D-Did you really w-wait for me to get back, just to do that!?" The Crab snapped its pincers before scuttling off into the water, disappearing from sight.
"Wow, guess that Blood Rivalry thing is no joke. She really waited all that time just to inconvenience you at best." Alice said, doing her usual appear-out-of-nowhere shtick by slithering from behind a tree. Luka, not even surprised by her sudden materialization, bent down and rubbed his leg with a frown, "Yeah, apparently..." He replied before shaking his head. "...A bit pettier than what I would imagine from a Blood Rival, but I guess I shouldn't complain."
Alice folded her arms, "If you had just cooked her before, you wouldn't have that problem." Luka aimed a pointed look at the Lamia, "I'm still not doing that." He said flatly.
The lavender-haired Lamia huffed but said nothing more. Instead, she quietly watched as Luka hefted up his traveling bag. With all his gear together, Luka nodded to his traveling partner, "Alright, I've delivered Meia's Marriage Pledge, and I've got her rings, so we are good to go back to Port Natalia." Luka started trudging away from the shoreline, Alice slithering right beside him.
The young Hero silently considered his traveling partner for a moment, realizing that she had vanished quite a while ago and had done so specifically when Mink showed up. Which was odd, because the Mermaid hadn't been a Monster he had to fight, unlike all the other times Alice disappeared. Another curiosity was the fact that Alice had been gone for nearly the entire duration of his time at sea. It was a fact that actually bothered him, now that he thought about it longer.
As strange as it sounded, Luka couldn't image preferring that the Lamia not be at his side. As troublesome as her tendencies could be, Alice had no doubt been his biggest help while he was on his journey. Not even just with her more knowledgeable insight on topics related to Monsters - although that did tend to help a lot - but it was also greatly comforting for him to have someone to confide in when need be.
Luka didn't know if Alice necessarily felt the same about the subject - and if he was being honest, he figured that she probably didn't - but he was growing fond of the fact that he could talk to the Lamia about more personal things. His confession about Sofia and parts of his loneliness as a child, for example, had actually lifted the heaviness of his heart some. There was still a dull pain when he thought about such things, but it hurt just a bit less now.
"Hey, Alice?" Luka said, gaining the attention of his traveling partner. Alice's golden eyes stared down at him with a mild amount of curiosity. "Hmmm?" She hummed.
The young Hero took a moment to gather his thoughts. He wasn't sure if it was simply due to the onslaught of strong emotions that had been whirling inside of him, but he felt quite compelled to thank the Lamia for being his traveling partner. Eventually, he settled on just saying what felt right.
"I'm glad that you always come back." Luka said. Alice's eyes widened just a tad at his words, noting just how deliberately he had phrased that. It was difficult to ignore how tight her chest began feeling, but she forced through it either way. "Well, s-someone has to." Alice quickly replied, "You'd be completely lost if it wasn't for me."
Most people would probably take her reply as an insult, but Luka just smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right." With nothing else to add, the pair fell into a comfortable silence while they headed for Port Natalia. And if one were to study the tracks they left in the sand, they could confirm what Luka had suspected earlier that day.
For the sand behind them clearly showed that their opposite trials were, indeed, growing closer.
Fluff in one hand and angst in the other, perfectly balanced. Or something akin to that.
More charged emotions and things of that nature coming into play, whether that be Luka with Alice or Luka with any other "interests" in his life. It's starting to become quite the tangled web now, and it will only get more complicated as we progress. But not everything is well, for there is darkness on the horizon.
The Haunted Mansion is the next major destination, and it will be quite the unpleasant ordeal. If you were expecting Luka to have fun with a horde of personal zombies, then you'll be very disappointed. In fact, going to the Haunted Mansion shall prove to be quite taxing on Luka's mental health.
omegaqilin: No worries, it didn't cause any confusion on my end.
Luka reuniting with his Mother will definitely be quite the emotional ordeal, for sure. Especially with the circumstances it will end up happening under.
F14M3RZ: Like you said, it probably goes without saying, but Alice did leave because she had interest in being around Mink.
To be honest, it would make sense that the effect of the Ball of Guidance would be restricted to the Shield once Luka put it up, but I never really put a great amount of thought into it if I'm being truly honest.
Shadow Necro: Almost, but not quite. If that actually happened, I wouldn't know who would be more irate: Alice or Ilias.