Chapter Text
Strange was the only word Erik could find to describe the situation that the world around him had now chosen to gift him with.
For it to go so quickly from fighting for his and Eli’s life to what seemed to be at the very least relative safety with an almost forgotten familiar face… Maybe it was an apology?
Maybe the orca had been a mistake of fate. Meant for something else and not for him.
It’d be odd, though. For everything else that he was sure he deserved reparations for, this was what earned him one moment of good fortune.
Not that he was complaining.
Erik sat still as Sylvando worked on his own to untagle net was twisted around them both.
That welcome feeling of safety began to waver the closer he and Eli were to being freed, doubts starting to creep in.
Just because Erik knew these people, or more accurately had known them, didn’t automatically mean they were both safe, after all, Erik had trusted Derk to be kind to Eli before he knew what he’d already done.
But Sylvando had never been anything like Derk, so he couldn’t help but feel at least a little more at ease than he probably should have.
He pushed against any cruelty and of them ever tried to show.
“I don’t like this.” Eli leaned in close to whisper. Completely terrified but still unwilling to risk harming anyone before he knew for absolute sure it was necessary.
He held on tight to Erik’s wrist, hard enough that it hurt. “We’re getting back down. Right now. I don’t care about the-”
“I’m so sorry we caught you both up like that.” Sylvando kneeled down to be on eye level with them both. “Is there anything we can do to help you? At least let me lower you two back into the water. I don’t want either of you getting hurt by jumping back down all that way on your own.”
Eli cringed back as Sylvando moved, but Erik was nearly too preoccupied processing what was said to notice.
Erik looked from Sylvando, patiently waiting for a response, to those around, standing around and staring.
Two spoke to each other, too quiet for Erik to hear. Others were waiting just as Sylvando was – but that was all.
Not a single person on board seemed to actually harbor any sort of ill intent at all – only curiosity. Perhaps that was actually closer to what the norm could or what it already was, though Eli’s previous experiences told a different story.
And as much as Erik wanted to pretend he was in perfect control, Eli’s fear was contagious, and whether he felt threatened by their situation or not, he couldn’t help but feel the same kind of anxiety.
“I-” Erik tried to speak, at least enough to explain what they’d been trying to escape, that their ending up on board hadn’t been unintentional, but his mouth felt dry, and the adrenaline of the fight had yet to all drain out.
His thoughts were packing themselves in too close to each other. Too much overlap between the possibility of this being a safe haven, and the possibility they’d need to dive back down and swim as fast as they could. Their original plan, yes. But that didn’t mean it was safe. Everything that was taken in, what was being said, what he wanted to say, what he needed to ask for – it was too much at once.
“Are you hurt?” Genuine concern. That was just enough to snap Erik out of the spiral he was looking down into.
“No.” It took a moment of trying to manage to actually find that single word, and another to be able to speak it.
Erik was fine. Tired, but fine, and while Eli would surely have bruises to show for his fight by morning, it wasn’t likely that he’d taken anything serious enough to be concerned about. “We’re both fine.”
“Would you like help down, then?” Sylvando took Erik at his word, but then again, they wouldn’t have any reason to think they were hurt apart from the netting. “But if you have the time to spare, I’d feel so much better if you both took some time to rest.” They looked over to Eli, and Erik followed. “Your friend looks… like he could use it.” After a pause, they settled on what they’d decided was the kindest way to describe it.
Eli was leaning more onto Erik than he was sitting upright on his own. Taking his wrist from Eli’s grip, he wrapped it around Eli’s shoulders instead, giving him that extra little bit of support. Whether he would be happy with it or not, Erik was going to take that offer. This was more than the few moments of time he’d hoped for just to regroup and get that tiny bit ahead of the orca calf. With what they’d managed to do to it, it was either turning back to where it came, or right where they left it, too injured to move just yet. This way they could rest without the worry that it would be just one step behind them, and depending on how long Sylvando would let them stay, a much faster way down their path. “We’ll stay.” Erik decided, knowing he’d need to apologize to Eli and explain his reasoning as gently as possible later. He’d understand once he’d had time to calm down and breathe. “We were running from an orca, it wasn’t an accident that you pulled us up.”
“I’m just glad we were here, then.” Sylvando barely reacted to the new information. There wasn’t any danger of it anymore, so in their mind, as long as they were fine there was no need to worry themself or anyone else with it. “You’re both safe as long as you’re with me.”
Sylvando pushed themself up off the wooden deck. “Now that that’s decided-” they clapped their hands once, and once more Eli cringed back from the sound, further against Erik. Sylvando stopped, looking them both over with a frown. “Are you sure you’re alright?” They asked, the question pointed at Eli this time.
To his credit, despite the panic he managed to nod his head.
At once, two things occurred to Erik. The first one was the fact that Eli still couldn’t safely speak to humans. He’d just managed enough practice to intentionally cast a very small number of spells, but that didn’t mean anything about what he still had little to no experience with.
The second thing was that Erik had been speaking without any regard to that fact, and without even the smallest hint that anything was different at all.
He’d been human first. So maybe Eli could only change so much?
In any case, he could ask about that later – “Humans haven’t had a good track record with him.” Erik tried to explain without giving anything Eli wouldn’t want shared away.
Sylvando was quiet for only a moment. “Are you being followed?”
As little as Erik had said, Sylvando had taken that to it’s conclusion in just seconds. “No.” Erik answered. There was no need to lie, or make anything more complicated than it needed to be. “They’re dead.” Or as good as dead.
“Was it Derk?” Sylvando asked without any regard to who Erik had known him as before – or how Sylvando had.
Erik’s head shot up to stare at them sooner than it even took for him to realize he’d done it, and that was as much answer as Sylvando needed.
They sighed. “Let’s get you both somewhere more comfortable. We can talk after you’re settled in.” They looked back over their shoulder at the people still crowded around, and picked two of them out. “Serena, would you be a dear and find a room these two could use? And Veronica, I could use your help over here.”
The two that had been whispering to each other stopped. The one dressed in green – Serena, Erik had to assume – did as she was told without any question or comment. She hurried by, while the other groaned and dragged her feet.
“I do apologize for having to carry you like this.” Sylvando said as she finally made her way over, but addressed them both instead of Veronica. “It’s not going to be very dignified.”
At this point in his life, dignity was something rare, and not all that valuable to Erik anymore.
Less afraid, if not any less tense, Erik let go of Eli. “Is that alright?”
Eli just nodded. It wasn’t as if there were many more options, aside from dragging himself around, and that honestly sounded more embarassing than getting carried around.
If only there was a wheelchair or two around. That’d work. Maybe.
If they found a way to get enough of their tail on the seats with them to avoid running over themselves.
Sylvando took Eli, moving slowly to avoid triggering any additional anxiety, but from the look of him, it was beginning to really ebb away. The fins on his sides and back had gone from that defensive ‘back off’ flare to the way they normally rested partially folded, and the tension in the rest of his body had vanished as well.
They’d made a comment to Eli that Erik didn’t quite manage to catch, but Eli stopped watching Erik to pay attention to Sylvando instead, successfully distracted.
“Hey!” Erik stopped staring, and faced Veronica, who was leaning over him, hands on her hips and eyeing him like some weird little bug. “How am I supposed to carry you?”
Erik blinked at her, and glanced back towards Sylvando. They had Eli supported by one arm around his shoulders and the other underneath his tail about a third of the way down, keeping it from dragging on the wood and gathering splinters. “Like that? I guess?”
“With your backside covered in pointy fins?” Veronica asked, “No way.”
Eli was covered in pointy barbs and that hadn’t stopped Sylvando – or Erik for that matter.
But he wasn’t about to fight someone who looked like they’d been itching for an argument. Not right now. “Then you figure something out.”
Given free reign, she looked him over one more time, and hoisted him up before he had time to realize it was happening.
Slung over her shoulder like a sack of potates, he really didn’t have much room to complain. He should’ve just set a few little guidelines.
“Can you pick your fin up a little so I don’t trip on it?” Veronica asked but didn’t really give him a chance to. “Nevermind, let me just…” She grabbed onto a fin-free spot that had tapered down, and held it over her elbow.
“Is there really not a better way?” Erik crossed his arms and tried not to feel carted around like a trophy.
He was ignored. “You know Sylvando, then?”
“I knew them.” Erik stared down at the floor, and watched the little bit of natural light fade away as Veronica stepped away from the open deck and under the deck. Latern light replaced it, and he watched the light shine off of the scales on his arm. Before he’d been injured and left on that little island to rot. It felt so long ago. Maybe it was, or maybe it was more recent that he’d guess.
But that didn’t really matter. The time passed and how he’d gone from that point to where he was now was irrelevant. All those connections had been severed. “It was a while ago. I’m surprised he remembers me.”
“You seem pretty memorable.” Veronica commented. “They’ve only mentioned you once or twice, but I didn’t know you were…”
“I haven’t been like this long.” Erik said. “But, they talk about me?”
“They-”
“Veronica, bring him over here!” Sylvando called over to them, cutting her off. “Might as well get them somewhere comfy to wait while Serena gets everything ready.”
“They’ll tell you.” Veronica finished speaking.
Unable to see what was happening, Erik chose to just remain quiet and wait while they put together whatever it was that they assumed they both needed.
If Sylvando spoke of him, he wasn’t able to think of what it would be.
They were always friendly, and when it wasn’t Derk working without pause to just keep him alive back at the start of it all – It was them. Afterwards, though… It was like he vanished.
There one day, but gone the moment Erik was well again, despite being a friend beforehand.
Erik hadn’t ever thought all that much about his absence, chalking it up to the same reason no one else bothered with him once he’d been dumped aside. What was the use?
“Oh, dear. Was that really necessary?” He heard Sylvando ask – and moments later he was all but dropped.
They’d been brought into the galley, and Erik and El were given a place to sit at a long wooden table, on a bench with a low back.
“Is that okay?” Sylvando asked, “If it isn’t I’m sure we could figure out something else.”
“It’s okay.” Erik said just as Eli shrugged. It wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t bad. Just… Erik shifted in his seat, and tried to fold a little of his tail underneath himself and off to the side while Eli did something similar.
When Eli had still lived in Erik’s lighthouse, he’d made himself comfortable by slinging his tail onto the table and sitting low in the chairs, but Erik wasn’t about to do the same thing here.
Sylvando smiled. Content with the answer, they settled down across from the two of them. “Ronnie dear, would you get something for our guests to eat? And go check in on your sister? Just to make sure she hasn’t gotten distracted on the way.”
Erik had expected Veronica to groan or argue, but instead she just nodded and did what was asked of her.
From what Erik remembered, Sylvando always had a little bit of a talent for getting others to do what they wanted – but this was less flattery and diversion. Instead just as simple as respect.
The smile on their face didn’t last long. “So Derk is dead, then.”
Erik didn’t speak.
“Would you tell me what happened?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Erik saw Eli turn his head to watch as he found the words he needed to explain.
“He was going to kill Eli, and then me.” Instead of being vague or weaving together the entire story, he told the easy, simple truth. “So I killed him first.”
Slowly, Sylvando nodded his head. Accepting the answer without question. “I thought something like that might happen.” They drummed their fingers on the table, gathering what it was that they wanted to say. “I didn’t agree with what Derk had in mind for you. There was no reason for everyone to act as ruthlessly as they did, or for Derk to be so cruel as to strand you.”
“But if that was the only way-”
“It wasn’t, of course it wasn’t. There was no reason we couldn’t have left you somewhere inhabited at the very least, or to keep you on with a different job. Disability isn’t…” Sylvando sighed instead of finishing the sentence. There wasn’t a word they could find that fit. “A fight broke out after you were left on that little island, I left not long after it, and I wasn’t the only one. I couldn’t stand being a part of it anymore, few of us could.”
That would explain how small Derk’s numbers had been. Thinking back on it, he didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to him. Even during all the chaos of the fight, he never counted more than ten, if that. “And they just let you go? That was it?”
“I left the first time we docked after that. Took what was mine and walked off when it was quiet and clear. I never heard anything after that, but I didn’t keep contact with anyone else. That isn’t the issue, though. So, Derk is dead. I can’t say I expected anything less, and I can’t say I’m upset. If he had still been the person I’d known before… Then I’d grieve, but as it is, I can’t forgive what he did to you.”
To Erik, he still knew Derk as the person he’d been before his injury, as the person who kept him alive through the first handful of uncertain nights. After that, after he was given the lighthouse… The visits were sparse, but he’d seemed no different. He was the same person.
Until Eli appeared, and he was given the opprotunity to see what he’d turned into.
“And you shouldn’t either.”
“I don’t.” Erik said. That much was easy. He’d said as much before he’d let himself fall off that ledge into the water below. He’d done what he could. He’d tried to reason with him, hadn’t he? Trying to recall it all now… He remembered being forced underwater, used as live bait to lure Eli in. He remembered how Derk had planned on testing the legends of mermaid’s flesh on himself – but knowing now of Eli’s toxin just made that seem funny somehow. Even if he’d succeded in what he’d planned, he’d have ended up dead.
And yet… He couldn’t help but picture Derk on the island where he’d left him. Still alive somehow, sitting on the beach or taking shelter in what was left of the brick, sitting alone and waiting for death, be it from thrist or the elements – he couldn’t help but wonder if there was something that could’ve happened differently that could’ve saved them all.
“After that,” Sylvando carried on either not noticing the turn Erik’s mood had taken, or continuing because they had, “I had enough on be to buy all this,” he gestured at nothing, implying the whole of the ship, “and find enough people to come on and man it so I could find you.”
“Find me?” Erik pulled himself out of his thoughts.
Sylvando nodded.
Veronica came back, and without a word set down three bowls and left once more to go and find Serena.
“I didn’t know if it would be possible. I never knew specifically where that island was. But I had to try, right? You deserved at least that.”
“But why? I was fine. You were risking running into Derk, and for what?”
Sylvando stared at Erik, pity evident on their face. “ For you. If I found you, whatever came next was up to what you wanted. I’d do whatever I could. I knew what you’d been through. Everything that had happened to you… I thought you deserved the freedom of that kind of choice. If you wanted to start over somewhere, I’d take you where you wanted to go, and give you enough to get a fresh start. If you wanted to stay with me, then you’d be welcome. But…” They looked over to Eli. “It looks like someone else got to you before I did. If I may, could I ask..?”
Erik looked over to Eli for permission. He hadn’t stopped listening at any point, and even if he still wasn’t comfortable here, he understood now that Sylvando was to be trusted.
“Eli was caught, and ended up on Derk’s ship…” He gave the story, as condensed as he could make it. By the time he was finished the soup he was given had gone cool.
Sylvando took their time, thinking it all over while Erik and Eli finally ate. One of them more relunctantly than the other.
Even if it was only a few times, Erik was glad to be eating something cooked again. If he could pick out one thing he’d miss, it would be cooking his own food.
“And to think, I was only a mere few days from finding what you left behind. I can’t imagine what those unanswered questions would’ve done to me.” Sylvando had barely eaten, still too caught up in what they were learning to be bothered with it. “And what are you both doing now?”
“We’re trying to catch up to Eli’s family. We know we can, it’s just a matter of distance.”
“Am I headed the same way you are?”
It took Erik a moment to think back to where the ship was, in contrast with where they had been going. “You are.”
“Then feel free to stay with us as far as you want.”
Again, Erik looked towards Eli for approval. As much as he’s prefer this all around, Eli knew the way better, and his comfort was more important than any kind of nostalgia on Erik’s part.
Eli looked away, and as quietly as he could manage, he said; “up to you.”
This would cover ground faster, and more than that, it would prevent them from stumbling over the same kind of danger that they’d only just squeezed out of.
And for Erik… No, it wasn’t just nostalgia. The idea of being back… Even if it was only for a little while, there was nothing he wanted more. He wanted to stay, he wanted to talk to Sylvando more, to ask them about what had changed, what their other goals were, where they were going, where they’d been, he wanted to go back on deck and listen to the waves and feel the wind and the rock of the ship from high above the water. “We’ll stay. At least for a few days.”
Sylvando smiled, and the door they’d come through opened up again. “ Mr. Sylvando? If they’re both ready…”
E rik braced himself for the potato sack treatment, and this time was trilled for the simple blessing of being carried with the ability to see where they were going this time.
They were given what had been used as a storage room, at least until it had sprung a leak that no one had yet been able to patch up, but at least the lip of the doorframe kept the three or so inches of water from spilling out into the rest of the ship. A major inconvenience to everyone around them, but a small blessing for him and Eli. Just enough water to keep from drying their skin out too badly.
“ I don’t know how I feel about this.” Eli spoke as soon as they were the only two around. He lay back in one of the two woven hammocks that had been hung low to the floor.
“Sylv said that they’d lower us down to look around whenever we want, so if you’re worried about going to far, or getting turned around it’ll be okay.”
“No,” Eli sighed, and took a moment to think over whether or not he actually wanted to voice his concerns, “I’m worried we’re being tricked.”
“Tricked?” Erik sat up as best he could to look over at Eli. “ In what way? You heard Sylvando. They just want to help, so-”
“I don’t know… It’s just… W ouldn’t it be easier to hold someone captive if they didn’t know? If we think we’re just being given a ride, then there’d be no reason to have to guard us, or for us to have to even think about escape, or-”
“Not all people are like Derk, you know.” Erik said, as though he hadn’t begun to think the exact same way just before he and Eli had left. “ Some of us can be trusted.”
“I know.” Eli lay on his side, facing the wall rather than Erik. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“It’s okay.” Erik hadn’t taken his comment in any kind of negative way – but trying to clear up the barely there misunderstanding would only take more time, and possibly even just upset Eli further . “I understand why you’re upset, and I wouldn’t have agreed to stay if I thought there was a chance you wouldn’t be safe, and… I don’t want to run into anything else like that orca. Not when neither one of us are in good shape.”
“ Yeah.” Eli said just to acknowledge that he had been listening.
Erik understood – he really did. No matter the people on board, there was no way he’d be able to truly feel safe around so many humans. There wasn’t anything he could do to help that, and Erik didn’t expect that to change. All he’d ask is that Eli trust him. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? Or something I could ask Sylv for?” If there was anything, Erik wouldn’t know what it’d be. But just to try-
“No. I just need to try and adjust.” Eli spoke low, and the end of his fin moved ever so slightly in the water, sending out ripples in every direction.
“ Just let me know, okay?”
“I will.”
“Try to rest.” Erik said, deciding not to bother Eli any further. “We’ll be home soon.”
T he ceiling above him made him wake confused and disoreintated.
Where had they taken shelter last night? Had they found something man-made and sunken?
But – Erik took a breath, and felt his lungs expand. He wasn’t underwater, and Eli wouldn’t have made them beach somewhere just to sleep, right?
It all came back just as soon as the confusion appeared. Erik pushed himself up. Eli was still asleep, and would probably remain so for a while. They’d both pushed themselves hard, but Eli had taken a stronger brunt of the damage. He wouldn’t wake up for some time.
Knowing Eli wouldn’t miss him right away, Erik wondered if it’d be worth it to try and drag himself back on deck.
He hadn’t any idea what time it was or if there would even be anyone around. No one to help. But that was fine.
The water splashed as he slid from the hammock, but Eli didn’t notice, and didn’t so much as stir as Erik managed to reach the door handle, and make his way out.
It was dark – nothing lit to light his way, but Erik found that he barely needed it at all to move around safely. Maybe he and Eli would be just fine in the pitch black deep of the ocean. Eli had that glow, and for Erik that little bit of light would be all he needed.
The ship rocked gently underneath his hands, and all he heard was the gentle waves and the creaking of the wood.
Nothing stopped his less-than-elegant way through the halls, at least until he came to a staircase.
He’d get splinters.
He probably already had splinters.
But that wasn’t enough of a deterrent. He’d come this far, hadn’t he? To stop now-
“ Would you like some help?”
E rik nearly jumped out of his skin.
Sylvando hadn’t made any noise at all as they’d come up behind Erik. “I was just coming by to check up on you both.”
“Eli is still asleep.” Erik said, trying to will his pulse back to normal. “I just wanted to get some fresh air.”
“Would you like some help?” Erik agreed, and let himself be once more picked up off the ground like some kind of little dog. “We’ll need to figure out something better if you’re both going to be here very long.”
I t was colder out than Erik had expected it to be. Light, misty rain hit the water without any sound, in only the softest blue light of the pre-dawn.
Sylvando let him down on the top of a crate, tied down to rivets on the boards. Just up high enough to see down.
“I’ve missed this.” Erik said. There had been so, so much bad about his life as a pirate, but the little things seperate from all of it…
The wind and the rain and the sea, on the waters instead of underneath it.
This short little glimpse of what it could have been had Derk been kinder, or if their old ship had been run properly…
Maybe he wouldn’t have ended up like Derk if he had been able to stay.
There were kinder people out there than the ones he had known and the ones that had taken Eli from his home.
If Sylvando had managed to hold on to everything that made them who they are, maybe Erik could have as well.
When the time finally came to leave, Erik knew it would be a struggle.
But it would be better to have been able to say goodbye to that long gone life like this.