Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You were exhausted. You’d been traveling with your family for the past few weeks to the royal city; your dad had gotten a job there as a cobbler. This was the last stop before your family was to enter the city, and you wanted to make sure you made a good impression.

People in the city were known to be very judgmental, some might even say snooty, not to their faces of course. The stories you heard back at home, about how they were critical about everything: from your hair, to your clothes, even your accent was a fair target.

“Hi, my name is.... no that won’t work, too friendly...” you muttered to yourself. “Hello, my name is (name).” You thought for a moment. “Dang it! Should I give them a handshake or not?!” You ruffled your hair in distress.

“(name), we have ten minutes before we leave for the city gates, just a warning!” “okay dad!”
You grabbed some fresh clothes and head into some nearby trees. “If only there was some water nearby, like a stream, or a river, or...” you stopped as you came into a clearing. There was a small waterfall pouring from the cliff side into a fairly large pool that connected to the sea. “That’ll work.”

You undressed quickly and dipped you toes in the water. “Dang it’s freezing!” You weren't too keen on being cold, but one of your brothers or another member of your group could stumble across you naked in the open, and that would not be very fun. “Oh to heck with it!”

You took a few steps back before running and doing a cannonball into the crystal waters. The shock of the cold disappeared quickly when you opened your eyes and watched a million bubbles reflecting sunlight rising around you, tickling your skin. You started to swim some to get used to the temperature, closing your eyes as your arms cut through the water smoothly. You ducked under again, feeling the fresh chill on your scalp before throwing your head back above the surface, flinging your hair behind you.

“Where’s your tail?”

“Aaaaah!!!” you exclaimed.

Your eyes snapped open and you focused on a young boy in front of you. You quickly sank deeper, hoping that the water was murky enough to keep you decent.
“Where did you come from?”

“There.” He gestured over his shoulder with his head, towards the ocean.

“Why are you in here with me?!”

He blinked his blue-green eyes as if the question had never occurred to him. “I was wondering if you were in trouble.”

“Why would I be in trouble?”

He was rubbing his chin in a thoughtful way, not even looking at you anymore. “You're in the water but you still have legs. Unless you were one of them? But father always insisted that they don’t exist. That would explain why we’re forbidden to come to the surface though...”

“Um excuse me? What are you talking about?” You raised your hand slightly.

He focused on you again. “Are you one of them? You are aren’t you?!” He swam closer and you tried to back up.
“One of what?!” your voice getting a pitch higher.

“A human.”

You stared at the strange boy, not really sure how to respond.
He seemed to wilt a little under your silence. “I’m not wrong am I?” he sounded unsure and a little scared.

“No, I’m human.” You shook your head at the absurdity of it all.

He brightened up immediately at this, grinning from ear to ear. “I KNEW it!!!” he did a little fist pump in the air.
“But what are you?” you asked quietly.

He stopped his celebrating and a tail flashed above the surface. “A mermaid.”

You honestly didn’t know how to respond to that. Your thought process? Gone. Brain? Shut down. Body? Immobile.
“Hey, are you alright?” The boy was getting closer, concern obvious in his face. Your natural tendency to preserve your modesty kicked in and you widened the space between you and the mermaid? Again.

“I-I’m fine, it’s just a lot to take in. Mermaids are real...”

He beamed. “I know right!!! I always believed that humans existed, and now I’m talking to one!”

“What do you mean? Haven’t you ever seen us before?”

“No, we aren’t allowed to go anywhere near the surface. But I just have to, because the world above the waters is so beautiful! And I always hoped that I would see one of your kind someday!”

You really looked at him now, taking in every detail. His short, dark brown hair, his tanned skin, and the now, very visible tail, the color of which matched his eyes.

“I’m Eren by the way.” He extended his hand towards you. You hesitated before taking his, surprisingly dry hand in yours and shaking. “(name), nice to meet you Eren.” You giggled at the insanity of formally introducing yourself to a mermaid.

“(name)! (name) it’s time to go, we’re gonna be late!”

“Crap that’s my brother! I’ve gotta go!”

“When can I meet you again?”

“Oh, I don’t know if I can come here again.”

He deflated immediately at your words.

“B-but maybe tonight, I could wait by the ocean, near my new house and...”
“...I could come meet you!” He finished ecstatically. You both nodded in agreement.

“See you tonight then, (name)!”

“Bye Eren!”

You waved farewell as he jumped over the small rock wall that would separate the pool from the sea at low tide, and flicked his blue-green tail before disappearing in the dark water beyond.

That’s when Clint burst through the ferns. You lowered yourself in the water quickly. “Gah!!! What are you doing?! Can’t you give me some privacy?!”

Clint covered his eyes and stumbled back the way he came. “Get some clothes on! It’s time to go!”

“OKAY!!!”

You scrambled out of the pool and put your fresh clothes on. You tied your hair up in a sloppy, dripping ponytail as you made your way back to the group, beaming. “So much for making a good first impression...” But honestly, you didn't care, because you already made a friend and you were going to see him again tonight.

Chapter Text

You lay quietly in your bed, waiting for the sounds of your three brothers and father’s snoring to start.

As you waited, you thought over your day. After meeting Eren, your family made it into the city and was directed to where you were to be staying. It’s a small cottage by the sea; the shop is in the front of the building while the living area lies behind a rear door.

There were three bedrooms, so obviously the boys had to share. They had already decided that you would get your own room if possible. Clint always joked it was because he didn’t want to fight over the closet space with you. You weren’t about to complain though, your room was cozy and had a fairly large window looking out to the sea.
It took most of the day to get everything unpacked and placed in the cottage. Once the shop was set up and the sleeping arrangements were made, you all sat down for some dinner which consisted of bread, cheese, some apples, and water; a feast. Afterwards, you all had settled down for bed.

You pulled yourself out of your thoughts and listened carefully to the snores that echoed around the house, making sure there were four separate voices.
Finally, you thought to yourself, it took them long enough. A good thing is that once they fall asleep it would take the sound of cannon-fire to wake them. Still you tried to be quiet as you got up from your bed and padded over to the window.

The old thing shrieked as you opened it and you froze, waiting for the telltale snorts that signaled the boys awakening, but the obnoxious snores continued. You slipped through the window into the night. There was a half-moon tonight and you managed to make you way down to the beach in its light, bare feet moving cautiously over stones and shells as you got closer to the water’s edge.

The sand was still heated from baking in the sun all day and you dug your toes into the wet warmth as you looked back to the house. Still no signs of life. You breathed a sigh of relief before sitting on the beach and looking out to the water.

The waves inched closer and closer every time they breached the beach, until the foam was tickling your toes. You heard a distant splash and looked out to the dark waters. You couldn’t see anything but the black highlighted with white light. Suddenly a head popped up a few feet away, and you jumped, not expecting him to appear so close.

“You scared me!”

“Sorry! But I was kind-of excited, what took you so long?”

“I had to wait until my family was asleep.”

“Oh.”

He swam closer until he was sitting on the sandy bottom with his tail still in the water. You scooted closer as well, but you didn’t want your nightgown to get wet so you were still a few feet away from Eren.

“Is that your house there?” He asked pointing back the way you came.

“Yeah, and that window there is my bedroom.”

“It’s nice.”

You snorted. “I guess, if you classify ‘nice’ as poverty-level housing.”

“What does ‘poverty’ mean?”

“Are you serious?”

He shrugged and waited for you to explain.

“Well, poverty refers to people who live on barely anything, they have little food, little income, and not very decent housing when compared to the amount of people living there.”

He looked very sad as you spoke and shifted his weight so he was lying on his stomach.
“So the tales are true.”

“What do mean?”

He rested his elbows in the sand and placed his head in his hands as he spoke.
“Our people have folklore about your people; it is said that long ago, we were once humans, but we were horrified when people started to fight and kill each other over land and possessions. Our ancestors left humankind for the ocean and became mermaids. That’s why we are under the sea and humans are on the land. But those were just stories that the elders would tell the tribe around the air vents, no one ever thought they were true.”

“That’s so cool! So there are more mermaids?” You paused realizing that was a stupid question, but waited for his response anyways.

He laughed, clear and loud. “Yeah, we have tribes across the many oceans. My tribe is on the outer edge of the villages. There are three areas of settlement; the outer edge called Maria, the plains called Rose, and the abyssal zone called Sina.”

“Are these areas in like circles?” You asked, trying to picture the settlements.

“Yeah, and the place where the grand council meets is in Sina.”

“Grand Council? Is that your government?”

He nodded. “Yep, every tribal leader meets with each other in Sina every month. They talk about news and information regarding the settlements and safety. “

“And no-one has to deal with starvation or live in bad areas?”

“No, there's nothing like that. We are mostly in harmony with the ocean’s creatures and only take what we need, so there is always an abundance of food and work for everyone. “
You sighed. “That’s sounds so great. I wish I was a mermaid; then I wouldn’t have to deal with being looked down on my whole life because of my status.”

You were both silent for a while, the soft roar of the waves filling the air.

“Hey Eren, how old are you?”

He ducked his head in a sheepish way before answering. “fifteen.”

“Really?”

He looked a little defensive. “Yeah, really.”

“Sorry sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” You claimed as you waved your hands in front of you. The placating gesture worked and Eren settled back into the sand.

“So you have a brother...” he began.

“Actually, I have three.”

“Three?”

“Yeah, the oldest is Ryan. Clint you saw yesterday; and Peter is my little bro.”

“No sisters?”

You laughed, “No, I’m alone in a house of testosterone.”

“What about your mother?”

You sobered up a bit. “My mother died when I was very young, I barely remember what she looked like.”

Eren reached out and placed his hand on the foot closest to him. “I’m sorry. I lost my mother too. She died five years ago; I don’t even know how she died. She just disappeared one day, and never came back.”

“I’m sorry Eren.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Its fine, I’m okay now.”

“So do you have any siblings?”

He thought for a moment. “Well, yes and no. I don’t have any blood-related siblings, but I do have an adopted sister, Mikasa. Her family was killed by a pack of sharks when she was young; we took her in.”

“What’s she like?”

He made a face at the question, and you giggled. “That bad huh?”

“She’s not mean or anything, but it’s like she took over for mom. She follows me everywhere and is so overbearing! I can’t go anywhere without her three feet behind me!”

“Then how’d you come to the surface twice alone?”

He flashed a sly smile. “I’m an expert in covert operations.”

You snorted. “Sure you are.”

“What?! I can shake my sister off my tail!”

“Alone or did you have to get help?”

He grumbled something faintly to himself.
“What was that?” you asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“I might have had some help.”

“I knew it. So what, did you get a friend of yours to make up some excuse for her to abandon you for five minutes?”

“No, actually Armin helped that seahorse Jean corner her into talking to him. The pervert has a thing for her.” He muttered to himself, apparent dislike for this ‘Jean’ guy all over his face.

“One of your friends is a seahorse?”

He chuckled. “He’s not my friend, and no, he’s not an actual seahorse. He just has the face of a seahorse.”

You tried and failed to imagine what a mermaid with a seahorse’s face looked like.

“Do you have any friends?”

You shook your head sadly. “Not in this area, all of my friends are back in my hometown. I doubt I’ll see them again.”

“Well we’re friends now aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we are.”

He smiled, his pearly teeth shining in the moonlight. It made you think of something.
“Hey Eren, we have a few legends about mermaids too; I was wondering, is it true that you sometimes lure sailors to their deaths?”

He frowned and seemed hurt that you would even ask that. “No, like I said before, our people don’t even know your kind exists.”

“But I wonder where the stories come from. I mean, every story has a grain of truth in it right?”

“Well, I do know of some creatures that may be responsible for something like that. They look like us, but they are very different; they don’t live in communities, they don’t have a conscience, and have extremely violent temperaments.”
He lowered his voice as he talked, as if he was wary of being overheard.
“I’ve heard that they even attack and eat each other and other mermaids.” He added fearfully, eyes as large as saucers.

“Wow, that’s awful. And you have to live with them?”

“They are wanderers, but they tend to stay away from our settlements, thankfully. Anyways, they might be the cause of those legends, they’re called sirens. “

“How are you guys similar?”

He grimaced. “Well they look like us, and they can sing...”

“You can sing?!”

He blushed. “Um y-yeah, all mermaids can sing. It’s a big part of our culture.”

“That’s so cool! I’d love to hear you sometime, if that’s okay?”

He nodded, still red in the face. “Yeah, okay. It’s a promise.”

You smiled, already excited for the day that Eren will sing for you. He shifted slightly in the sand and you noticed that the waterline was lower than earlier and only the end of his tail was submerged.

“Uh Eren, what will happen if you get out of water completely?”

He glanced down to the water and noticed just how low it was. “Gah! Now I have to crawl back!”

You giggled and walked next to him. He looked up from where he was laying in the sand, distress and irritation in those blue-green eyes. You extended your hands towards him.

“Here, grab my hands and I’ll drag you into the water.”

“Thanks.” His hands gripped yours tightly and you started to drag him towards the sea.

“Ooof!” you grunted. “You weigh a ton!”

“Was that a fat joke?”

You snickered. “No way, you only throw back the small fish.”

“You calling me small now?!” He cried as you heaved him one last time into the ocean. He splashed you a little as he swam into deeper waters.

“H-hey!” you cried as the icy water hit your face. He laughed loudly as he resurfaced a few feet away.

“Serves you right for calling me small!” he called out, flicking his tail.

“You’re going to regret that!”

He stuck out his tongue before diving backwards in a circle and resurfacing again.

“I’ve got to get back, or Mikasa will kill me!”

“Alright! When do you want to meet again?”

“How about tomorrow?”

You shook your head. “Sorry, I’m busy with my family all day and evening tomorrow, but I’m free on Thursday night!”

“Okay! I’ll meet you after dark on Thursday night then! Goodnight (name)!”

“Goodnight Eren!”

He ducked beneath the surface and you could barely make him out as he swam deeper and deeper till he disappeared. You were left standing knee-deep in the water and stayed there for another minute before making your way back to your house.

You managed to climb through your window into your room. You winced as the window screeched when you closed it roughly; you really should lubricate it. You froze when you heard some snorting and groaning coming from the next room over. You jumped into your bed and yanked the covers over your head before assuming what you hoped looked like a natural sleeping pose.

The door to your room creaked open and you listened to the heavy footsteps enter your room. After a minute of silence, he let out a loud ‘harrumph’ before leaving and closing the door behind him. You sighed in relief and then closed your heavy eyes for some good shut eye.

Chapter Text

Loud banging woke you up.

“(name), get up! Dad’s already fixing breakfast!” Ryan called past the knocking.

You grumbled to yourself as you slipped out of bed and looked over the clothes in your closet critically. You settled for a plain blue shirt and tan skirt. Personally you would love to wear one of the many pants you owned, but that wasn’t “appropriate” for a lady to wear.

You stepped out into the short hallway and entered the kitchen moments later, the smell of eggs leading you there. Sure enough, your dad was busy frying up five eggs over the fire.

“Well if it isn’t Sleeping Beauty, finally awake!” he commented.

You snorted and sat down at the table next to Peter. He was cutely rubbing his eyes like he was still half-asleep.

“Are the eggs ready yet?!” Clint complained, drumming his fork and knife on the table.

“They’ll be ready when I say they’re ready, and stop drumming on the table; you’ll make dents in the wood.”
Clint continued to drum absentmindedly until Ryan grabbed the utensils.

“Stop being obnoxious.”

Clint sobered up a bit at that and you couldn’t help but smirk at him. He saw that and lightly kicked your shin under the tabletop. Challenge accepted.

A few minutes of your intense kicking war later your dad set the plate of eggs down in the middle of the table; thus began the vicious battle for the best eggs. You reached for a juicy-looking one and barely touched it before Clint snatched it away. You glared at him and sent a brutal kick into his shin. He visibly winced, the sneer wiped off his face. You ended up with one of the smaller eggs.

“I’ll trade you; I won’t eat all of mine.”

You looked down at Peter who was offering up the largest egg.

“You’re a growing boy; you need it more than I do, but thanks.”

You patted his head and dug into your food.

After breakfast you, Clint, and your dad went out to the shopping center for supplies and food. You made sure to bring some of the money you’d been saving from working on your old neighbor’s farm, just in case. Ryan and Peter were left to watch the shop.

It was a twenty minute walk to the main square, and you all had gotten slightly hot from the trek, despite the cool morning air. The people were already bustling so early in the day; a steady sound of chatter and gossip hung over the common area. Large stands held fruits, vegetables, and tools or supplies, while the smaller stands were reserved for traders with knickknacks and jewelry.

“Now I’m going to get some more leather and iron, you two can tackle the groceries.”

“Kay dad.” You replied and started walking towards a food stand, Clint following behind. You checked the produce for bruises and markings before buying some peaches, tomatoes, potatoes, and a couple apples with the money your dad gave you. You still had some money to spare so you indulged in Clint’s not-so- sly hints and bought a bag of pistachio nuts.

You were heading towards your dad, when a trader’s stand caught your eye. There were a bunch of interesting -looking baubles laid out on the table.

“Hold on, I want to look at this.” You grabbed Clint’s shirt and dragged him with you as he groaned.

The wrinkled man that owned the stand had skin like leather and a stately looking beard of gray. His smile was gap-toothed, but kind.

“Well hello there young-un. Can I interest you in some of my treasures?”

“Where did you get these?”

He leaned close and whispered conspiratorial-like. “I found them, on my many travels across the seas and through dangerous waters.”

Clint scoffed at the man’s words behind you, but you ignored it and let your eyes rove over the number of items. You stopped and stared at a curious key that was attached to a leather cord. You picked it up and showed it to the man.

“What’s this?”

He took it from your hands and put it over your head letting the key fall onto your chest.

“It’s a key that I found on the shore of a lonely cove; whatever it unlocks has to be exceptional. But it also makes a lovely necklace.”

You looked down at the bronze key and admired the simple yet elegant pattern. Should you? Your family was on a slim budget as it is. But you hadn't pampered yourself in while, so why not?

“How much?”

“Ha ha! I knew you’d like it!” He chortled. “Now normally I would charge thirty shillings for such a rare piece, but it looks so good on you so I’ll deduct my price. Ten shillings.”
You pulled out the money from your personal savings and paid the man. He thanked you as he tipped his hat respectfully. You smiled at him before turning to tell Clint you were done. Except he wasn’t there.

You weren’t worried as this happened quite often. And sure enough, he was at another trinket stand, flirting with a girl. She was pretty with her long blonde hair and trim figure; she wore a matching set of light pink clothes and white sandals. You could tell she had a higher status than Clint, and so could everyone else. People were giving your idiot brother dirty looks as he chatted with her.

You walked quickly to Clint’s side and grabbed his arm.

“Clint it’s about time to go. “

The girl focused her brown eyes on you. “Oh, and who’s this? Your girlfriend?”

Clint pushed you off his arm quickly at her words.

“No! She’s my sister!”

She smiled politely at you then continued to talk with Clint.

“Would you like to meet up somewhere later to talk some more?”

You could tell that he was speechless, so you answered for him.

“Yes he would, probably here around six-o-clock, thanks see you later!”

You dragged him away as the girl giggled to herself.

The two of you were halfway across the square when he became coherent again.

“She asked me to meet her! That never happens!”

You snorted. “I know, you pretty much lose the ability to speak properly when talking to girls.”

He punched you in the shoulder and you shoved him back as you reached the edge of the marketplace.

That’s when you noticed the sound of hoof beats on cobblestone quickly approaching. You pulled Clint out of the road as two riders rode into the plaza. A few people had to move quickly to get out of the animals’ way.

“Whoa!” The first rider called as he pulled the reins sharply. The horse whinnied as it reared in place before stopping completely; the second rider followed suit. The descended from their mounts before observing the onlookers.

“You don’t have anything better to do than stare?!” The first rider bellowed. Everyone looking at him quickly redirected their gaze as he adjusted his black cloak. He was taller than his friend, with light brown hair that gave off the impression of playfulness. But you observed the opposite as he glanced disdainfully around him. His friend was a bit on the substantial side with bright red hair to top him off.

“I wonder who they are.”

“Just some rich pricks, come on, let’s find dad.” You sighed.

It just so happened that the brown-haired snob glanced your way at that moment.

Oh please God no.

Apparently the big man upstairs had a sense of humor, because said snob started making his way towards you and your brother.

Crap crap crappity crap crap. This was not good.

You forced a serene look on your face as he stopped in front of you. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“Hello miss.”

“Hi.”

“My name is Charles Jacobs.”

He looked at you, clearly expecting a reaction. Maybe he was well- known, but you really didn’t care who he was with that attitude.
Seeing no reaction he grumbled slightly.

“Your’e new here aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“May I ask what your name is?”

“(First name) (Last name).”

“Ah, (name), that is so pretty. “

“Thanks.”

Charles looked over at Clint, who till this point had been unresponsive and good-for-nothing.

“Is she always this polite?”

Before Clint could answer that and sign his death certificate, your father called for you. You took your chance at escape and marched off.

“Good day.” You remembered to call over your shoulder as you made your hasty retreat, Clint trying to catch up.

“That’s a pretty necklace.”

“Thanks dad, can we go home?”

He chuckled. “You kids are getting more and more impatient.”

The three of you made your way back to the road that led to the lower end of the city. You made the mistake of glancing over your shoulder, and locked eyes with Charles’ blue ones.

Those eyes, like frost, were looking you over like your own eyes had roved over the trinkets earlier; interested and slightly possessive. You shivered and moved your gaze to the ground directly in front of you for the rest of the walk home.

Chapter Text

A dark shape was getting closer and closer still. He couldn’t move and could only scream silently as the shadow grabbed ahold of him and started to shake him back and forth, causing his head to jerk around.

“Eren!”

That sounded familiar....but why?

“Eren!”

He could feel the haze over his mind slowly lifting.

“EREN!!!”

Eren’s eyes snapped open and he yelped as he lurched backwards from his foster sister’s shaking. Mikasa and Armin wore concerned looks as he tried to get his frantic breathing back to normal.

“Was it another nightmare?” the blond-headed boy asked.

Eren tried to remember, but only drew a blank.

“I don’t know. Was I talking in my sleep again?”

“Yelling, actually.” Mikasa offered.

“Awesome.” He groaned sarcastically.

Armin reached over and grabbed Eren’s arm and pulled him towards the door.

“Come on. You’ve got to get ready for the day!”

“Yeah yeah.” Eren grumbled as he let his best friend pull him through the halls to the dressing room. Jean and Marco were already there.

“Seahorse.”

“Shrimp.”

“Jean be nice, it’s too early to fight.”

“He started it.” Jean complained, flicking his golden-orange tail in annoyance.

Armin sat Eren down at one of the rocks that served as stools. Eren looked at his reflection in the shards of one of the many salvaged mirrors that they found while scavenging. His hair was sticking up on one side of his head in an unruly fashion. Armin grabbed a shell carved to work as a comb and handed it off to Eren.

Mikasa wandered past the door, heading down the hall to the girls’ dressing room. Jean straightened up and swam after her.

“Don’t hit on my sister you perverted seahorse!” Eren called as he jerked the shell through his tangled locks.

Armin smiled quietly to himself as he corrected a few strands of his golden hair, making sure they stayed in the bowl-cut style he had.

It was another ten minutes before everyone had gotten up, eaten, and grabbed the things they brought with them when they hunted and scavenged. The group of mermaids consisted of Eren Jeager, Armin Artlert, Mikasa Ackerman, Connie Springer, Shasha Braus, Marco Bodt, Jean Kirschtein, Reiner Braun, Annie Leonhart, Bertholdt Hoover, Christa Lenz, and Ymir. They gathered in the meeting hall for the morning report.

Erwin swam to the front as the small group of merpeople chatted amongst themselves. He cleared his throat to signal that he was about to speak and silence fell as all eyes fell on the leader of the outer edge.

“Good morning. I trust all of you slept well?”

There were murmurs of agreement all around before they fell silent again.

“Very good. I have little news today: the grand council will be meeting in two weeks and I will leave you guys in Levi’s and Hanji’s capable hands for a few days. I expect you all to act as if I were here and perform your duties perfectly. Also, there has been some disturbing activity over by the turtle cove, so I want you guys to steer clear of it. That is all.”

People began muttering as soon as Erwin swam off.

“Do you think it’s the sirens again?”

“It has to be, what else could he mean by ‘disturbing activity’?”

“I dare you to go by turtle cove today.”

“No way I don’t want to get eaten!”

“ATTENTION!!!”

The smaller, but no less formidable, Levi was now in front of them; his typical glare set on his face.

“You brats have been falling behind on your gathering, specifically: Jeager, Kirchestean, Springer, Braus, and Ymir. I want double the normal gathering for today to make up for your slacking off! Dismissed.”

Grumbling was heard from the names called as the whole group went to pick up their seaweed-weave sacks at the back before leaving the lava tubes for the coral reefs. Once they reached outside they gathered together to decide what groups they would take.

“I’m going with Christa!” Ymir dictated, grabbing the small cobalt-tailed mermaid.

Reiner started to protest, but decided against it while under Ymir’s glare.

“I’ll go with Annie and Bertholdt then.” He grunted swimming closer to the two.

Eren looped his arm with Armin’s. “Armin and I can go together!”

Mikasa clutched Eren’s shoulder, almost harshly. “And I will join you.”

“Don’t you want to come with me Mikasa?” Jean requested.

“That’s a good idea,” Armin chimed, “you always go with us, so maybe going with Jean and Marco would be a nice change?”

“But who will watch Eren?”

Eren’s eye twitched as they spoke about him as if he weren’t there.

“I will, I’m sure I can handle being babysitter for today.” Armin replied.

“Hey! I don’t need a babysitter! I can take care of myself.”

Mikasa pet his head. “Of course you can Eren.”

Eren growled as Mikasa swam over to Jean, who was grinning from ear-to-ear. Marco fidgeted nervously as the quieter mermaid joined them.

“Well I guess that leaves me and Sasha!” Connie added.

The groups moved off in different directions to begin their search for food and supplies.

The sunlight gleamed off the rocks and stones on the ocean floor and small fish darted in and out of the colorful coral as the two friends swam around.

“Do you two always have to treat me like a child?” Eren questioned irritably as he moved some seaweed aside to grab a couple clams.

“We’ll keep doing it until you stop getting in trouble like one!” Armin joked lightly.

“Hmph.” Eren placed the clams in his sack and kept swimming. Armin nudged his arm but got no reaction from his best friend.

“Eren are you mad at me?” He asked smiling. Eren swam a little faster to get away from him.

“Eren wait, don’t go!” Armin called laughing as he tried to catch up with him. Eren swam behind a large boulder.

“Hiding? And you wonder why we think you’re childish?” Armin swam around the rock, but no Eren. He looked left and right and started to go around the rock thinking that Eren was trying sneak up on him. “Eren?”

Eren watched quietly from on top of the boulder, flicking his tail in silent mirth as his best friend circled the rock multiple times before stopping in confusion. Eren let himself slip off and he pounced on Armin’s exposed back.

“Raaaaaaarrrr!!!”

“Aaaaaaagh!!!” Armin squealed and started to fumble with the dagger in his belt, till he saw the tanned mermaid holding his stomach as he let out guffaws of laughter. Little silvery tears started streaming from his eyes as he was cracking up, and they fell quickly to the ocean floor, solidifying into pretty white pearls.

“That wasn’t funny Eren! I could have stabbed you!”

At that Eren snorted loudly before managing to calm down some.

“No offense Armin, but I don’t think you could hurt me if you tried.”

“Well physically no, but when it comes to psychological warfare...”

Eren put his hands in front of him. “...you’re freaking scary, I know you don’t need to remind me.”

“You got that right.” Armin muttered as he moved on to search for more clams.

They continued like that for a while, picking up one or two every minute or so, till Eren spotted a flash of fins.

“Wait a second Armin!” Eren put his arms across Armin’s chest to stop him. “I think there’s a fish in that coral over there!”

Armin sighed. “Eren there’s fish everywhere, but none of them are big enough to eat.”

“No no, this one is huge! Can you imagine the look on Jean’s face when we bring back that whopper!”

“Whatever Eren, you can have it, I’ll go look for more clams.” The smaller blonde moved away, he clearly didn’t take Eren’s find too seriously.

Eren brushed his friend’s distrust off and slowly began to creep up on the small cluster of red and pink coral. Another flash of light indicated that the fish was still hiding there. He sucked in a quick breath before dashing into the cluster, knife in hand. It tried to get past him, but he managed to slice into its side and grabbed its tail before it could get away.

“Ha haa!!!” Eren cried as he held up his prize, a 32-inch Red Snapper.

“Armin! We’re having fish tonight!!!”

Armin swam over and his mouth dropped as he took in the large fish. Eren shot him a cheeky grin before placing it into his sack.

“That definitely covers double the quota! Great catch Eren!”

“You think so?”

“Of course. I’m just wondering why one showed up here. I mean, we haven’t seen a fish that size in weeks.”

“Well maybe whatever’s eating them missed one?”

Armin had a troubled look on his face as he thought it over. “Maybe...”

“Hey! What are you two doing here?!”

The teens looked up quickly to the bronze-tailed mermaid swimming their way.

“Miss Petra!”

Petra joined them with a disapproving look on her face. “I won’t ask again, why are you guys so close to Turtle Cove? Didn’t Erwin tell you not to come here?”

Eren and Armin looked around them and realized that they had indeed wandered near the outskirts of Turtle Cove.

“I’m sorry Petra, we didn’t realize how close we had gotten.”

She looked somewhat relieved. “Okay then, you guys go elsewhere and be careful.”

"Wait, why do we have to be careful? What’s going on?” Eren queried.

She seemed to be wary of his question. “I’m not at liberty to tel-“

“Petra! Come back!! Ah, what are you shitty brats doing her-agh!!”

Petra sighed before going towards the voice with Eren and Armin close behind.

“Aruruo, I told you to stop trying to act like Levi! It’s weird!”

Aruruo was holding his mouth, clearly nursing a newly bitten tongue, a little bit of blood was flowing from his mouth. Gunter swam from the cove entrance and joined them.

“Guys what’s taking so long? Hurry up and get back here! You all know it’s dangerous to separate in small groups!”

They all followed Gunter back into the cove; Levi and Erd were there looking at something in the sand. Levi looked up and glared at the teens.

“What are those shitty brats doing here?”

Petra intervened “They accidently wandered too close and I thought it would be safer if they were with us.”

“hmm, good thinking.” Levi returned his attention to the form on the ocean floor. Eren took a closer look and had to fight the urge to throw up.

A turtle lay there, its throat had been ripped out and its shell smashed; bits and pieces of the soft body were missing. The normal cloud of red that came from an underwater creature losing that much blood was gone so the attack had been a while ago.

“W-what happened?” Armin managed to choke out.

“Well that’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Erd replied. “I would’ve tracked them down, but Levi insisted that we stay here.”

“And for good reason” the smaller retorted. “Whatever did this was strong. I won’t go risking the lives of my team by charging into battle unprepared.”

“I’m sure we could defeat whatever it was with you here though Levi, being the ocean’s strongest and all.” Eren piped up.

Levi fixed him with a glare. “And the reason I’ve lived this long is because I didn’t trust in a name appointed to me and trusted my instincts.”

Eren cowered down a bit.

“Do you think the sirens are responsible?” Armin asked quietly.

“That’s actually our theory on why the fish numbers have been dwindling as well. I think it would be best if Petra escorted you two back to the tubes.”

“But sir, we could help!” Eren protested.

“No, I don’t need any casualties. Petra if you would...”

“Yes sir. Come on boys.”

Petra herded them out of the cove and back the way they came earlier. Armin started up a conversation with Petra and managed to convince her to leave them once they reached the edge of the village territory. As soon as she left Eren swam towards the volcano that sat atop their settlement.

“Wait you’re not going to the surface again are you?!” Armin cried.

“I just want to bask in the sun for a bit. It’s not dangerous Armin, I’ve been up there a million times.”

“But what if you’re caught?”

“Well, unless you’re gonna join me, you could be lookout?” Eren turned to face his friend, face pulled into a pout. His blue-green eyes were huge and shining in the rays of sunlight which basically made it impossible for Armin to say no; he hated when Eren did this.

“Fine, but only for ten minutes!”

“Thanks Armin!” Eren quickly swam upwards and burst out of the water.

“Whoop!!” He hollered as he cleared the waves and then fell back into the brine. He made it to the shore of the small island created by years of lava bursting forth and cooling in the cool water. Eren was careful to climb onto the small area he had cleared of sharp shards of obsidian from which they made their daggers. He sighed as he lay on the warm rock and let his skin soak in the sun now unhindered by the diffraction of water.

He pondered over the siren situation as he watched the clouds move across the bright blue sky. There used to be plenty of fish in the area surrounding their settlement; fish of all shapes and colors. They rarely went to bed without full bellies. But recently the bigger fish that could be a passable meal had started disappearing and they had to survive on clams and smaller fish.

His thoughts turned to you. He didn’t want to tell you about the food problem, he just chalked it up to pride. The first human-mermaid encounter in who knows how long and he didn’t want to be taken pity on. He’d tell you eventually, maybe tomorrow night when you met again.

He flexed his tail in the air at the thought of meeting up with his new human friend again. He still couldn’t believe that humans were real.

“Eren!”

“Gah!” Eren jumped up as a black-haired head popped up not a foot away from his face.

“Mikasa! How’d you know I was here?”

Armin’s golden bowl-cut slowly rose out of the sea next to his foster sister. Eren let his eyes narrow.

“Armin.”

“I’m sorry!” he squeaked “she saw me hanging out near the surface and pulled it out of me.”

“Eren, you’re not to go to the surface ever. It’s too dangerous.”

“I was just basking, and I’m not in danger am I?”

Mikasa grabbed his arm and dragged Eren into the water forcibly.

“Ow ow hey! OW! Mikasa that hurts!”

The black-tailed mermaid stayed silent as she dragged Eren down until they were at least thirty feet below the surface before stopping and facing him.

“What were you thinking?!”

Eren crossed his arms in front of him. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“The big deal is that we’ve been told since we were little that the surface is a dangerous place and that we are safest down here in the ocean. We don’t know anything about the world up there; you could have been killed.”

“By what? What would kill me?”

“Don’t play that game with me Eren.”

“You’re just scared of the unknown!”

“Yes! And you should be too!”

“Um, Mikasa. Maybe you should take it easy on Eren. The island is uninhabited as far as we can tell, so the only thing that could hurt him would be the seagulls.”
Mikasa huffed angrily and looked back towards the tubes. Eren glanced at Armin and mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to which Armin smiled and nodded his head.

“Fine, you can keep going to the surface, but only on the island and you have to be supervised.”

“Gee thanks warden.”

Mikasa ignored the jab and started to swim back to the tubes; Eren and Armin followed and they entered the hall.

Erwin was just coming in and hailed the trio.

“Eren, Mikasa, Armin! Have you three finished your gathering already?”

“Actually Eren caught something worthwhile sir!” Armin chirped proudly.

Erwin’s remarkable eyebrows raised slightly at this. “Really? Let’s see it Eren.”

Eren reached into his sack and pulled out the red snapper. Erwin’s eyes widened and he let out a low whistle.

“That is some catch Eren! Where did you get it?”

“Just outside of Turtle Cove, sir” Eren murmured, knowing that Erwin himself had told them to steer clear of that area.

“Turtle Cove?” his disapproving tone cut through the water like a knife.

“We accidently wandered too close sir.” Armin explained.

“I see. Then all is forgiven, especially in light of this lovely offering.”

The two teen boys let out breaths they had been holding. They nodded to Erwin before heading towards the tunnel that led outside.

“Ah, Eren could you hold up?”

Nervousness gripped him again as he stopped and his friends moved on.

“Yes sir?”

“I believe Hanji wanted to see you.”

“Yes sir.”

Eren swam off to the library; the eccentric mermaid could usually be found pouring over the growing selection of salvaged books from the numerous wrecks they had found on scouting missions. He entered the room which was shaped like a bubble and had indents in the walls that allowed the old books to stand in rows, awaiting selection.

Sure enough, Eren could make out strands of brown hair drifting from behind one of the walls.

“Hanji! Erwin said you wanted to see me!”

A pair of brown eyes magnified by strapped on glasses peeked around the curve of the wall.

“Eren! Yes yes, come here! I wanted to show you this new book that Molbit brought me from the last expedition!”

“Um hanji, you know I can’t understand half of what these books are talking about right?”

“But this one talks about the surface!”

“The surface?”

She beamed at him. “I knew that’d catch your interest!”

Eren joined her as she opened a brown leather-bound book gently on a slab of stone used for reading off of. There were pictures that depicted water running through the ground on the surface, large things that looked like seaweed but with a more bushy likeness, and of all sorts of strange creatures.

“What is all of this?”

She smiled. “I haven’t the slightest clue. All the words are smudged out of this one, but the pictures are intriguing right?”

“Yeah.” Eren turned the page carefully.

“I only wish someone could explain what these drawings mean...” she sighed.

Eren thought of you immediately. He couldn’t reveal your existence, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t get you to explain the pictures and then offer up theories about them to Hanji later.

“Well that’s too bad. Oh gosh! Look at the light! It’s almost time for dinner! See you later Hanji!”

A stream of bubbles were left behind as Eren sped out of the library and hurried to the dining hall; everyone else was coming in and adding their haul to the pile. Petra and Mike were the selected cooks for the night and they watched the slowly growing pile of clams, shrimp, and the occasional crab. Jean was beaming and glanced over at Mikasa as he added a sanddab to the pile.

Eren snorted at the flat brown fish and Jean glared at him.

“What are you laughing at Jaeger? I doubt you caught anything more impressive.”

“Well, I certainly have something more appetizing than that pale thing.”

Eren pulled out his snapper with a flourish and added it to the top of the pile. Jean was beyond shocked.

Reiner elbowed the unresponsive mermaid in the ribs. “I think you lost this round Jean.”

A few snickers were heard around before Levi joined the group.

“All right you brats lets gather around the air vents while Petra and Mike cook dinner.”

The group settled down in the room next door where the floor had small holes that had bubbles coming out at varying speeds. Sasha and Connie lay next to each other on top of a couple vents, effectively blocking the air until the pressure built up and pushed them in the air while Christa and Marco let the slower-moving bubbles tickle their fingers. Eren rested his back above a more forceful vent, allowing the bubbles to give him a much needed back massage.

They began to chat about their day and the major catches they had gotten. Levi sat quietly in the corner and added a comment when relevant, but was otherwise silent. Mikasa started a braiding contest with Annie using Armin as her model and Annie used Bertholdt; they picked Marco to be the judge. It ended in a draw seeing as the freckled mermaid was equally terrified of both girls.

Before they knew it, Petra and Mike arrived with pans of seared fish, shrimp, and clams with a bit of crab for a side dish. Everyone dug in quickly and the meal was finished in record time. Sasha was hovering around Mikasa, seeing as she was the slowest eater and still had bits of crab left.

“Just a little bite Mikasa! Please!”

The dark-haired mermaid offered up the last of the crab to the brunette and stuffed it in her mouth at the last second; leaving a very distraught mermaid.

“That’s just cruel Mikasa.”

She ignored Reiner’s comment and stretched her arms above her head.

“I’m going to turn in.”

The rest of the girls each murmured their ‘goodnights’ before following her to the girl’s rooms. Not long after, the boys returned to their rooms as well.

Eren settled down in the small bubble in the rock that formed his room and buried himself in the sand from the belly down; the weight pressing on him was comforting and gave him a sense of security. He shifted into a more comfortable position before drifting off to sleep knowing he had another day before he’d go to meet his new friend again.

Chapter Text

You carried in a tray of sliced apples for your brothers and father as they sat at the table looking over finances for the shop.

“If we charge too low a price, then we’ll go bankrupt from the cost of materials and taxes!” Ryan argued.

“I can’t overcharge our customers though! If I do then we’ll lose business!” Your father retorted.

You set the tray down and all of you took a slice. You sat next to Peter and Clint as you nibbled on the skin of your slice.

They continued to go back and forth like that without going anywhere in the conversation.

“Why don’t we promote our shop?” All eyes turned to you, and you gulped down a chunk of apple before continuing. “I mean what if we had a special event of some sort and let the whole city know about it? Like half-off children’s shoe repair? Then everyone would know about our shop and we’d have a chance to show off our skill and quality of work.”

Ryan scoffed. “Then we’d lose even more money that way. I swear, do women even think before talking?”

You were about to yell at Ryan for that comment, but Peter interrupted.

“I think it sounds good.”

Your father and Clint agreed with Peter that your idea was decent and it wouldn't hurt to consider it.

“Whatever.” Ryan huffed as he turned his attention back to you. “Just stay out of men’s work (name).”

“I was just trying to help, and I was also thinking that I could cobble if you guys would teach me.”

“Didn't you hear what I just said? Cobbling is men’s work! If you want to help you should do needlework with the other girls and fix clothes or do embroidery.”

You would've done that, but you hated needlework. You could never fit the string into the eye of the needle before getting frustrated, and then you would stab yourself with said needle countless times until you couldn't pick up anything for a week. So no, you weren't about to try that again.

You grumbled to yourself and left the table for your room. You shut the door behind you quietly and grabbed your satchel from the floor. Then You pulled out the little bottle of lubricant, a mixture of fish and whale oil, and applied it to the places the window rubbed against when opened. Then you cautiously inched the panels outwards and they moved fluidly and silently.

You stepped outside and made your way down to the beach. You sat on the dry sand a bit of ways from the water’s edge. The sun was just setting on the horizon and the golden light shimmered on the waves; it was truly picturesque.

The sun had gone down forty minutes ago and the ocean was as silent as ever with the dull roar of the waves.

Where was he?

Your eyes hurt from straining to look across the dark water for that tuft of brown hair.

Another ten minutes passed when you started to have doubts.

What if I imagined all this? What if I was more tired than I thought from the trip here and I imagined meeting a mermaid? What if I’ve been sitting out here talking to myself?
You felt rather silly at this point. I mean mermaids? Really?

“I need to get more sleep if I’m hallucinating...”

You got up and dusted off your clothes before re-entering your room through the window and closing it. Your family had already gone to bed and you changed into your nightgown before snuggling under the covers to get some much needed rest.

~*~

A little earlier that evening

Eren monitored his breathing so he wouldn't give his position away. He was hidden away in a niche near the entrance of the library. He’d been waiting there for ten minutes already.

Armin... where are you?

Armin was known for his mental ability with strategy and secrecy, and Eren often used it to his advantage. And now was one of those times. He needed to get the book Hanji showed him and take it to you, but the eccentric mermaid wouldn't stop looking at it and almost never left the library when she got new books. The plan was that Armin would convince Moblit to talk Hanji into joining the group for dinner and therefore, getting her away from the book. Eren couldn't figure out for the life of him why it had to be Moblit instead of Levi or Erwin, but he didn’t question his friend.

“You think she’s going to try to skip dinner again?” Moblit’s concerned voice sounded from down the tunnel. Eren sucked in another breath in an effort to be quiet.
“You know how she is, if she had her way she’d stay there overnight till early morning.”
Eren could now see Armin and Moblit heading towards the library. Moblit nodded in agreement and they entered the library.
Eren could hear Moblit talking and then Hanji’s whining voice. After a minute though, Hanji was following Moblit to the eating area. Armin was farther behind, looking for Eren.
Eren came out of the niche and Armin followed him into the library. The book was lying on the platform and Eren carefully placed it in his seaweed sack next to a few tools he’d neglected to take out earlier. Hopefully they won’t scrape the delicate tome.

“Now what?”

“Now I’m going to the surface. “

“You’ve met a human haven’t you?”

Eren jolted from the accusation and how spot-on it was.

“How’d you know?”

Armin sighed. “It’s not exactly hard to tell. You’ve been going to the surface a couple days in a row now when it used to be once every two weeks. You’ve been happier, and now you’re taking a book about the surface to the surface? You could at least make it challenging.”

“Please don’t tell anyone! Especially Mikasa!”

Armin crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I won’t, but I’m worried about you. We don’t know anything about humans, they could be dangerous.”

“Well (name) isn’t dangerous, she’s my friend.”

Armin quirked a brow giving Eren a look.

“She’s JUST a friend!”

Armin clearly didn’t believe Eren’s defense but let it go.

“Fine, so you need me to distract Mikasa so you can get away?”

“Yeah.”

“I won’t do it for free.”

Eren’s shoulders slumped. “What do you want?”

Armin smiled, his face almost angelic, but his eyes held a glinting light.

“I want to meet (name) next time you go to the surface.”

Eren sputtered a bit. “W-what?! You know how dangerous it will be if we both go?!”

“Don’t care, that’s my price for helping you tonight.”

Eren grumbled to himself before agreeing.

The two mermaids made their way through the tunnels, snuck past the eating area, and out a side entrance to the coral reefs. The water was dark, but their eyes were accustomed to seeing in areas of little lighting. Eren turned to say goodbye to Armin when they reached the edge of the territory.

“Be careful Eren.”

“I always am, thanks Armin!”

They parted ways and Eren swam as fast as he could through the water to get closer to the peninsula that you lived on. He didn’t like swimming in the shadowy waters alone and his mind thought back to the marred turtle.

“Don’t think like that Eren” he told himself. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched by creatures beyond his vision. He pushed his tail faster against the water. It took him twenty minutes to get within sight of your beach. He changed direction and sped towards the surface. His head breached the waves and he took a moment to get used to breathing air instead of filtering it from the water. Then he swam to their meeting place, but when he got there the beach was empty. The white sand shone in the slight moonlight and the glow seemed to pronounce your absence.

“(name)?” Eren called quietly. He was a few feet from the shore and looked up and down the beach from there, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. He glanced up at the moon.

“Crap.”

The crescent was farther across the sky than normal, which meant he was late, very late.

“She probably gave up and went to bed. But I might not get another chance to show her the book...”

Eren knew his options were limited. He could drag himself to her window, but that required too much effort and was ridiculously dangerous with the sharp stones and the chance of someone seeing him. He couldn’t shout till she came out because her family and any nearby neighbors would join her.

He remembered where her window was from last time and he stared at it hoping she’d appear in the frame and see him. Sadly, she was probably asleep by now.

That’s when he got an idea.

He shuffled his hands through the sand and his fingers wrapped around a good-sized shell. He tested its weight in his hand and then aimed for the window and threw. The shell bounced off the wall a foot from the window.

Good thing there were plenty of shells.

~*~

You slowly woke up from a deep sleep and looked around the room. Everything was quiet and you wondered what had disturbed you when something hit your window. You jumped and stayed still, watching the panel. A few seconds later a small object hit the pane of glass again.

Was that a shell?

You got up and pushed open the window quickly, and received blow to the forehead from a small Venus comb shell.

“Ow!”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you!”

You looked to the voice and saw Eren. He was sitting in the shallows waving shyly. You rubbed your eyes and looked again. Still there.

So you weren’t hallucinating. You felt relieved. Eren was your only friend right now; you didn’t know what you’d do if you didn’t have someone to talk to other than your brothers and dad.

You made your way to the mermaid and crossed your arms.

“What took you so long?” you asked letting an accusing tone slip in your voice.

“I’m sorry, I had to get this book to show you and it took longer than I thought it would.”

“You have books underwater?”

Eren dug around in his sack while he talked. “Yeah, we get them from shipwrecks. Hanji keeps track of all of them, so that’s why I had to borrow this.”

“You mean steal?”

He pretended that he was offended. “I’m gonna take it back! You think so little of me! I’m hurt!”

You chuckled. “Okay, sorry. Now show me!”

Eren pulled the book out and handed it to you. The cover was torn and the words were barely visible, but you could tell what it was.

“This is a record. It’s a book that contains information about things that happened a certain year.”

“So the pictures inside are drawings of events?”

“Yeah, here let me show you.”

You sat close enough to the water that the waves would caress your legs and Eren pulled himself onto the sand and closer till he was next to you and had a good view of the book. You carefully pulled the tattered cover back and the spine cracked slightly from being saturated in salt water for so long.

“Wow, this is in pretty bad shape. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make much out of this.”

“That’s okay, I don’t care about the events, just about what the drawings are of.”

“Alright, then this” you pointed to the first picture, “is a tree. It’s a plant like seaweed, but it has a hard rough stem called ‘bark’ ,and depending on the tree, it will produce fruit.”

Eren looked around and pointed to a nearby oak. “So that’s a tree?”

“Yes that’s an oak tree.”

“So it makes oaks?”

You giggled slightly and Eren pouted that you were laughing at him.

“No, an oak tree doesn’t produce fruit. “

“Well that’s kind-of pointless. Now the next one!” he slowly turned the page to avoid ripping the fragile material.

It was a horse.

“Okay this is an animal that we use for riding and pulling things. It’s called a horse.”

Eren perked up at that.

“A horse? Like a seahorse?”

“Yeah, see they both have similar head shapes.”

Eren took a closer look and agreed.

“Do mermaids use any animals for riding or heavy labor?”

“We sometimes grab dolphins’ tails and have them pull us around, but we can move anything we want moved more often than not. I guess it’s because things tend to be lighter in the water.”

“That makes sense.”

You moved onto the next one. Eren got excited and pointed to it.

“I know what those are! Mermaid’s tears! I thought you said that humans didn’t know we existed?”

“We don’t. We call those pearls. You cry pearls?"

"Yeah." he clearly didn't think it was a big deal so you let it go for another time. “How did humans get them?” he pondered aloud.

“We catch oysters and open them up to eat and sometimes there’s a pearl inside.”

“Ah I see. Oysters like to eat our tears; I don’t know why...they’re funny creatures.”

“Hm.”

You turned the page and there was a picture of a couple dancing.

“Ooh what are those things on their feet?”

“Those are shoes, they’re made of leather usually and they protect our feet from rocks, manure, heat, cold, and lots of other things.”

“That’s right! Humans have to walk?” he looked to you to make sure he used the correct term before continuing, “everywhere they go! That must be exhausting.”

“Well it’s probably as exhausting as swimming everywhere.” You replied smiling.

He laughed. “touche.”

You sighed quietly; the shoes reminded you of the discussion you had earlier with your family. Eren must have noticed because he prodded your arm with his elbow.

“Hey (name), what’s wrong?”

“Oh my family is having some financial trouble.”

“Because of poverty?”

“Yeah, and I want to help, but they want me to do embroidery or needlework and I can’t do that.”

“Well you just have to find something else right?”

You felt a crushing wave of anxiety press on your consciousness. You felt trapped; there was nothing you could do as a woman that people would approve of.
Eren was still talking, babbling on about how ‘you just had to find what you were good at’. Problem was you’ve never really had a chance to see what different things you could and couldn’t do.

Eren’s voice cut through your thoughts.

“What about carving?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like why don’t you carve seashells? We carve shells for tools, decorations, and jewelry. I’m sure you could find even more uses for carved shells for humans!”

The more you thought about it, the better it seemed. It could work, but....you didn’t know how to carve shells.

You told Eren and he started to dig around in his sack again.

“One second...let me just......grab..a..few.....things.......AHA!!” He pulled a number of long sticks of what looked like black glass that had different shaped heads.

“What are those?”

“These are typical carving tools that we use. We’re lucky I don’t clean out my sack often or I wouldn’t have them on me. You’ll need these and a stone to scratch the shell on to smooth out the edges.

“Okay....” you still weren’t sure about this.

“One second! I’ll go find a couple shells! Be right back!”

He managed to slip back into the water and then disappeared under the waves.

“He gets excited easily doesn’t he?” you murmured to yourself. You found it quite endearing.

A few minutes later he resurfaced and lay out six or seven different shells. He picked up one and gestured for you to do the same. He showed you how to angle the tools on the shell to make different carves and how to conserve the shell material. You could tell he was trying to be patient with you as your fingers slipped for the tenth time.

“Sorry, I’m not that fast of a learner.”

“It’s fine. We all learn at our own pace. Here let me show you.”

He placed his hands over yours and guided your fingers in the carving process, letting strips of shell fall to the sand as he worked.
“You have to keep a firm grip when you’re making the beginning of the cut and then you can loosen up so the cut is smooth and fluid.”

“I see. I think I’ve got it now.”

He let go of your hands and let you try it for yourself. The cuts were still a little jagged.

“Much better! You just need some practice and then you’ll be a pro!”

“You’re too kind Eren.” You muttered as you held up the roughly cut shell.

You continued to practice under Eren’s supervision and he fetched more shells whenever you ran out till you were even able to carve the smallest shells accurately.

Eren looked smug and also proud. “I told you that you’d get it.”

“Yeah you told me.” You smiled to yourself. Then you remembered.
“The book! Oh my gosh Eren! You wanted me to explain more stuff in the book and we got side-tracked! I’m sorry!”

He shrugged. “You’re not going anywhere soon right? I’m sure I can manage to stea – borrow it again.” He carefully put the book back in his sack.

“Okay, I’ve got to go to bed anyways. I’m exhausted.”

“Alright, make sure you get your shells in the early morning so you get the best ones.”

“yeah, yeah. Goodnight Eren.” You said as you stood and stretched your stiff limbs.

“Night (name).”

You glanced at the sand and saw the tools laying there.

“Wait! Eren don’t forget your tools!”

“They’re yours now! Later!”

He dived underwater before you could refuse, and left you feeling guilty for taking his tools. You picked them up before they were reclaimed by the sea and trudged back to your room and slept.

It seemed like only a few minutes passed till the rooster crowed, signally the rising of the sun. You almost turned over and went back to sleep, but you remembered Eren’s advice and got out of bed.

Since no-one would be on the beach this early you decided to wear a loose shirt and trousers. You grabbed a basket from storage and walked down to the water. The sun’s rays were peeking over the horizon as you walked barefoot in the water, relishing in the squelching sand between your toes. Eren was right about gathering shells early; it wasn’t five minutes before your basket was half-full.

Then something hit you on the back of the head.

“Ow!” You turned around expecting some bratty child, but got an embarrassed mermaid instead.

“Eren would you stop the whole throwing shells at my head thing?!”

“I-I’m sorry! I meant to throw it in front of you!”

“You have really bad aim.”

He dropped his head. “I know.”

That’s when you realized what time it was.

“What are you doing here?! Its morning and someone could see you!”

“I wanted to help gather shells with you!”

“How am I supposed to explain this?!” you cried pointing at his tail.

“Uh....”

“Exactly.”

“Alright, I get it; it’s dangerous for someone to see me. I’ll go back, it’s almost time for the morning announcements anyways.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later then.”

“Oh yeah, um I’ll be bringing Armin with me tonight.”

“Really?! It’s about time I meet one of your friends!”

He laughed before returning to the sea. You finished filling the basket with shells and placed the one Eren threw at you on top; it was an exceptionally pretty conch shell with blue and white rings that almost looked like glass. You decided that you’d keep it.

You were nervous as you walked back up the beach. Now you had to present the idea to your family and hope for the best.

Chapter Text

Your dad and brothers were very supportive of your plan to carve and sell shells; luckily Ryan was out already, so you didn’t actually have to deal with his opinion yet. Clint agreed to make arrangements for your stand with the market-keeper and set it up too. You busied yourself with carving the shells you had collected already.

The sun was shining bright and a crisp breeze carried the salty sea air to you as you worked behind your house. Slowly the carved pieces grew in number till you had at least twenty or so sculpted shells. Some in the shapes of little figurines of cats, dogs, fish, or dolphins, and others were buttons or buckles for shirts and shoes. One of the shells was even big enough for you to carve into a hairpin.

You found a nearby stone and began to buff and smooth the rough edges of the collection. You had just finished with the last shell button when Clint came back proudly stating that the stand was set up and ready for your merchandise.

He helped you get your things up to the market and left you there with a bread and cheese lunch prepared by your father.

It wasn’t too long before many women and girls began to peruse your carvings. They admired the way the colors shined in the sunlight and how intricate the designs were. One woman said so to which you merely replied.

“I had a great teacher.”

The animal figurines were very popular among the little girls and elderly women, and some wives brought their husbands over to look at the buttons and buckles.
It was well past four and half your stock was already sold off. Many of the teenagers asked about the hairpin, but the price you set for it was clearly too expensive. You began to worry that maybe you should lower it or you might never sell it.

Then you saw a flash of pink.

“Hello there! I heard this stand was the talk of the market! Oh!” It was the girl Clint had flirted with before. She clearly recognized you. “We meet again!” she laughed lightly.
“Nice to see you!” You smiled “feel free to take your time browsing.”

She did just that, and you watched as she took notice of the hairpin right away before moving on to look at everything else.

“Do you see anything you like?”

She nodded. “Mhm, I really am impressed with this hairpin! Did you make this?”

“Yes ma’am, I carved it this morning.”

“Amazing! How much?”

This was where the girls would quickly put the pin down and excuse themselves.

“Twenty-five shillings.”

“Done!”

You blinked in surprise, but took the money she offered and carefully counted out her change before handing over the hairpin.

“Enjoy Miss-ah I didn’t get your name.”

“It’s Mary! And your Clint’s younger sister, (name) right?”

“That’s right! How are things going by the way? Clint won’t utter a peep about you.”

Mary had a little color tinge her cheek at this. “Oh, we’re going on a date tonight, I was thinking I would wear this in my hair.”

“That’s great! Have fun!” you gave her a thumbs up as she walked away.

That little sneak! You thought smiling to yourself. Wooing a high class girl and not telling us about it!

“Ah, there you are!”

You glanced over and saw Ryan accompanied with Snob and Underling. You groaned internally.

“We meet again, (almost right but not quite name).”

Your eye twitched. “Actually, my name is (name).”

“Ah yes, forgive me (name). I was just so stunned by your beauty.”

If you could smell bullshit, he would reek of it.

“What are you doing here?”

Ryan hastily intervened. “I happened to run into Charles here as I was on my way home. He seemed to be quite taken with you and wished to see you again.”
“I would like for you to meet at my house for some black tea.”

Geeze, everything about this guy reeked of filthy rich and pompous. Tea was an extreme rarity, black tea was even more so. You honestly didn’t know which would be better: shutting him down or staying silent.

It seemed like Ryan was pushing this because he interrupted again. “She would love to of course. How’s tomorrow at eleven?”

“Fine, I will see you there at eleven sharp.” Charles stated grabbing your hand and laying a sloppy kiss on the back of it before you could pull away. They left you alone with your brother.

“What the heck is wrong with you Ryan?! I don’t want to date him!”

“He’s rich and if you should marry, our family would be set for life!”

“Marry him?! Hah! I’d sooner drown!”

Ryan ignored you and left. You were in such a mood after this that you had to close your stand not ten minutes later because you began to snap at the customers. You didn’t even go home. You lay on the sand and fancied a nap until Eren was supposed to show up with his friend.

~*~

“C’mon Armin! Don’t get cold fins now!” Eren gently chided his childhood friend as they got closer to the surface.

Armin was going slower and slower the closer they got to the top of their world. Eren grabbed his arm and pulled him up till they hit the cool air and began heading towards shore.

“What if she doesn’t like me?”

“She’ll love you. Don’t worry (name) is really cool!”

Armin gulped as a dark figure could be made out on the sands.

~*~

“(Name)! Wake up!”

You jolted awake and noticed the mermaids in the shallows by your feet.

“Eren! I must have slept too long!”

You looked past your friend to the smaller, blonde mermaid who was a few feet back.

“And you must be Armin right?” You put on your best smile. The mermaid tried a tight-lipped smile, he was clearly stressed.

You sat down, almost in the water and offered your hand to Armin who gently took it as if afraid you would grab him.

“I’m (name) it’s nice to finally meet one of Eren’s friends. “

“Nice to meet you.” He managed.

Eren grabbed your arm and shook it excitedly. “So (name)! How’d it go? Did you sell a lot of shells?”

“Eh? Oh yes! I sold almost my entire stock from this morning!”

His eyes lit up at this. “That’s great!!! I told you that you’d be good at this!”

You smiled and shook him off before he dislocated your arm.

“Did you bring the record back?”

Armin pulled out the book and handed it over. You opened it to the page you were on the night before. Armin and Eren shuffled closer to look. You almost laughed at the childlike behavior.

Armin pointed to the legs and feet on the dancing couple. “Those are called legs, and you have some right?”

“Wanna see?”

He nodded a small flame of excitement in his eyes. You pulled the long cotton skirt up to your thighs so the mermaids could get a good look at the unfamiliar sight. Eren was immediately interested in your toes and began to pull on them and move them back and forth. Armin wanted to touch your leg but paused and looked to you for approval.

“It’s okay, you can touch my leg.”

Armin touched your skin and rubbed it a little. “There’s hair here.” He commented surprised.

You felt a little embarrassed. You forgot to shave this morning from all the shell picking and carving going on.

“Yeah, that happens.” You muttered face heating up.

Armin was fascinated by this discovery and went to feeling your arm when he noticed some hair there as well.

It was about six minutes before they finally had enough poking and prodding and settled down so you could explain more of the book’s pictures. You spent the next few hours going through the book’s pages and you managed to finish and close the book with a yawn roughly five hours before sunrise.

It was agreed that you would meet Eren and Armin there every other evening to explain books they brought or to talk about the surface world and they in turn would tell you about life underwater. You hoped that the happiness this brought you would last.

Chapter Text

It had been a few weeks since you met Armin and the blonde mermaid was now very accustomed to your company. Apparently he and Eren would race to the surface to see you, Eren almost always won except the times when Armin managed to get a head start.

Your shell business was a fantastic success too! The marketplace was always buzzing with excitement whenever you brought new pieces. You sold so many shells that you had to have Peter watch the stand while you carved more. You gave your father 90% of your earnings and kept the rest for yourself; you would have given him more, but he insisted that you keep at least some of the money that came from your labor.

Charles was hovering. He had you come to his house or to some other predetermined location every other day or so. You would have some fancy type of food and drink while he talked about his family’s history and wealth.

Needless to say, you weren’t impressed, just bored.

Thankfully, today is a happy day! It’s your birthday! You had spent the day working at the stand and had just stumbled through the front door when your brothers and father jumped out yelling at once.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY (NAME)!!!!”

Peter managed to end that line a little late so there was a slight echo. You screamed and jumped in the air.

The boys laughed at your reaction and walked to you to give you your birthday hugs. You snuggled into your father’s embrace and accepted Ryan and Clint’s more formal hugs before finally squatting down to pull Peter close and give him a playful squeeze.

“You guys got me! I didn’t know what hit me!”

They all grinned before your father brought out a small package wrapped in fish wrapping paper and tied up with a piece of frayed rope.

Your heart lifted with excitement and you quickly unwrapped the gift.

“It’s from all of us of course.” Your father explained as you ripped off the last bit of paper to reveal a brush.

It was made from oaken wood and had intricate designs carved into it. A large shell was in the middle with what looked like waves flowed from it to the outer edges of the brush’s backing; small sea stars were on the edging. It was beautiful.

You felt tears welling up in your eyes as you tackled your dad to the ground in a hug.

“Hey! We all pitched in you know!” Clint whined before yelping as you pulled him down to the floor so you could hug him too.

“Dogpile on papa!” Peter cried as he jumped on top of you which knocked the air out of your father.

Ryan laughed as we all got up slowly. I walked over to him and gave his waist a squeeze.

“Thanks Ryan.”

He pet your hair. “Of course (name). Though there is one more person who hasn’t given his gift to you.”

There was a knock at the door.

“And there he is now.”

You had a feeling about who it was behind the door and you hoped you were wrong.

Ryan pulled back the wooden frame to reveal Charles holding an extravagantly wrapped box. Why did you have to be right all the time?

“Happy birthday (name)! I got you something.”

“Oh Charles you shouldn’t have.” You muttered as you took the box and proceeded to open it. Underneath all the fancy wrappings and layer after layer of lacy fabric, lay some cloth. I looked like those things only rich people wore when swimming; a bathing suit.

“Ooh that’s really pretty.” Peter cooed.

It was pretty alright, pretty small. It was (favorite color) with frills lining the edges, and it was a two piece. They were to be tied onto you with some string built into the suit. You knew from looking at it that little would be left to the imagination. Practically scandalous in this day and age.

“Well? What do you think?” Charles inquired.

Ryan laughed, “She’s speechless!”

“In any case, I want to take you out for a day on the water in my new boat with one of my friends tomorrow. I hope you’ll wear that.”

You honestly didn’t know what to do. Of course you were horrified at the prospect of wearing this tiny thing around Charles and whatever company he called ‘friend’, but you couldn’t seem to come up with a way out of it.

Ryan nudged your shoulder indicating you should answer. You said the first thing that popped in your head.
“I have to watch the stand tomorrow.”

“That little trinket stand can wait. It’s only for one day; I’ll pick you up around noon.”

And with that, he left. You felt the plans for tomorrow crushing your happy mood as you went back to your room and set the brush on your dresser and the suit on your bed. You glared at it as if it were to blame for Charles interest in you. Then you got an idea. You only hoped that they’d be early today.

You quickly changed and went out to the water and waited for your friends. Sometimes they would get anxious and come before sundown. You didn’t have to wait but seven minutes before you could see them swimming up.

You waved at their approaching forms.

“Eren! Armin! Check it out!”

They got within five feet of the shore and looked at your new bathing suit.

“What is it?” Armin questioned.

“It’s a special suit for swimming.”

“Awesome! So you can finally come in with us!” Eren grinned.

You ran into the water, between the mermaids, and even farther until you could barely touch the sandy bottom. They swam up next you and smiled.

You took a huge breath of air before ducking down and swimming deeper into the ocean.

“(name) look at this.”

You turned around, surprised that their voices sounded so clear underwater and noticed Eren was pointing at a piece of coral that marked the edge of a reef. You nearly let out all of your air, in awe of the beauty before you.

Colorful little fish flitted in and out of the numerous structures of a whole rainbow of color. There were green coral that looked like brains and a grouping of light pink shelves.

You spotted a clown-fish darting into a red anemone, and watched a class of surgeon fish swim among orange spiky corals.

Armin swam forward and pet some strands of purple coral drifting in the current; slowly some little yellow fish grouped around him and started pecking at him. He giggled at their tiny kisses.

Your lungs were on fire and you had to get to the surface quickly. You gulped in another few lungfuls of air before diving again and joining Armin and Eren in the reef. A turtle swam by and you brushed your hand across his shell as he passed, enchanted by the size of the peaceful creature. Something snagged on your foot and you glanced down to see a yellow tinted sack wrapped around your ankle; upon closer inspection you noticed the small, familiar shape inside. This was a shark egg sack. You hurriedly got the thing off your foot. Eren came over to see what the fuss was about and chuckled when he saw the sack and the disgusted look on your face.

“They scare me too, but tell me that you could kill it when it’s so helpless.”

You took another look noticing how it shook its tiny fins and tail quickly as if that would save it. You felt that regardless of how dangerous it will be when it gets older, you just couldn’t bash it into a rock.

You nodded signaling you understood and continued around the reef. The way the sunlight shone through the water in streams of light and lit the colors in certain areas was certainly magical looking and made you wonder if you had traveled into another world, and in a way you had. You realized this was a small sliver of Eren and Armin’s world and felt a pang of longing. How amazing it would be to live here under the water and interact with these amazing animals.

You resurfaced, gasping for breath. And you wouldn’t have to get air every minute.

You swam with them till you couldn’t see in the dark water anymore for lack of sunlight and swam back to shore. You lay back on the hot sand panting from all that swimming.

Armin and Eren were chuckling at your worn out state.

“Wow, you’re really out of shape (name). You can’t even swim for a whole hour.”

“You guys try walking on land and then we’ll talk.”

They let you regain your breath in peace after that.

“So does this mean we can come and meet you during the day if you come offshore so no one can see us?” Eren perked up at the idea of seeing his friend more often.

“Well you can’t tomorrow. Charles is taking me out on his new boat with another one of his friends, and you can’t be seen.”

Armin nudged Eren’s arm. “And you forget, Erwin left for the council today, so Levi will be cracking down on our gathering amounts.”

Eren deflated a bit but admitted defeat. You felt bad for making him sad, maybe you should try cheering him up before you left for the night.

You grabbed his arm to get his attention. “Hey, we can meet up tomorrow night! And maybe the next day around noon!”

The brown-haired mermaid perked up at this. Mission accomplished.

You bid farewell to the two mermaids and watched as they flicked their tails in the air before diving into the depths.

Chapter Text

“What are you wearing?”

You spun around showing off the knee-length dress.

“It’s a cover-up! I still have the swimsuit on underneath!” you chirped knowing full and well that covering up irritated Charles.

“I don’t see why you would need to cover up something that I bought you.” He muttered before leading you to the boat that rocked against the docks. You recognized his shorter friend from the first time you met, but didn’t know the girl hanging off his arm.

The boat itself was clearly new, with white paint that still smelled strongly and not a barnacle in sight on the smooth hull. It was called ‘Freudenberg’, you thought of that as an odd name, but chalked it up to aristocratic thinking.

Charles offered his hand to help you into the vessel which you ignored, stepping lightly inside and taking the most secluded seat at the back. Charles grunted before stepping in and sitting between you and his friends.

“Take us under away.” He commanded his vassal, poor guy.

It wasn’t long before the wind caught the sails and we were heading out of the bay to the open ocean.

You had to admit that the salty smell and the ocean spray were rejuvenating. The same crisp breeze that had the sails snapping smartly pushed your hair back and cooled your face from the heat of the sun.

You were sure Charles was talking to the others about something that was, how would Charles put it.... oh yes! Borish.

That’s when a dark shape caught your eye. Something was moving through the water, keeping pace with the boat. You leaned forward to get a closer look.

‘What if it’s a dolphin! That would be so cool!’

You leaned out a little further and a familiar tuft of brown hair popped up spitting salt water in your face.

“Aaahh!” you gasped quietly and wiped your eyes to glare and the grinning mermaid.

“Eren!” you whispered “are you insane? What are you doing here? I told you that we couldn’t hang out today!”

“I got bored! Besides, isn’t this fun? Trying not to get caught; and you don’t have to have a horrible time out on the water!” He beamed as if he was a genius.

You swiped at his head and missed when he ducked underwater and you could barely see him laughing under the waves.

“(name)? Why are you leaning so far over the edge? Do you see something?”

You panicked a bit, if Charles saw Eren who knew what would happen.

“Uh, no! I was just trying to dip my hands in to feel the water rushing past!”

“Well try not to from now on! You could fall off.”

You huffed and sat back down trying to ignore the mermaid popping up every few seconds in the water.

Eventually Charles called for the vassal to stop the boat and drop anchor.

“But sir, we are in deep waters, the anchor won’t reach-“

“Did I ask for your opinion?”

“No sir.”

The anchor was dropped.

Charles friend, whose name I found out to be Derrick, stood up stretching his arms.

“I fancy a swim after sitting in this heat” he stated.

“I agree, let’s all get in the water.” Charles took off his shirt as he spoke.

You begrudgingly slipped out of the dress and dove into the water before anyone else was ready.

You opened your eyes and immediately spotted your friend about twenty feet away, smiling and waving as if he wasn’t tempting fate. You shot him your deadliest glare, trying to warn him off, before surfacing.

“You couldn’t wait for us?”

The other three were watching you from the boat.

You shrugged. “I guess I was getting a little overheated and needed to cool down.”

“Let’s just get in already!” the girl complained.

They all lowered their way into the water like true nobility, and joined you. You managed to distance yourself from the group a bit, not wanting to be near, well, any of them really.

You felt something brush the soles of your feet and stiffened. You cursed Eren in your mind as you struggled to keep a neutral expression while he brushed his fingers along your sensitive skin. You kicked out to hit him, but only brushed his tail and nearly dunked yourself in the process.

“Are you okay (name)?”

“Wha? Oh yeah, I’m great, just had a slight foot cramp; I’m okay now!”

You could practically hear Eren snickering.

You swam till you were tired, which was sooner than normal considering the effort you had to put into keeping the spirited mermaid from exposing himself.

You all got back in the boat. Charles caught your wrist before you could sit in the single seat in the back and sat you next to him instead, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. It took all you had to not physically cringe.

The boat was back underway and you glanced back to see Eren following, and making the most obnoxious face.

You returned by sticking your tongue out at him. He dunked under and resurfaced with another face. The two of you continued like that until Charles started to yell at the vassal.

“Where are we?! I don’t recognize this spit of land! Where have you taken us?”

You looked to the shore and noticed that it wasn’t familiar at all.

‘The vassal did mention that the waters were too deep to anchor to, maybe we drifted a bit while we were swimming…’

“(name).” Eren whispered.

You looked at him and he pointed to the left.

‘Ah! Eren knows these waters! That must be the way back!’

“Uh, maybe we drifted. And since the current usually goes towards the starboard, perhaps the city is to the port side?” you offered.

Charles looked slightly dumbfounded before turning to the vassal.

“Well? Does that make sense?” he demanded.

The poor boy nodded and quickly made the adjustments to take us towards home. You mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to Eren. He winked at you and dove underwater, disappearing.

You had to listen to Charles and Derrick complain about useless staff members and how they couldn’t do anything right all the way home. When you finally docked, you couldn’t get off the boat quick enough. Though you did thank the vassal for his work without attracting the notice of the upper class.

“I’m sorry that we were nearly lost (name). I’ll have him fired for almost ruining our day.” Charles grumbled.

You ignored him.

Having a mermaid for a friend really could get in handy sometimes.

Chapter Text

Of course you chastised Eren for taking such a risk of being seen when you saw him next, but darn it that puppy dog face he pulled prevented you from ever staying angry with him for long. Armin was upset with him too, but you could tell it was coming mostly from fear of losing his friend than real animosity.

“Eren! I swear if you do something as reckless as that again, I’ll tell Mikasa what you’ve been up to!”

Eren sobered a bit staring at the blonde. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would if it means keeping my best friend safe.” He crossed his arms to signal he was done discussing the matter.

“Fine, I won’t take any more risks! But you gotta admit it was cool, and I saved you guys from being lost!”

You had to give him that, without his help you would’ve been stuck with those snobs for who knows how long.

“That is true Armin, he did help me out of a really frustrating situation, though it was still wrong!” you finished when you saw Eren puffing up at your words. He deflated a bit and shot you a brief glare.

You sat in comfortable silence after that, enjoying the sound of the rushing waves washing up on the sand. This continued for about ten minutes until Armin spoke up.

“Erm, (name). Eren and I really have to go now. You see, Mikasa has started to get a little suspicious about where we’re disappearing to, and ‘swimming the perimeter’ doesn’t seem to cut it anymore.”

“I understand, but we’re still meeting here at noon tomorrow right? I convinced Clint and Peter to watch the stand for the day.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Eren chirped winking at you before they dived into the shallows and disappeared into the waves.

Erwin dived deeper with Mike and Nanaba by his side, into the tunnels that led deeper into the walls of the great abyss. Other tribal leaders were filtering into the main hall where the Grand Mermaid Council was being held.

Erwin could see Nile at the far side of the room making himself comfortable on his slab of stone. The trio took their seats and waited for the meeting to begin. Soon all the mermaids were present and Nile rose above everyone and cleared his throat.

“Attention! Attention please! It’s Sina’s turn to head the meeting so quiet down!”

The dull chatter died out leaving nothing but the sound of the currents and the occasional noises of some unknown creatures from the depths outside the tunnels.

“Thank you. Now as you all know we have been having a problem with communication among the settlements, particularly with the ‘Scouting’ group.” Nile pointedly looked at Erwin.

“I know you people must think that this isn’t that big of an issue, but without communication we can’t hold each other accountable.”

“I’m sorry, but I think I may have a more pressing issue to present.” Erwin commented.

Nile crossed his arms but allowed Erwin to continue.

“There has been a significant lacking in prey in our area. The normal quantity of fish has died down to where our mermaids are surviving only on crabs and clams. We fear there may be something putting the ecosystem out of balance. “

“It’s probably a pod of whales or some large group of fish passing through.” Nile brushed the concern off.

“Well for starters, whales eat krill and small fish, while the fish we are missing are more in larger to huge category.” Mike commented.

Nile bristled at Mike’s words. “You don’t know what’s causing it in the first place so why not wait it out and see if it passes?”

“We have waited and it seems to be chronic, so we came up with a theory.”

“Okay let’s hear it.”

“It’s not exactly the best situation and I hope we’re wrong.”

“Just spit it out.”

“Sirens.”

Nile paled while the rest of the mermaids began whispering to one another.

‘Sirens? Those things? What are they doing in these waters?’

‘I thought they died out.’

‘They can’t be back! Our elders are always telling stories about them and how they would attack mermaids and kill the young!’

Nile started to bang a rock against the stone table.

“That’s enough! The sirens went extinct in these waters long ago after our great grandfathers chased them out. This theory of yours is nothing but silly superstition and only serves to rile up nerves.”

“I certainly didn’t mean to make everyone upset about this.” Erwin assured the council leader.

Nile changed the subject back to communications and other trivial problems that could stand to have been ignored in the first place.

A couple hours later they all left the tunnels.

“Another pointless and useless meeting. Looks like we may be on our own with this problem.” Erwin sighed.

“We would definitely be able to deal with sirens if they are the source of the problem.” Mike assured their leader.

“But what I’m worried about is the kids. Pretty much our entire settlement is made up of teenagers. I don’t want to see them getting hurt or worse.” Nanaba commented.

“We’ll just have to deal with it like we always do.” Erwin pumped his tail harder as they made their way back to the resting houses for the night. In the morning they would head out for their ‘Scouting’ settlement.

Chapter Text

“Thank you Mr. McJohanson!” you called over your shoulder as you raced down to the docks. The bag full of food and some water jugs banged against your back as your bare feet slapped against the packed dirt road.

‘Eren and Armin should be here any minute! I have to hurry!’

You jumped down into the small rowboat, tossed the bag in the floor, and began to move the oar in a large circle to steer the dingy out to deeper waters. You managed to reached your usual meeting point without much trouble.

‘Great now all there is to do is wait.’

You picked up the bag and rifled through its contents to make sure you didn’t forget anything.

“Two apples, a bunch of grapes, some of Clint’s pistachio nuts, and three small jugs of water. Perfect.” You glanced down at your chest to admire the bronze key necklace that you bought from the merchant. Today would be the first time the mermaids would see it. You hoped that they would like it. The dull metal glinted in the warm sunlight and sent a reflection to the other side of the dingy.

You’d been waiting what seemed like forever. You were sweating way too much and the sun seemed to bear down even more scorching every time you thought about how sweltering it was.

‘Hurry up you dorks, I don’t want anyone seeing me floating not ten feet from shore like an idiot.’

That’s when you had a thought, what if they are waiting for the mystery boat to go away before surfacing?

“Oh crap!” you cried as you carefully made your way to the side of the boat and lowered your head in the water.

Not ten feet away was Eren. His fearful look disappeared when he recognized you and he quickly surfaced next to the dingy.

You brought your head out into the air again.

“(name) what are you doing in this thing?” Eren fumed, clearly frustrated at having to wait there for no reason.

“I thought we could go out away from the shoreline and prying eyes. That way we won’t have to worry about anyone happening across us swimming.”

“Well you could have told me about it.” He grumbled.

“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise!”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He conceded.

“Where’s Armin?” you asked as you looked for the blond mermaid.

“He had to stay behind.” He answered vaguely.

You accepted the answer, not wanting to push him on a subject he didn’t wish to talk about.

“Well that’s too bad cause I brought some food for us to share.”

Eren perked up, eyes alight. “Really?! What kind of food?! Can I see?!” He tried to pull himself up on the side of the boat which caused it to lower dangerously on one side.
“Whoa! Eren! Get off!” you exclaimed.

He immediately let go and the boat violently moved from side to side causing the food to roll out of the bag and around the wooden hull. You let out a sigh of relief as it steadied; if the boat had been flipped then Mr. McJohanson would have tanned your hide.

“Eren you can’t put a whole lot of weight on one side of this boat at once. You’ll capsize it and then I’ll be in really big trouble with my neighbor.”
“I’m sorry.”

He lowered his head and you couldn’t help but ruffle his hair. You fingers brushed through his soft brown locks and you were surprised to find the hair had no split ends or any damage to speak of.

Eren giggled softly and pulled you out of your trance. You pulled back and started to put the foodstuffs back in the bag. With that done, you pulled the drawstring tight and turned to talk to your friend.

“So I’m going to start rowing farther out to sea. I’ll be counting on you to direct me home once we’re done hanging out, okay?”

Eren gave a thumbs up and started to swim off. You picked up the oars and began to row the boat steadily out in the same direction.

After a few minutes you felt a lurch and turned around to see the rope that was used to anchor the boat to the dock was pulled taut. Your speed increased and you set the oars inside.

‘impatient idiot.’ You smiled to yourself.

You waited until it had been a few minutes after the shoreline disappeared before tugging on the rope to signal Eren to stop. Not wanting to hurt him, you waited until the mermaid surfaced before dropping the anchor to the ocean floor. Eren checked to see if the anchor hit and lodged in the seabed and reported to you that it was lodged safely between a couple rocks.

You stripped down to your swimsuit and jumped into the water to swim some more with Eren. He grabbed your hand as you took in a deep breath and led you down to the floor.
There were a large number of rocks and stones dotted around the landscape, and unlike before, the only colors ,other than the obvious blue, were blacks, browns, and the dark green moss.

Eren continued to pull you along and you seemed to be going around an outcropping of boulders. You slowly came around the edge and internally gasped at what lay before you.
A sunken ship lay on its side, a gaping hole showing why it was on the ocean bottom instead of sailing. You quickly swam up for air. You took several deep gasps of air before gulping in another deep breath and diving again.

There were wooden planks scattered everywhere, probably from the collision on the large boulders. You swam to the tilted deck and stepped down. You smiled as you walked along the ship’s deck, clutching to the railing to keep your balance.

It was morbidly funny you decided. Who knows how long it had been since human feet walked across the wooden planks; and who knows what secrets the old ship may still hold after her fateful drowning.

You eyed the captain’s door and swam over to pull it open. It wouldn’t budge, even when you put all of your strength into it. Eren joined you and placed his hands over yours gently.

“On three.” He said looking into your eyes. You nodded in agreement.

“one, two, THREE!!!” You both jerked at the door and the old wood splintered as the locked door broke open. Sand was stirred up from the sudden movement and shielded the room beyond from your sight momentarily.

You’re lungs were bursting and you swam to the surface again. Eren would follow you wherever you went; sort of like a protector and guide.

He waited patiently until you were ready to go down again. He was swimming in front of you and his tail was moving temptingly in front of you, within your reach.

You grabbed the fins of his tail and he pulled you down a few seconds before looking back at you.

“You want me to pull you?”

You smiled and nodded.

“Lazybones.” He grunted, but continued downward, towing you behind.

You reached the doorway, and the sand had settled since you were gone. You carefully poked your head into the doorway and let your eyes adjust to the dark room. Eventually the light that seeped through the window and the various areas of broken wood were enough for you to make out what lay within.

A large oaken desk was lying on its side against the lower end of the tilted room. An empty inkwell, some papers, a globe, and various charting tools were scattered across the floor. A map hung on the back wall that depicted the ocean and many different islands. There was another door to the right of it; you assumed that was where the captain slept.
Eren swam to the map, clearly interested in all the different islands and the route the ship had taken before its dive. You went to the desk and started to try the drawers. The first two contained nothing of interest, but the third contained seven doubloons.

‘Jackpot! My family can live off of this alone for months!’

You grabbed the coins and glanced over to Eren who was pulling the map down. You swam over and helped him get the fragile thing off the wall with minimal ripping. Then you both headed up to the surface.

“Can you take me back to the boat? I need to put these coins away.” You opened you hand to show Eren the doubloons.

“Whoa! Those are so cool! And yeah, just grab on and I’ll pull you back.”

Eren flicked his tail above the water and you seized the fin with one hand and held onto the coins tightly as Eren took off.

You reached the boat in no time and threw the coins and map in before trying to climb in yourself. The task was proving to be more difficult than you had thought as the boat kept leaning over too far for comfort and you had to let go again. You were holding onto the edge again when you felt Eren put your legs on his shoulders as he pushed you up and you managed to fall into the boat.

“Ow.” You muttered as the landing wasn’t exactly soft. You rubbed your head where you hit it on the wooden seat and sat up. Eren was grinning like he was a genius.

“Thanks Eren.”

“Of course.”

Your stomach rumbled which was your cue to serve lunch. You picked up the bag and pulled out the drawstring. You threw one of the apples at Eren, and he caught it with ease.
You looked at him questioningly, having expected him to drop it if his throwing skills were anything to go by. He smirked.

“I can catch things; I just can’t aim worth crap.” He answered your look.

You shrugged and took a large bite of the other apple, the juice dribbled down your chin onto the wood.

Eren copied you and took a cautious bite; his eyes widened at the juices spilling into his mouth and the fresh, crisp taste that the fruit had.

“Whart’s thish called?” he asked while chewing.

You swallowed before answering. “It’s an apple. A fruit that grows on apple trees.”

He gulped down his food. “That’s amazing! A tree makes food this good!”

“What do you usually eat?”

“Fish, crabs, shrimp, that sort-of thing.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Then you’d probably like to try more food found only inland huh?”

He got super excited again.

‘He’s almost like a puppy when he’s excited about something’ you mused to yourself.

“Would you bring more of your food?! I want to try every last one of them!” He declared.

You laughed. “Sure, next time I’ll bring you bread and cheese! It’s really good for snacking!”

You spent the next twenty minutes throwing pistachios and grapes at Eren; he was somehow able to catch everything in his mouth with ease. Eventually you realized that you couldn’t disappear forever and told Eren you would have to go back to the shore. He pulled you back until you were within thirty yards of the beach.

“Can I come back tonight?” Eren begged with his eyes.

‘well how can I say no to that?’

“Sure we’ll meet at the usual time.”

You made sure to give him the map from the ship before he dived down.

You rowed yourself to shore, making sure to tie up the boat to the docks.

You then made your way to your neighbors to let him know you brought his boat back. He was sitting on his porch when you came up.

“I tied your boat back up to the docks Mr. McJohanson. Thanks again for letting me borrow it.”

“Anytime sweetheart. You are more than welcome to use it again whenever you want.”

“That’s more than generous sir.”

“Nonsense, I have you to thank for my new buckles, so let’s call it even.” He chuckled as he proudly the displayed the light blue shell shoe buckles you sold him last week.
“Alright, thanks again!” you waved to him as you left to carve out more shells before sunset.

“Nice youngster, though I do wonder what use she has for that old thing.”

Mr. McJohanson dismissed the train of thought and continued to rock in his chair enjoying the salty breeze.

Chapter Text

Eren hid behind a group of boulders on the border of their territory. He was waiting for an opening so he could get back in unnoticed. Finally Gunter moved on around the far side of the large mountain of hardened lava that served as their home.

Eren darted forwards and managed get to the doorway before Petra came from the opposite side. He heaved a sigh of relief and went to the resting chamber to find Armin, Christa, Sasha, Connie, Marco, Jean and Annie.

“Where have you been all day Shrimp?” Jean taunted.

Eren ignored the jibe and sat beside Armin. His best friend looked tired beyond belief and Eren instantly felt regret for making him collect double gathering today so he could go meet up with (name).

“Care for a back massage?” he queried.

Armin smiled tiredly at him. “That’d be nice thanks.”

Eren set to work rubbing his shoulder blades and started to work out a knot just below the right one. As he was working he listened to the conversation.

“Man Levi has been cracking down hard on us since Erwin left for the council, when do you think he’ll be back?” Jean muttered to no one in particular.

“It usually takes him a day to travel there, so considering that the meeting was yesterday he’ll probably be home tonight.” Marco answered. Murmurs of agreement were heard around.

“Ooh ooh! Guess what Connie and I found!” Sasha exclaimed.

“A big fish?” Christa asked.

“Yep! A Sea Grouper!” Sasha licked her lips, “I can’t wait to eat it tonight!”

“It seems like whatever has been eating our food is letting up or leaving our area at last” Marco smiled.

Everyone seemed to be cheered by the thought except Annie who kept the same bored expression as always. Eren just couldn’t see what Armin sees in her. If he didn’t know any better he would have said that Annie and Levi were related; instantly a picture came to his mind’s eye of Levi raising a stubborn Annie. The thought made him chuckle.

Armin turned to look at Eren, wondering why he was laughing. He brushed him off motioning that it was nothing. If he said what he was thinking Annie might beat him up again. He shivered slightly at the memory of combat training and how Annie was able to slam him in the seabed with his tail bent over him in a comical way.

Just then Mikasa entered and spotted Eren and Armin. She swam over and started to speak quietly.

“Eren where have you been? I haven’t seen you all day and I noticed that Armin came back alone. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Mikasa. I just need some time alone, the siren problem has been eating away at me.” He answered smoothly, just like he practiced. Lying to his sister left a bad taste in his mouth, but he knew that she wasn't ready for the truth, not yet anyways.

She nodded and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “I understand, just don’t wander off alone too far. I can’t lose you too.”

“Wow just ignore me here.” Armin commented sarcastically.

Mikasa and Eren laughed.

“You too Armin! I don’t know what we’d do if you disappeared!” Mikasa added.

“You’d both managed to tear up this entire settlement and get yourselves killed in the process.”

Eren bore down on his back harder. “Hey now! We’re not that incompetent!”

“I’d give you two a week maybe not even that.”

The trio let out whoops of laughter and a small gathering of pearls landed around them as their mirth got out of hand.

Jean was glaring at Eren from across the room, and everyone else just looked on with smiles, even Annie’s features softened at Armin’s tinkling laugh.

After they calmed down Mikasa left with Christa for kitchen duty. Eren pulled Armin with him to leave the tunnels.

“Where are we going?”

“Just come on, I need your help.”

Armin quietly allowed himself to be dragged away and said nothing even as they passed beyond their territory and into unfamiliar waters.

Eventually Eren pulled them up to the surface and swam over a rock wall that was the lowest point in a small pool that had a waterfall pouring in from the far side.
“Eren this is too close to mankind.” Armin stopped at the wall.

“It’s fine I've been here hundreds of times. No one ever comes down here, well except for one.” Eren corrected himself remembering your first meeting with him.

“What do you need Eren?” Armin asked as he carefully made his way into the pool.

“I need you to help me perfect my singing.” Eren’s cheeks tinted a slight pink.

Armin raised an eyebrow. “Your singing?”

Eren shuffled awkwardly under his gaze.

“You've never had an interest in singing before. Why now?”

“Because I promised (name) I’d sing for her!” Eren blurted out.

The eyebrow rose higher. “really?”

Eren didn't answer.

Armin sighed. What was he going to do with this idiot?

“Alright then sing this.” Armin let out a small chord that sounded like trickling water and bells.

Eren tried to mimic the chord, but his voice cracked and screeched as he hit the high notes.

Armin winced. “We've got some work to do.”

Chapter Text

You were just buffing the head of a dolphin shell figurine when a shell whizzed by your head and hit the back door of the house.

You jerked and saw Eren out in the water waving his arms widely.

“Honey, what was that noise?” your father’s concerned voice sounded from inside.

“Uh, nothing dad! I, uh, slipped and fell against the door. But I’m okay!” you hurriedly replied. “And I fancy a walk about now, so I’ll be back late.”

“Okay, just be safe.”

“Always.”

You pelted down the hot sands into the cool waters. Eren seemed to be itching with excitement, but you couldn’t for the life of you think about what would make him this hyped up.

“Hey! I have a favor to ask you!” Eren started when you drew close.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“I was thinking maybe we could go hang out at the pool where we first met?”

‘Well that was unexpected, but you didn’t have any qualms with changing locations.

“I don’t see why not, but it’ll take me a bit longer to get there because of the roundabout way of traversing on land.”

Eren cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy.

“Why can’t you go in a straight line to the pool?”

“You see that line of trees.” You pointed to the clustered line of palms, pines, and oak trees. “That is a very dense forest. You can get lost really easily in there during the day, so I definitely will avoid it at dusk.”

He agreed and said a temporary farewell. You made your way back to the shore and grabbed your shoes and some grapes before leaving again.

“Forgot your food? How long is this walk going to be?” Your father looked at you with concern and right fully so; considering that the sun would be down in no time and dangerous animals still roamed the civilized island.

“Not long, a couple of hours at most, I just really need the air.” You pleaded.

He sighed. “Fine, but be careful, don’t make me worry about you.”

“I’ll be home annoying you guys before you know it.” You replied as the door closed behind you.

You had to follow the dusty road up the small hill for about a mile before reaching the market place. Then you followed the cobblestone road that led to the bridge connecting the island to the mainland for about a mile and a half. You could see the lanterns flickering and in front of them paced the silhouettes of the soldiers guarding the bridge.

‘Oh crap, forgot about them. How am I supposed to get past?’

You crouched down behind a large fern and waited to see if there would be an opening. After five minutes and no sign of a break in their walking pattern, you sat down in defeat and nearly yelped from the sharp prod in your rear the action produced.

You looked behind you on the ground at a good-sized stone.

‘Stupid rock, nearly made me alert the guar… wait a minute I have an idea.’

You picked up the offending hunk of stone, aimed, and threw it into the nearby thicket. It made a loud and clear crash when it landed drawing the guards’ attention. They moved off to investigate and you dashed from your cover, past the torches, into the darkness that enveloped the bridge.

It wasn’t long before you were picking your way through bushes to the pool. You drew back the foliage and revealed the pool.

The full moon shone brightly and highlights of its pure, white radiance shone in the rushing waterfall and the ripples in the pool. Eren was already there of course, his arms crossed behind his head in relaxation. He was turned away from you watching the stars dance in the night sky.

You were never one to pass up an opportunity when you saw one and began to sneak up behind the unsuspecting mermaid. You were within an arm’s length and gripped his shoulders tightly while shaking them.

“RAAWHG!”

Eren let out an unmanly shriek and kicked away into the pool to get away from the monster.

He popped up when he heard said monster guffawing, and glared at you as you held your stomach as you were double over letting out loud hoots of laughter.

“That wasn’t funny (name)!”

“Oh come on *laugh* that was awesome!*laugh* you should have seen your face!”

“This is serious!” Eren was trying to maintain a look of severity, but you could see his lips twitching.

You snorted but started to calm your laughter till a few chuckles were all that was left.

“So why’d you want to come back here?”

“It’s a secret.” He replied mysteriously.

“okaaay.”

“Just take a seat somewhere and get comfortable.” He snapped lightly, almost like a mother admonishing her child.

“Yes sir.” You replied mockingly.

You sat right by the waters edge and leaned back against the rock overhang that formed a rock wall that covered half of the pool’s sides.

Eren swam over to the rock wall between the pool and the ocean; said wall was sitting about a foot above sea-level.

Eren jumped up and adjusted himself until he was sitting comfortably facing you. Then he turned towards the moon and took a deep breath.

He started softly to wear you could barely hear him. Then his voice rose in volume as he gained confidence. The language he sung was strange, but beautiful. You found yourself hypnotized as you watched his face as he sung.

Never did he look away from the moon, but you did notice that his shoulders relaxed as he continued through the song. His voice wasn’t too deep or too high.

‘just right. It fits him.’

The climax of the song came and he really got into the notes, holding them out beautifully with vibrato. Then the words slowed and he ended with one last note that stretched into the waterfalls gurgling.

He turned back to you finally. His shoulders hunched and his eyes searching for anything to hint at what you thought of his performance.

You were shocked to say the least. Never in a million years would you have ever imagined to hear something so moving come from the goofy mermaid in front of you.

“Did- did you like it?”

“I loved it.”

Relief washed over his features.

“No that was amazing! What language was that? And where did you learn to sing like that?“

Eren laughed. “One question at a time!”

“Sorry but seriously what language was that?”

“It’s the old language of our people. The only records we have of it are in the form of songs.”

“It’s lovely.”

“I agree, we sing those songs to keep our old culture alive.”

“That’s really amazing. When did you learn it? When you were little?”

“Well I knew the song well enough since I was young, but I just recently learned how to sing it correctly.” He replied blushing.

‘Aww he’s embarrassed.’

“Well you did a great job! I am seriously impressed that you could have so much control over that dorky voice of yours.” You teased.

“Hey! It’s not dorky!” he defended.

You laughed as he jumped back into the pool to get up close. You didn’t notice how close he’d gotten until he grabbed your arm and yanked you into the water.
The liquid was surprisingly warm and you felt your muscles relax as your body got used to the temperature. You surfaced glaring at him. He was wearing the most infuriating smirk.

‘Cheeky brat.’

You splashed him.

‘Ha that wiped the smile off of his face.’

You got a face full of water.

And thus began your childish game of splashing each other till the other gave up.

“I surrender. I surrender!” Eren cried with his hands in front of him.

“Ha ha! I am victorious! Humanity one, Merkind zero.”

Eren made a face.

After a while you remembered the grapes and shared them with Eren.

He had just polished off seven grapes at once when you realized that you had been out far too long for comfort.

“Crap! Eren I gotta go! My dad must be worried sick!”

“Oh okay! I’ll see you later then!”

“Right Okay bye!”

Eren dived over the wall into the ocean and you started your long trek back home

~*~
Eren swam through the black waters quickly, not liking the quiet inkiness that surrounded him.

Their eyes watched the young mermaid move swiftly towards the mermaid settlement. Soon the plan will come into play, yes, soon.

Chapter Text

Well this sucked. Your dad was very upset with you when you had finally come home. As soon as you walked into the doorway he promptly placed you under house arrest. In other words, you could only leave the house to work the stand and one of your brothers had to accompany you whenever you gathered seashells.

You were glaring at the porridge in your bowl at the moment.

“You know I’m only doing this because I love you honey.” You dad clarified.

“Yeah I know.” You mumbled.

“Well you shouldn’t have been out that late! We were all worried, well except me. I was kinda hoping you’d been eaten by a giant snake.” Clint teased.

You flicked some of the gruel at him. It landed with a satisfying splat on his shirt.

“(name)!” he cried. “I was just kidding! Now I have to change!”

“oh boo hoo. What’s the big deal anyways?” you asked.

Clint straightened up. “It’s none of your business.”

“It’s that girl isn’t it? The classy one.” You poked.

He stiffened and looked at you warily.

“Yeah, pink girl!” you continued.

“Her name is Mary Davis, if you must know!” Clint huffed.

You nudged Peter in the side. “Hey Peter, Clint has a girlfriend.”

“Clint has a girlie! Clint has a girlie!” Peter chanted

“Shut up Peter!”

“So how is it Clint? Having to deal with snobby high society types?” you asked.

“She’s nothing like that! She’s actually really sweet and wants to open up a fund for the less fortunate!” Clint defended.

‘whoops, my bad.’

“Now you guys leave Clint alone, and Clint, don’t antagonize your sister.” Your father chided.

You got up to clean out your bowl and grabbed your shell gathering basket.

“And where are you going?” your father inquired.

“Out to get more shells. I’m running low on my supply. “

“Then Peter will go with you. Okay Peter?”

“Do I have to go?” Peter whined.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” you exclaimed.

Peter still didn’t look convinced, so you bent down to whisper in his ear.

“And you know, we might even find some hermit crabs.” You murmured.

Peter’s eyes lit up and suddenly he was dragging you out by one hand.

“Let’s go get some shells!”

You and your father laughed as the youngest of the family pulled and pushed you outside. He ran ahead to the water’s edge and began picking up shells to investigate for any living things hiding within.

You followed behind and bent down every once in a while to pick up a good looking shell. As you walked you would occasionally glance up at the sky and watch the clouds skitter across the blue expanse.

It had been a while since they had had a good rain, and yet the sky remained as clear as ever.

You heard a shriek of delight and saw that Peter had actually managed to find one. He held it up carefully and watched as it moved its legs in the air.

“You found one!” you ran up to look at the little creature.

Peter continued to play with it, and you could tell it was starting to get scared.

“Peter maybe you should let it go now. He wants to go back home to the ocean.”

He groaned a little but gently set the hermit crab back onto the sands and watch him scuttle across the grains into an oncoming wave, and then he was gone.

“Why can’t I keep one?” Peter asked.

“Because they’re wild creatures and they already have homes. It would be cruel to take them from the only life they ever knew just because they’re entertaining.”

“Oh, yeah that is kind of mean.” He murmured.

You ruffled his hair.

“Let’s go. You can find another one to play with for a while.”

Peter jumped up and was off again.

You stood and looked out to the vast waters and the peaceful horizon.

‘Funny, but I feel as if this is the calm before a storm.’

~*~

“So how’d it go?”

Eren jerked away from the mermaid that seemed to materialize from nowhere.

“Armin! Don’t do that!”

“Sorry, but I’m dying to know! Did you scare her off with that discordant voice of yours?” he teased.

“No”, Eren huffed,” She actually liked it.”

Armin beamed. “I knew she would. I taught you after all.”

“Yeah, thanks for that.”

“Sure.”

Eren went back to combing through the mess of tangles in his hair. Armin was the only one in the dressing room at the time. Everyone else was waiting for morning announcements.

Eren pulled out the last tangle and threw the comb down; he grabbed Armin’s arm and pulled him quickly to the meeting hall.

“About time you got up Jaeger.” Jean drawled.

“Shut up seahorse.” Eren muttered as he pushed his way up to where Mikasa was. He managed to get there just as Erwin swam up.

“I wanted all of you to know that the other settlements will not be aiding us with the siren problem.” He started. A few worried murmurs passed around the group of mermaids.

Erwin held up his hand for silence.

“That being said, I want all of you to continue to scavenge in groups and be cautious. Let any of your squad leaders know if you see anything suspicious or possibly dangerous. Be careful and have a good day.” He finished.

“You are dismissed.” Levi called out.

The groups split up a bit different this time around; Mikasa had joined Armin and Eren for today’s scavenge outing.

“I don’t understand why you have to come too! Armin should be plenty!” Eren whined as they swam off in a southeastern direction, keeping far from most of the siren activity areas.

“You two have been hanging out an awful lot recently and disappearing suddenly. I want to make sure you don’t get hurt.” Mikasa answered calmly.

“Well we are best friends so I think it would be normal to do stuff like that.” Eren grumbled.

Armin’s laugh tinkled in the water.

The trio continued on and reached the far outreaches of their boundary line.

“We haven’t tried this reef yet, and it looks well enough populated that we won’t throw off the balance of the ecosystem by taking some of the creatures.” Armin mused aloud.
“In other words, TIME TO HUNT!” Eren cheered as he dived headfirst into a hole that led to deeper caverns, knife in hand. “JAEGER!” He chanted as he moved swiftly in and out of the multiple holes in the rocks and ocean floor.

“I’ll go over there, make sure he doesn’t get hurt.” Mikasa muttered and swam off to the left.

Armin joined Eren with much less enthusiasm and started to hunt for the fish Eren had managed to scare off in his excitement.

Eren was past the caverns and about thirty feet away from the bulk of the coral reefs. He spotted a tasty looking sturgeon fish darting to and fro a little ways off. He swam down behind a boulder and watched intently, waiting for it to get close.

Then he saw a shadow beyond his target; he glanced up and froze. It was a hammerhead.

The creature was moving towards the reef, but it looked as if it hadn’t spotted the trio yet.

‘Crap this isn’t good. I have to warn Armin and Mikasa.’

Eren slowly backed away, keeping the beast in sight. Suddenly it’s head shifted and it was staring at the young mermaid.

Eren clenched his knife and let out a war-like cry as he charged the shark, hoping to give his friends some time to get to safety.

“Eren!” Armin cried from nearby.

The shark swam towards Eren, it’s head reared back to attack. Eren got close and managed to change directions and passed the sharp maw by mere inches.

“Run!” He yelled.

“Eren get out of there!” Mikasa cried.

The shark had turned around and charged him again. Eren spiraled to the side, the fins pushing him off balance.

“It’ll get us all if I do that! Now run!”

Armin surveyed the area and spotted a small cave nearby with two openings, one large the other would be too small for the hammerhead.

“I have an idea! Eren lead it into that cave to your right!” He called out.

“Got it!”

The hammerhead was getting angry and recklessly followed the mermaid into the cave. Eren barely left the smaller exit when the monster reached it and lodged it’s body into the hole. Being unable to swim backwards, the beast was stuck.

Eren circled around and re-entered the cave with Mikasa and Armin behind. He went to stab at the shark from behind, but it thrashed suddenly and slammed him against the rock wall.

“Oof!” Eren grunted and then fell to the seabed.

“Eren!” Armin rushed over to his friend while Mikasa darted forward and stabbed straight through the creature’s heart.

Eren was awake, just a bit woozy and he was bleeding from a large gash he got from hitting the jagged rock.

“We gotta get him out of here.” Armin fretted.

Mikasa gently picked up her adoptive brother and put him over her shoulder.

As they swam out, Eren eyes focused on a large chest in the corner of the cavern, the light rays briefly shone on the rotted wood and iron box before his eyes got blurry and he closed them in favor of sleep.

Chapter Text

House arrest or not you were still going to meet up with Eren and Armin. You clambered out your window down the sands and saw a head already there, bobbing along with the waves.

“Hey Ere- oh Armin? What’s up?” You corrected yourself as you saw the golden bowl-cut in the moonlight.

“I’m afraid Eren won’t be able to make it for a few days.”

“What? Why? What happened to him?!”

“We were hunting this morning and a shark attacked us. Eren got hurt fighting it off. He’s not too badly injured but we’re not allowing him to exert himself too much until he heals up properly.”

“Oh my gosh! That’s horrible! But he’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, he hit his head and has a few scratches, but he should be back up here annoying you within a few days.”

You laughed with relief. ‘That’s good; it would be just my luck if one of my new friends got seriously hurt.’

“So was he being an idiot when he was injured?”

Armin smirked. “You already know him so well, he was trying to fight it alone and give myself and Mikasa a chance to escape.”

You sighed and put you head in your hands. ‘That moron.’

“Armin! What are you doing?!” A voiced shrieked out.

You jolted and looked up to see a black-haired mermaid sending you the best death-glare you had ever had the unfortunate luck of receiving.

“Mikasa?! How’d you find me?!”

‘Mikasa…. Eren’s sister?’

“I followed you and a good thing too! What do you think you’re doing?! Up on the surface alone! Talking with a human no less! I’d expect this of Eren, but not you!”

“Um, if I could interject. I don’t mean any harm. I honestly just enjoy talking to Eren and Armin, nothing more.”

“So Eren’s been coming up here too?” Mikasa muttered.

‘oops.’

“(name) is safe Mikasa! Eren and I have been visiting her for the past month!” Armin argued as she pulled on his arm.

“How do you know she isn’t trying to capture you, use you to lead her to our settlement?” She started really tugging the blonde mermaid out towards the ocean again.

“Look I know that it’s kind of hard to ask of you, but could you please trust me? Your own brother believes that I pose no threat as does one of the smartest mermaids in your settlement (Eren had bragged on Armin’s behalf many times before)! You defended.

Mikasa had a critical look in her eye, but stilled her efforts to take Armin back. You took it that she was open to listen.

“I would also love for you to join Eren and Armin on their trips up here to meet up and talk with me! I know how reckless Eren can get and you could be here to supervise and judge if I really pose a threat or not. I won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“Why are you so keen on meeting up with mermaids when you have your own people to keep you busy?” She asked.

“Eren and Armin were my first friends here, and I really enjoy their company. Not that many people in this city share my thoughts or views and so it’s hard to make friends here. But mermaids have fresh insight on the world! Eren helped me come up with the idea for my shell carving business. Without him I’d be miserable, stuck doing embroidery. Plus it’s really cool finding out about a whole world that I didn’t know existed!”

“I want to know more about you. Tell me about who you are and what you do besides have night meetings with my friends.”

She moved onto the sand to lay down in anticipation of a long conversation and Armin joined her.

‘Geez Eren wasn’t kidding…. But I respect her for being so cautious in this situation’

You proceeded to tell Mikasa about your life so she could get a better reading on you. She kept her interruptions to a minimum and only interjected when she didn’t understand a term you used or when she agreed with something you said.

Armin was also listening intently; a lot of this was new information for him as well. It was a little embarrassing to have two mermaids’ full attention on you and you squirmed around a bit as you talked about some random things in your life till you got used to talking to them.

“I think I’ve got a pretty good idea on what kind of person you are.” Mikasa commented as you finished describing your shell business.

‘Thank goodness. I was almost out of material!’

You looked at her questioningly as she made her decision.

“I don’t believe you are a threat, but I do want to meet up with you again with Eren and Armin just to be sure nothing changes.” She finally reveals.

“That’s fine! And maybe we could be friends too?” you added hoping to put in a good view of you in her eyes.

She allowed a small smile before it disappeared back into her neutral expression.

“Maybe, time will tell.”

“Well I’ve got plenty of time!” you answered cheerily.

She nodded to show that she acknowledged your quip before continuing.

“I can’t stay any longer tonight; I have to get back to Eren.” Mikasa responded before shuffling back into the ocean.

Armin followed suit and shot you a quick smile before following the dark-haired mermaid. Two tails, one blue the other black flashed above the waves before disappearing.

You let out a huge sigh of relief when they were gone.

‘That was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be! At least she knows me now…’

You stood carefully because your legs had fallen asleep from sitting still for too long; eventually you made it back to the house and were able to sneak back in without being caught.

You lay on your bed and couldn’t stop yourself from worrying about Eren. You knew it was useless to fret about it, but you were anxious all the same.

It took you much longer than usual to fall asleep that night.

Chapter Text

Apparently you had fallen asleep because now you were waking up to someone banging on the front door. You rolled over and waited for one of your brothers to get it, but you didn’t hear anyone moving around in the house.

You sighed and dragged yourself out of bed and to the door. Whoever was there was still slamming their fist against the cheap driftwood as if they didn’t realize how early it was.
You opened the door.

“Good morning my dearest (name)!”

You let out a groan.

“Charles, what are you doing here so early in the morning?”

“Forgive me, but I wanted us to spend the day together and couldn’t wait to meet up with you!”

‘Well this is the first I’ve heard of this…’

“Come in I guess.”

You gestured for him to follow you into the kitchen and then went back to your room alone to change.

As you readied yourself for a day of torture you glanced through your window and thought back to last night.

‘I hope that Mikasa and I can get along eventually. I’d really hate for her to dislike me since I like Eren.’

You froze.

‘like as in we’re friends, not in THAT way!’ you thought frantically. You felt your cheeks heating up at the thought.

You took a few moments to compose yourself before returning to the kitchen.

Charles was standing where you left him.

“You know you are welcome to sit down at our table.” You commented.

“Yes, but I’d much rather not thank you.”

‘okayyyy.’

He offered his arm and you begrudgingly took it as the two of you walked outside.

The day went just as you’d thought it would. He spent hours on end talking about himself, his family, his riches, his boat, and his plans to make himself even richer than ever.

Blah blah blah.

Once you had been dragged across his family’s estate and along their private beach, he finally decided that he had kept you from your shell stand for too long and promptly escorted you there.

“I had fun today (name).” he brought your hand to his lips and you felt like retching.

“The pleasure, as always, is mine.” You courteously replied.

~*~

“So I met her.”

Eren felt his heart go from its normal beat to racing from those four words.

“Wh-who?”

Mikasa put her hand over his.

“(name). I talked to her for a long while last night after I followed Armin.”

Eren groaned.

“Please don’t tell Levi or Erwin Mikasa! They’ll never let me out of their sight again!”

“I think she’s nice.”

Eren blinked as that registered in his mind.

“You like her? You mean you’re not mad?”

“Oh I’m furious. But mostly I’m hurt that you would keep something this big from me.”

The guilt came crashing down on him, and it forced his head to lower with shame.

“Eren.”

She didn’t say anything until he raised his eyes to meet hers. She was staring at him with sadness.

“I’m sorry Mikasa.” He managed to choke out. “I just didn’t want to be kept from going to the surface.”

“this was my fault too. I shouldn’t be so hard on you, but can you blame me? For hanging onto you so tightly?”

“I know me you and Armin are all each other has; I was being selfish for not including you in this.”

“I’ll try to be more relaxed about you doing stupid things.” She deadpanned.

Eren snorted and punched her shoulder lightly.

She pushed him back, careful to avoid his injuries.

“Anyways, It’s about time I changed your bandages.” She started to unwind the seaweed wrap they had placed on his head and arms.

Eren grimaced as some of the vegetation clung to the dried clots of blood. There were two major gashes, one coming out of his hairline and the other from the middle of his back to underneath his left arm.

“They’re both healing up nicely. You should be able to leave the infirmary in about a week.”

Eren grumbled at that. “I don’t need to be pampered. I can leave in a day or two and be fine.”

Mikasa wrapped the seaweed tightly around his arm, causing him to squawk.

“You’d risk re-opening your wounds and attracting sharks that way. You will stay in bed until you are fully healed.”

Eren was still glaring at the far wall.

“For me? Just so I know you’re okay?”

He sighed. She had him.

“Fine I’ll stay a bit longer, but I’m not gonna wait until there’s nothing left either!”

“Fair enough.”

“I’m just worried that (name) will be upset.”

“She’ll be fine. Armin told her about your condition last night.”

Knowing that (name) knew he got injured by a shark was a little embarrassing for the young mermaid and he felt his cheeks grow red in shame.

If Mikasa saw, she didn’t mention it.

“I’ll be joining Armin on his trips to the surface so he’s not in danger while going to and from there.”

“Okay.”

“I think you should rest now.” Mikasa began to leave the infirmary.

“Mikasa.”

“Yes, Eren?”

“Could you pass on a message to (name) for me?”

Chapter Text

The sun was beating down on you and it seemed like no one had stopped by your stand for hours.

‘I want to go do something, but I don’t know what I want to do….’

You let your head droop and rested your eyes for a minute.

“Oh um, (name)? (name!”

You felt someone shaking your shoulder and bolted up in your seat.

“What? I’m awake!” you mumbled still fighting off the hazy dreams.

Mary stood in front of you smiling sweetly.

“Hey uh… Mary! What’s up?” you asked quickly.

“Oh I thought I’d stop by your stand and see if you had anymore pieces that I’d like, but it seems to me that you’re having a rather long and boring day.”

You sheepishly rubbed the back of your head.

“Good guess.” You chuckled.

She giggled. “Well do you think you’d want to go visit the town on the mainland with me? I wanted to go and get some new dresses, but I just hate going alone. I totally understand if you’re too busy though!” she added with concern for offending you.

“Actually that sounds like a lot of fun.” You replied. “Just let me pack things up here and we can go!”

She practically beamed. “Oh thank you so much! We’ll have so much fun!”

You gathered up the shells quickly and Mary showed you were to store them in her carriage. Your eyes had to adjust to the darkened coach and you sat blindly, hoping that you weren’t in the way of anything. Mary entered and sat across from you as her valet closed the coach door. Moments later you hear the sound of the reins being snapped and the horses started up in a brisk trot.

Your eyes finally adjusted and you took a good look around the interior. There where maroon curtains drawn back at the two windows that were in the door frames on either side, and the seats were made of a ruddy leather.

“Is this your first time in a carriage?”

You didn’t realize that you were staring and snapped your open mouth shut.

“Uh yeah actually. It’s really exquisite.”

“Thank you. This is my private carriage and our driver is my personal valet, Anthony, he’ll accompany us as we shop.”

“Oh alright.”

“You might want to get comfortable though. The town is a good two hours ride away.”

“Well at least the scenery is nice.”

“I agree.” Mary murmured.

You gazed out the window to the sea and listened to the steady clopping of the horses shoes on the stone path.

~*~

You stepped down from the carriage after Mary and waited for her to tell Anthony where to meet them after he parked the carriage in the town stables.

You immediately noticed that there was a lot more hustle and bustle in this town in comparison to the tiny market where you usually worked. Children were laughing and running around while their mothers were shopping and the men were working at their trades. It was a lot louder too.

“(name) I was thinking we could go into this shop first.” Mary suggested. She grabbed your hand and tugged you towards a dress shop.

You sneezed as soon as you entered. The building was sitting under a haze of heavy perfume and your nose tingled and itched from the overpowering, musky smell.

“Oh dear! I’m sorry (name)! I forgot that this shop has a bit of an overwhelming atmosphere!”

“No kidding.” You cracked a smile to show her you held no ill will.

The two of you were quietly browsing until a busty and rather loud sales woman came up and insisted on helping us be fitted for new dresses.

“Oh I’m not buying any dresses!” you quickly corrected her, “I’m just here to keep my friend company.”

“Hm.” She sniffed. “Well I can certainly help you young miss.” She stated to Mary.

“Thank you. I was hoping to get one or two dresses. My mother says some of my older ones are out of fashion.”

“Your mother is a smart woman, this way!”

You were still having a hard time breathing and grabbed Mary’s hand.

“I think I need to stand outside for some fresh air.” You whispered.

She smiled. “Okay. Anthony should be outside to keep you company. I won’t be long.”

With that you ran outside and took a huge gulp of air as soon as sunlight hit your face again. You looked to the left of the door frame and saw Anthony leaning against the building with a smirk on his face.

“Not used to ladies perfume eh?”

You joined him against the wall.

“Not at all. I’ve never had to deal with that stuff in my life! My lungs are much more suited to clean open air.”

“Aye, as are mine. M’lady shouldn’t be too long; this is the shop she spends the least amount of time at.”

‘Well that doesn’t make sense. We came to shop for dresses and this is the only dress shop in the market as far as I can tell.’

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence and enjoy the crisp breeze that ran through the town.

Anthony was right. It wasn’t long before Mary emerged with two large boxes. Anthony was by her side and taking the boxes from her before you could blink.

‘They must shop like this a lot if they are this practiced at it.’

Mary and I walked off to browse some more shops while Anthony put away the boxes in the carriage.

You caught a whiff of something grilled and covered in butter and stopped momentarily, your mouth watering.

“Are you hungry? I could do with something in my belly right about now as well.” Mary commented and began to follow the scent. You were lead to a small stand selling slightly charred shrimp, dripping in butter and lemon juice.

Mary bought two servings and you walked over to a strip of grass to sit and enjoy your lunch.

“Thank you for the meal. I’ll pay you back as soon as I get home.”

She waved her hand at you lazily.

“It’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.”

‘Is it just me or is she getting less proper by the second?’

Just then Mary untucked her legs and stretched them out, much farther apart than a lady should. Then she took her hair out of the severe bun it had been in all day and sighed as her hair fell around her shoulders.

“That’s better eh?” she didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Does it ever bother you? The roles women are made to fit in? Like we have to do needlework and wear nice dresses and be pretty and not say anything of importance.” She glanced over at you.

“Uh yeah actually. Everyday.”

“Yeah me too. That’s why I like to go shopping here, because my family isn’t here to keep forcing me to be a respectable lady.”

‘She’s just like me! This is great!’

You chatted with Mary about all sorts of things then. The conversation ranged from society’s rules to the state of the people in general to your favorite hobbies.

“By the way (name) I haven’t seen you very often and Clint tells me that you keep disappearing for hours on end. Do you have a lad that you’ve been sneaking off to see?” Mary gave a very undignified eyebrow wiggle.

You laughed heartily.

“Well yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Well I can understand that, and I don’t blame you for not falling for that Charles character.”

“What do you know about him?”

“Other than the fact that he’s an ass? His family is much richer than mine, a lot ruder too. I also know that he’s convinced himself that you are his future wife.”

You plopped down on your back and groaned.

“I hate my life.”

“If I were you I’d keep your secret boyfriend a secret. Charles is the jealous type, and has one of the worst tempers I have ever seen.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but he’s not my boyfriend.”

Mary perked up at that.

“So there is a guy that you’re running off to see?”

‘crap.’

You felt your face reddening again.

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t tell anyone, not even Clint.”

“Oh yeah. How are you and Clint doing? He never tells us anything.”

Now it was Mary’s turn to blush.

“W-we’re fine. He kissed me the other night.”

“Good for you! I’m really glad that he’s become so attached to you. He’s never had a long-term girlfriend that actually cares about having a relationship with him.”

“Really?” Mary smiled.

“Yeah, you’ll be good for him.”

Mary stretched out before sitting up and grabbing your arm.

“Come on! Let’s go try on some clothes that are actually comfortable!”

You both ran off with Anthony in tow and spent the next few hours trying on trousers and vests and shirts. You both received odd glances, but for the most part people left you alone.

In the end Mary bought you a new set of trousers and a white cotton shirt which she also insisted was not to be paid back.

It was late afternoon by the time the carriage was heading back home.

As you approached the island you remembered that your father had placed you under house arrest.

‘whoops. I’m so going to get killed now.’

“What’s wrong?”

Mary looked concerned as she pulled her hair back up in a bun. You sighed already hearing the disappointed tone that your father would use.

“I’m actually not supposed to go anywhere but the stand and the house. I was out late and my father got worried.”

“Out late? With your mysterious boy?”

“Yeah. Time got away from me.”

“So are you going to see him again tonight?” She asked.

“No, he got injured and can’t come meet me until he has healed.”

“I’m sorry about that, but you better be careful. From what I heard, Charles is getting impatient from waiting for you to fall for him or should I say his wealth and status. He might get a bit more aggressive, so that boy of yours better get a move on.”

“Would you stop suggesting that we’re a thing? We’re only friends!”

“Uh-huh.”

You turned your attention to the setting sun. Waves of orange light shone out as the ball of fire sunk slowly into the ocean.

‘I don’t know where she gets the idea that we are romantically involved! Me and Eren are only friends.’
You don’t know why your heart felt heavy at that thought.

Mary dropped you off at your house.

“You can always contact me (name). If you ever need help, I’ll be there for you!”

You waved as the horses took off.

“Thanks Mary! Bye!”

You managed to lug the boxes and shells to your room without encountering anyone, but you weren’t so lucky when you tried to leave again for the back door.

“Hold it.”

You froze and turned around to face your father.

“Hey dad. What’s up?”

“Young lady where on earth have you been? I was worried sick!”

“I’m sorry. Mary invited me on a surprise shopping spree in the next town over and I went with her and I just got back and I’m sorry.” You rambled hoping that your punishment wouldn’t be too harsh.

Your father’s face softened.

“Mary is the first person you’ve hung out with since we moved here. How can I get mad when you were out getting to know people and integrating yourself?”

“So I’m not in trouble?” you asked hopefully.

He grabbed the bridge of his nose. “No you’re not in trouble, but if you do this again without letting me know that you’re going to disappear, then you will be in mound of trouble.”

“Thanks dad!” you ran up and kissed his cheek before bolting out the door.

“Wait where are you going now?!”

“Just to the beach! I’ll come back in a bit!”

Your father shook his head.

“What am I going to do with that free-spirited girl of mine?” he muttered to himself.

~*~

“Eren has a message for me?”

Mikasa nodded and continued.

“He told me to tell you that he’s sorry that he can’t see you especially after he sung to you and hopes that you’ll wait for him to get better again.”

“Well of course I will! And could you tell him that I really loved his singing! I know I already said it, but I’m still amazed he sounded that good.”

“Well he did have help.” Armin muttered.

You turned your attention to the suddenly bashful mermaid.

“What Armin? You helped Eren practice to sing for me?”

“Yeah a little bit.” He conceded.

‘Why on earth would Eren take time to practice singing for me? It’s not like I’m famous or anything.’

“Anyways, I’m sorry but we really need to get back. There’s been some disturbing siren activity recently and I don’t feel comfortable traversing these waters at night.” Mikasa interjected.

“Siren activity? You mean there are some of those creatures here? Like near this island?” you exclaimed.

“Yes. Eren and Armin haven’t told you about this?” Mikasa asked glancing at Armin.

You looked at him too expecting and explanation.

“E-eren said that it would be best if we didn’t worry you. I thought we should tell you but he made me not say anything.” Armin squeaked.

‘leave it to that idiot to make sure I have no idea what kind of trouble he’s in.’

“Okay. I’ll just give him a piece of my mind when he gets back.” You muttered.

Mikasa smiled. “I could transfer a message if you want to give him a piece now.” She offered.

“No that’s fine. I think it’s best if I tell him in person anyways.”

She nodded and then dived down. Armin followed quickly and left you alone again, but funnily enough you didn’t feel alone. Now that you and Mary had established some sort of relationship you felt a little more grounded.

You remembered her warnings.

‘Charles is only going to get worse, great.’

Chapter Text

“A party?”

You glanced at Clint questioningly. He shrugged his shoulders with a small smile on his face. You turn your attention back to the flyer your brother brought home.

“It says that Charles Jacobs is hosting his 21st birthday party at his family manor.” You skimmed down the page. “Only those with high ranking allowed with the following exceptions: The (last name) family. Of course.” You muttered.

“This is great news! Being invited to your boyfriends’ party means that I’ll be able to dress up and get in the good books of Mary’s parents!” Clint enthused.

‘Fantastic’

The date mentioned on the flyer was that evening. ‘talk about no notice!’

Evening was beginning to fall and you fidgeted as your father helped you with your hair. You didn’t want to impress Charles to be clear. You just didn’t want to look like an exception in front of the “high society” folks.

“Be still honey, so I can get this hair up into a bun.” Your father murmured.

“Sorry.”

You glanced at the ocean; that seemed to calm you a bit, knowing your friends were in those waters.

‘but so are the sirens’ your inner voice whispered.

You winced.

“Sorry sweetie I’m trying to be gentle.”

“No, you’re fine dad; I was just thinking about something…”

“Well you shouldn’t worry. Tonight will go by fine. Just remember to breathe and keep a cool head. “

You looked at your father in the mirror and he looked back at you smiling warmly.

Your tensed muscles relaxed.

“You’re right. I’m fine.”

Walking into the upper hills of the island’s residency was like walking into a museum. Everything was beautiful, and made perfectly, and guarded. You felt like any second the uniformed men would grab you and drag you off to be hanged or some other horrid thing, even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

You walked closer to your father and brothers as they followed the groups of wealthy families walking to one of the largest manors in the area.

You could hear classical music coming from within the ballroom as your family stepped through the entrance and had their coats taken by the Jacobs’ family butler.

The ballroom was already full of people that just oozed “privileged”. A large chandelier adorned the ceiling and across the room a small band was playing an elegant piece.

“(name)!”

You turned quickly and grinned.

“Mary!”

Your newest friend ran up and gave you a quick hug. Then she proceeded to grab your arm and drag you towards the banquet laid out for the guests.

“You have GOT to try this stuff!”

Before you lay a range of mouthwatering foodstuff that went from seared salmon to what looked like chocolate and a number of things you’ve never seen before. Mary obviously wanted you to try some of the black stuff in the bowl in front of you. Upon further inspection the bowl was filled with thousands of tiny balls.

You grabbed a small scoop of black balls and popped it in your mouth. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly good either.

“What did they do? Package seawater in small balls?”

She started laughing heartily until an elderly woman coughed loudly and sent a pointed glare her way.

“Sorry I don’t mean to laugh, but what you just ate is called caviar.” She continued when she noted your blank expression. “Fish eggs.”

You instantly felt sick. The only way these could be obtained was by cutting open live, pregnant fish and harvesting the eggs. You were horrified and it showed.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry (name), I didn’t think it would bother you!” Mary apologized.

“It’s fine, I just need a moment to sit down.”

Mary led you to a nearby set of chairs and you each sat down.

“So is that a quirk you rich people do?”

Mary giggled and shook her head before leaning towards you.

“Honestly I don’t know why it’s considered sophisticated to eat them.” She whispered smiling.

“Me either. It seems cruel to me. “

“Well they’re just animals.” A booming voice sounded behind them. You both jumped slightly and turned to face the birthday boy (or should you say man? ) himself.

“But then again females are always the more sentimental and overemotional types, so you can’t be blamed for not perceiving the finer points of society.” He continued.

‘Could he get any more charming?’

“I side with (name) on this. It just seems wrong to kill innocent creatures so brutally for a side dish.”

“Mary Davis wasn’t it? Your family had to sell eighty percent of your business to mine recently, and it is only by my family’s good graces that your family isn’t bunking with the commonwealth and scraping out a living. I would be careful on how I spoke to my superiors; or that can be easily changed.”

Leaving the threat hanging Charles smiled to you and none to gently pulled you from your seat and led you to the center of the room. You looked back to Mary whose face was going from pale to a beet red.

“That was completely unnecessary Charles.” You whispered vehemently not wanting to make a scene.

“How would you know what is and isn’t necessary? You know nothing about business and therefore any opinion you form on the subject would be deemed invalid.”

‘Okay seriously?’

Charles moved your hands in the proper positions before beginning the dance. The two of you fell into the rhythm that many of the other couples had already started, and you twirled across the dance floor. However you weren’t exactly versed in how to do the waltz so most of the time you were stepping on Charles toes instead of the hardwood floor.
You would be stuttering apologies for your horrid footwork, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t get a little bit of satisfaction from every pained grunt you caused to come from the colossal prick that had taken a fancy to you.

Charles lasted the entire song before releasing your hand.

“So silly of me to forget my manners. I must go and speak with all of my other guests. Enjoy the party (name).”

He kissed the back of your hand. You wiped it off on your dress as soon as he turned away.

‘Good riddance’

The feeling that you were being stared at was slowly building as the night went on. You would even catch some of the partygoers staring at you and speaking in hushed whispers. You ignored it the best you could.

“Gentleman and ladies. This next song is for the couples. Would the rest please make space on the floor?” The leader of the small band announced.

‘oh shit.’

You knew Charles would come searching for you. Looking around for some sort of plan your eyes landed on Peter.

“Peter take my hand, we’re going to dance.”

“But this is for couples!” he whined as he resisted you pulling him out from the crowd forming on the walls of the room.

“But we are a couple! A couple of siblings! Besides don’t you want to look good in front of that girl you’ve been staring at all night?” you teased.

Peter ears turned pink. “O-okay.”

The two of you made your way to the floor. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Charles watching you a frustrated look on his face.

You stopped and turned to Peter who’s head barely reached your chest, and grabbed his hands and placed one on your hip and held the other before the band strummed up a slow song. You lead Peter and began to sway side to side. The other couples were spinning across the dance floor around you, but they all managed to avoid crashing into your simple dance.

Your eyes shifted to the side and saw the girl Peter was crushing on watching him, entranced.

“Hey Peter, I think you’ll have no trouble getting her to talk to you now.” You whispered.

He beamed up at you. “Thanks (name)!” He gave you a small squeeze as you spun in a lazy circle.

As soon as the song ended and the band moved back into faster paced music, Charles was by your side.

“Mind if I cut in?” he asked Peter who shook his head quickly and ran to the side.

Charles took your hands and led you to the front of the room.

You were suddenly nervous. Short breaths barely kept you conscious as you were led forward.

‘Something’s not right. I don’t know what it is but… I can… feel it’

Before you knew it, you had reached the front and Charles was ringing some silverware on a glass to gather the crowd’s attention.

‘What am I doing up here?!’

All of their gazes were boring into you.

‘Stop looking at me. Please stop looking at me’

“I want to thank you all for coming to my party, and for all of your wonderful gifts that I have yet to open.”

You felt like you were melting.

“I know that it must seem greedy, but I ask one more gift. However this one is from the woman next to me.”

He turned towards you and grabbed your hand before falling to one knee. Your body froze and the back of your neck broke out in a cold sweat.

‘no’

“(first name) (last name).”

‘please no’

“Will you stay with me…”

‘no no… no…’

“…for the rest…”

‘NO! NEVER! NO!!!!’

“…of your life?.”

Your throat was dry and gasps of delight were heard from the crowd now waiting on bated breath for your answer.

“never.” You whispered.

Charles face went from proud and sure to confusion.

“What did she say?”

“Did she say yes?”

People were murmuring with concern when neither of us made a move.

“Never.” You said louder. More people gasped, but this time with shock and horror.

“W-what?” Charles stuttered.

“I would rather die than be stuck with you!” You cried and jerked your hands from his grasp.

He stood quickly. His face was red and face contorted with pure rage.

“How dare you raise your voice at me!”

You backed away from him.

“I’ve never enjoyed your company and I am forever done with you!”

You started to move towards the crowd with the intent to leave this nightmare. A hand grabbed your arm and jerked you back. Without a thought you flung your free hand back and hit your attacker hard. You turned and saw your hand print etched in red on Charles’ cheek.

Your brain might be slow to process things most of the time; this was not one of those times. You knew you had to get out of there fast. His grip had loosened in shock and you managed to pull away and start running through the crowd, pushing and shoving people out of your way. As you rushed past, you caught a glimpse of your family and Mary. Your father had tears in his eyes and your brothers were staring in shock, except Ryan whose face was filled with regret.

"(name)!" Mary called after you.

“Guards catch her and bring her back to me!” You heard Charles scream from behind you.

You rushed through the doors and dug your feet in the gravel to pelt forward across the yard and through the gates. Your feet were falling behind the speed that you were going down the steep hill that led to the common districts, and you almost fell more than once, but managed to get to the bottom.

The yelling behind you was getting louder and you knew you had to hide to throw them off. Your eyes alighted on the edge of the forest. You hesitated. The sun had set long ago and the full moon was the only source of light. Surely such dim light wouldn’t prove much aid in the thick limbs and boughs of the forest, but what choice did you have?

You steeled yourself and ran between the trunks of the trees. The darkness consumed your sight instantly and you put your hands in front of you in a vain attempt to prevent yourself from slamming into the oaks and palms you were fleeing past.

You could see and hear nothing but the blood rushing in your ears and your rasping breath as you went past your limit, but kept running. You felt tears fall from your eyes and you quickly pushed them down. There would be time for self-pity later. You had to run.

Chapter Text

The branches whipped around your head and you could feel the sting from them across your face and arms.

‘How did everything go so wrong so fast?!’

You felt as if your lungs would explode. Your legs were numb and the chill of the night did nothing to cool the overheating furnace you had become. What must have been ten minutes, seemed like hours.

You broke through the tree line and recognized the road leading down to your street. You gave a last burst of speed and managed to get to your door in minutes.

You pushed into the threshold and limped to your room.

‘I can’t stay long. The guards will look here first.’

You grabbed a bag and began to stuff clothing, you shell carving tools, and other necessities inside. Finally you grabbed your brush. Looking at the carved surface made you pause. Your heart is heavy. You’ll never see your family again, not if you want to live.

Holding back the tears you added that to your rucksack and moved to the kitchen for food and water. You couldn’t take much; your family had to survive too. As you had put the last bit of bread they could spare in the bag, you heard a knock. You froze.

‘The guards wouldn’t knock.’

“Miss (name). It’s Anthony M’lady Mary sent me.”

‘Anthony?’

You opened the door and Anthony rushed inside.

“Thank goodness I found you first! Are you ready to go?” he murmured.

“How did you find me? And go where?!” you cried.

“I’ll explain in the coach, but we must go now!”

He grabbed the bag for you and you followed him out to Mary’s coach. You stepped inside and noticed it was empty. The door was shut behind you and a moment later you heard Anthony crack the whip and the coach took off.

You pushed the grate between the passengers and driver aside.

“Where are we going Anthony?”

“To the town you and M’lady Mary went to the day before! No one will get into your business, and it will buy us a few days before we can find a more permanent relocation for you.” He replied.

“Okay, but how did you find me?”

“M’lady told me to go to your house the moment you left the party. I’m actually surprised that you beat me there.” He offered a small grin.

You sighed and closed the grate before falling back into the seat.

“Go ahead and rest your eyes; I’ll make sure we arrive safely.” He called back.

You lay across the seat and rested your head on your arm, with your other hand you fingered the key on the necklace. You had taken to wearing it constantly. It felt important to you like it should be kept on your person at all times.

Rubbing it now helped calm your pounding heart and steady your breathing as you closed your eyes.

“Miss (name)! We are here!”

You woke quickly. Anthony was holding your rucksack and offering a hand to you. You took it and he had to hold you up as you were still drowsy and the gravity of the situation was finally crashing down on your mind. The two of you walked up to a small unassuming cottage.

You didn’t pay attention to the interior and then Anthony was helping you lay down on a small bed. It felt like a cloud and your eyes closed quickly.

You smelled meat. Musky and very mouthwatering. You dragged yourself out of bed before looking around and noticing your surroundings weren’t familiar.

‘right. I’m a fugitive. Great.’

You groaned and opened the door to a small hallway. Looking into the doorway on your right you saw a bathroom. You went in and grabbed the pail of water and splashed some on you face a few times and felt stinging. Looking up you noticed scratches across your face and arms, some with clumps of dried blood running along them. Your eyes looked tired and your muscles felt sore.

You moved on and followed the smell of food. You came into the living room. A fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace to stave off the morning chill and on the other side of the room Anthony was busying himself with the stove.

“What are you cooking?”

He jumped and turned quickly, relaxing when he saw you.

“Little miss you snuck up on me.” He chided.

“sorry.” You grunted.

He offered up a smile. “I’m smoking bacon along with some eggs gathered fresh this morning.”

You nodded and went to sit on one of the threadbare but comfy couches and drew your knees up to your chest.

Staring at the fire dancing helped you compose your thoughts.

‘I’m okay. I’ll be alright. Anthony is taking care of me and so is Mary. Things will be okay.’

You barely noticed that your clothes were getting wet until one of the tears flowed down into your mouth, filling it with saltiness. You buried your head into your body and curled up. Crying, it seemed, helped you get out the sense of helplessness.

You knew Anthony was aware of your tears, especially when he called you over for breakfast and your eyes were puffy and cheeks wet. He didn’t mention it. That helped some. You didn’t want sympathy. That would make this somehow more real than it was.

The bacon was delicious, bursting with flavor which helped distract your thoughts.

After breakfast Anthony explained that this cottage was a safe house the Davis family established when they first became successful. The head of the family, Patrick Davis, was extremely cautious and always wanted to be prepared for anything. His family wasn’t one to cause trouble, but he knew his revolutionary ideals would eventually be a danger for them.

Anthony told you how Patrick was always calling for social reform in the kingdom. He was nicknamed “the voice of the people”. He had greatly influenced Mary, which explains her personality and views. But sure enough, their family became very unpopular with the nobles, and they were facing financial trouble from losing business (jewelry making).

“Wait so Mary’s family got rich from making jewelry and she bought something I made?” you asked incredulously.

“That shell hairpin? M’lady is very fond of it.” Anthony replied. “It has become her favorite accessory. I believe I heard her say that the craftsmanship was impressive. “

You smiled to yourself.

Just then the door burst open. It was Mary herself. She ran over and pulled you into a crushing hug.

“(name) I’m so sorry! Sending Anthony was the best I could do! Please forgive me for not foreseeing this!” she sobbed.

“It’s not your fault. I can never repay you for what you’ve done so far. Your family could go to prison for harboring a fugitive; I can’t ask any more of you.”

“I should have known Charles was going to propose.”

“It’s fine.” You choked out; suddenly a lump had formed in your throat.

Mary had to leave the next morning, but she insisted that Anthony stay with you for a few more days before joining her back at the manor. He wouldn’t leave you at all but for the sake of keeping up appearances with the Jacobs family on the prowl; they couldn’t fall under suspicion.

Now the two of you were sitting in a comfortable silence. You were resting your eyes since the last twelve hours exhausted you emotionally and physically.

Anthony was reading a book in the armchair, adjusting his seat every so often.

“So when do you want to set up shop again?” he questioned.

“hmmm.”

He waited patiently.

“Tomorrow I guess. I’ll need to start carving again, and I’ll need to gather more shells.”

“Do you want me to accompany you to collect the shells?”

“No thanks. I think a quite walk would be good for me.”

“Alright then. I’ll set up a stand for you in the market while you do that.”

Silence fell again.

“Thank you Anthony.”

“Mmm for what (name)?” he murmured partially enveloped in his book again.

“For being so kind.”

“Of course.”

The next couple of days went by quickly. Anthony departed, but not without leaving you a horse and plenty of money to get by in case the shell business slowed. He promised to check in a week from now.

The cottage was lonely without the man’s presence. He had a quiet way about him, but he was good company.

You’d be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t enjoy the solidarity though. The daily morning walks on the beach, barefoot and enjoying the feel of the waves crashing into your ankles. Spending hours carefully carving clam shells into merchandise.

Your stall was doing well. Many women had already taken an interest in all the fine little trinkets you made. Better yet, no one had even questioned your sudden appearance or lack of male escort.

‘This town minds their own business. A perfect place for a fresh start for sure.’

Sometimes you would get up extra early with your swimsuit and go out to one of the sandbars. You’d sit in the shallow waters and watch the sunrise. Sometimes you would see fish dart in between your legs and once you saw a large crab scuttle past.

One such morning , as you were coming into the shore you remembered that your family wasn’t the only people you had left behind.

‘Eren, and Armin, and Mikasa. They’ll never know what happened!’ ‘But what if Eren kept trying to contact you and got ahold of someone else?’

Your heart froze at the thought.

‘What if Charles finds him?’

Knowing Eren, the idiot would keep trying to get ahold of you. Even if that meant reaching out to other people he’d never met and risking the death and persecution of his people. Not that he’d think that far. Mikasa might and so would Armin, but how long would they be able to keep him from doing something foolish.

It was decided. You would ride to the pool where you first met. You couldn’t go to your island, but the pool was about an hour from the main bridge. Chances of being found were pretty slim.

You set up a sign telling your customers that you were closed until tomorrow and then went to the cottage to gather supplies.

You left a few hours before sundown. The ride was mostly uneventful; you had seen a small patrol heading your way and hid in the brush until they passed. Hopefully they would look for you in the city you had just left and conclude that you moved on.

You arrived at the pool as the sun was touching the ocean. You tied up your horse to one of the palms and sat on the rocky wall separating the pool from the ocean.

Night had fallen and you were still there waiting, but now you were losing confidence that Eren would ever show up.

‘He would come here wouldn’t he? This is the place he chose to sing to me. Though he might still be recovering from his injuries…’

A splash sounded out in the water. You looked out, but there was no moon and the night had no light to show the source of the noise.

“Eren?! Eren is that you?” you called to the blackness.

Another splash.

‘This doesn’t feel right.’

You started to get up when a cold hand closed around your ankle and pulled down hard. You yelped as your shoulder hit the rock wall and your hands scrabbled for purchase as you were dragged farther into the water.

“No! Help! Someone! Please!” you screamed as you felt your grip slipping.

Your hands let go of the rock, but the necklace had caught. The frayed rope began to choke you as it was the only thing keeping you from being pulled under. You began to see spots dance across your vision when a flash of silver cut through the rope. Before you could gasp in a breath, you were underwater and could see the stars dancing from the ripples and bubbles disturbing the surface.

Chapter Text

It had been a while since Mikasa and Armin left for dinner around the vents, and all was quiet excluding the sounds of the currents moving throughout the tunnels. Eren figured now was the best time to try and go to the surface again. He shifted the sand off his body and stretched his tail and arms.

‘no pain from my wounds.’ He noted.

He swam quietly out of the infirmary and down the hall. He could hear the lighthearted chatter from dinner not far off and darted into a side-tunnel that would lead outside.

Just before he swam out into the open he made himself check for guards. Petra and Auruo were a few feet away talking quietly.

“What do you mean the decrease in siren activity has you worried? It should have the opposite effect on you!” Auruo questioned.

“I can’t explain it. It’s like that feeling just before a storm hits, when the waves are calm and everything is silent. It’s unnerving.” Petra explained.

“Well I say we should have some wishful thinking. Maybe the sirens moved on. I mean they have the whole ocean to live in…” Auruo’s voice trailed off as they rounded a corner.

Eren kicked off into the water and began to swim towards the island. Mikasa and Armin had been unable to meet up with (name) for a while to increase patrols. It seemed that Levi shared Petra’s sentiments on the decrease of siren activity.

‘I just hope she doesn’t think we’ve abandoned her.’

Eren let his head bob on the surface as he got closer to the beach. The sand was just barely highlighted by the thin waxing moon. Sitting on (name’s) porch was a figure.

‘Why is she sitting all the way up there? Does she want me to throw another shell at her head?’

Eren grinned to himself as he found a shell about the right size to get her attention. He slowly swam closer to the shoreline before rearing back and letting the conch fly.

The missile struck her in the head and fell to the porch with a small clatter.

“Ow! What the heck?!” shouted a different voice than the one he was used to.

‘That’s not (name).’

Eren paled and began to sink lower in the water.

“Hey! Wait!”

He turned and prepared to dive.

“Are you a friend of (name’s)?!”

Eren froze his movements and turned. The girl he had hit was standing ankle-deep in the water staring after him.

He weighed his options. Talk to strange girl and find out where (name) is or avoid being social and pretend like this never happened.

“You know (name)?” he asked wearily.

She beamed.

“Oh yes! We’re very close! Mary’s the name, Mary Davis. And let me guess, you’re the boy after her heart, am I right?”

Eren choked on the seawater and had to take a moment to stop coughing.

“Oops sorry. Didn’t know it was a touchy subject.” She piped.

“It’s not a touchy… that’s not the point. Where’s (name)?” Eren sputtered.

Mary’s smile faltered.

“You mean you don’t know where she is?” she asked quietly.

“No I haven’t seen her for a week. What happened? Is she hurt?!”Eren exclaimed.

“I don’t know”, she answered honestly. “I went by the safe house yesterday and she wasn’t there. I asked around and all her new customers said that she was supposed to be back by then.”

‘Safe house? What kind of trouble did (name) get herself into?’

Eren’s confusion must have been evident.

Mary sat down on the sand.

“Let me catch you up on everything.” She murmured.

Eren thought it was funny how Mary took his species type in stride as they shared information. She told him about how she had searched everywhere in the town and on the island with no luck.

There was only one place that Eren could think of that Mary didn’t know about where (name) could have hidden and he was on his way there now.

‘Please let her be there. Please.’

He raced quickly through the water the sense of urgency upon him. The fire in his veins that came from the thought of Charles proposing to her fueled him to go faster; to find her.

It wasn’t long before he reached the cove. As he approached he saw something gleaming; he swam closer and picked up a small brass key attached to a piece of severed rope.

‘Why does this look familiar…’

Eren dived over the rock wall and swam throughout the pool and looked in the surrounding woods from the water’s edge, but found nothing else that hinted at (name’s) presence.

The next morning when the recruits went out for the daily gathering, he pulled Armin aside.

“Armin do you know what this is?” Eren asked pulling the key necklace from his seaweed satchel.

The blonde’s eyes widened and he looked quickly back to Eren.

“You went up to the surface?”

“H-how’d you know?” Eren stuttered, thrown off by his friend’s spot-on assumption.

“Because that necklace is (name’s).” he pointed out.

Eren felt his heart stop.

‘If this was (name’s) and it was by the water…. No she couldn’t have drowned, she’s a great swimmer…. But why is the rope cut?’

“Armin I think something happened to (name).”

“Tell me.”

Armin was holding the key up to the sunbeams for a better look.

“It looks like this key was under water for a long time before it got to (name’s) hands.”

“What makes you say that?” Eren moved in for a closer look.

“Well you see these little bumps here and here?” he pointed out a couple of creamy knots on the key’s handle. “Those are the beginnings of barnacles, this key must have been found when it was washed ashore or it could have been caught in a tide pool, kind of like that lagoon that you and (name) met in.” he muttered offhandedly.

Then it clicked for Eren.

“The chest! The old chest in that cave where Mikasa killed the shark! This must go to that, and if we open it then there might be something in there that could lead us to (name)!”

Eren gripped Armin’s arms. “You’re a genius!”

Armin looked a bit startled. “Well just because this key could have been found near that chest doesn’t mean that it belongs to it and you’re not listening anymore.”

Eren was already a few yards ahead of him gripping the key tightly.

“Did you say something?”

“Nope, nothing at all.”

You awoke. hungry. so starved it hurt. You opened your eyes blinked slowly as if you were drugged.

‘I must be dreaming still…’

You watched drowsily through the iron bars as the sunbeams refracted in the water and danced on the hull of a large ship.

‘yes. This must be a dream….’

Chapter Text

Armin was panting by the time they had reached the cave and had to lean against the jagged rock to rest as Eren sped past him to the chest settled in the sandy bottom. There was a loud click and a clang as the heavy lock hit the floor.

Eren grunted as he lifted the oaken lid; with some effort it fell back and revealed several limestone sheets that had writing and figures carved into the surfaces.

“What is this?” Eren murmured.

He started reading one of the sheets carefully so as to not miss anything while Armin picked up another.

‘the subject was a success . further tests might prove the potency of the serum… blah blah…’

“Ugh! What does this have to do with (name)?!” he exclaimed.

“Look at these Eren.” Armin tugged on his friend’s arm and pointed to the thin sheets of paper that had lain underneath the limestone.

Eren picked one up and started browsing the content of it as well.

“But this is human writing! What’s it doing here under the ocean in the same chest as a mermaid’s writing?”

“Not only that. Look at who the mermaid was that wrote these notes.” Armin muttered.

Eren glanced to the top of one of the limestone sheets and stopped. There in spidery scrawl was the name he had tried to forget.

Grisha Yeager

“We need to get this to Hanji.”

Armin nodded and they both loaded everything back into the chest before each taking a side and lifting it off the seabed. I took a large amount of effort but it would be worth it if whatever was inside could lead them to (name).

After several hours of carrying the chest, the duo came into sight of the lava tubes.

“Finally! Only another ten minutes to go!” chirped Armin.

Eren looked towards their settlement and saw a shadow coming towards them. He squinted his eyes to see if he could tell who it was and recognized jet black hair that only two individuals had; being caught by either would be undesirable.

“Oh shit! Armin get down!” Eren cried and jumped behind the chest pulling Armin down with him.

“Eren hiding is illogical seeing as whoever is coming already saw us.”

“Ssshhhhh be quiet.”

A voice sounded right next to Eren’s ear.

“Eren what are you doing?”

Eren let out a totally manly scream and hid behind Armin.

Mikasa had her arms crossed and her mouth was pressed in a firm line, but there was mirth in her eyes.

“Mikasa, we were just … uh… going treasure hunt… no…. aha um…. What we were doing exactly was….” Armin trailed off.

“Spill coconut.” She uttered.

“Eren found (name’s) key necklace and we thought that it might lead us to finding out where she disappeared to and we figured out it opens this chest that containsgrishayeager’sresearch.” Armin blurted out quickly.

“Thanks Armin.” Eren muttered.

“Grisha’s research? And (name) disappeared?” Mikasa asked.

“We’ll explain it on the way. We’re taking the research to Hanji to see if she can figure out anything from it.” Eren continued.

“Then I’ll help.”

Mikasa lifted the chest herself and began to swim for the settlement.

Eren found that his adoptive sister always surprised him with her strength; this was no exception. He watched after her in a stupor with Armin till she turned around.

“Don’t tell me I have to carry you guys too?” She joked.

“That won’t be necessary.” Armin quipped and hurried after her with Eren at his side muttering.

“…just picked it up…”

The trio covered their ears as Hanji laid eyes on the contents of the chest and let out one of her infamous shrieks of glee. That mermaid got WAY too excited for research.

“WHERE IN THE SEAS DID YOU RECOVER THIS?! It’s in such perfect condition and about such interesting and revolutionary ideas!” She cried as she poured over the scrawl on the limestone.

“We found it in a cave near the lagoon.” Eren replied after her screeches became a semblance of a normal tone.

She looked at them with concern.

“The lagoon is connected to the land outside our waters. Why would you go so close to such a dangerous area?” she queried.

Eren really wasn’t sure how to proceed.

‘well where do I start? Humans exist? I have a human friend who might be in danger?’

“Uh I might have met someone there.”

Her eyes blinked behind the glasses she wore before what he said clicked.

“You met a human? They EXIST?!”She screamed.

Their hands clapped over their ears again and Eren nodded furiously.

Hanji clapped her hands together with glee.

“oh you must fill me in on the details!” she chittered.

“To sum it up. The human’s name is (name) and she has disappeared recently. This necklace was hers and was found at the lagoon which also happens to be where this chest was located nearby. The key opened the chest, therefore we have come to the conclusion that whatever these research notes might include may lead us to wherever (name) has disappeared to. “ Armin explained.

Hanji nodded thoughtfully.

“Yes that makes sense. Give a few minutes to look over the main articles so we have a general idea on what Mr. Yeager was researching on before he too disappeared.”

Eren and Mikasa left as Armin stayed behind to read the research as well.

“I take it that you went to the surface, but how did you know (name) was missing?” Mikasa asked quietly.

“Well I might have had a little help gaining that information….” He trailed off.

“Were you seen?”

“Only by her friend, I swear!” Eren defended.

Mikasa sighed.

“As long as they’re friends of (name’s) I’m sure they’re fine, but you need to be more careful! You’re recklessness is going to get you into a corner you can’t escape from.” She cautioned.

“Alright. I know. I’ll be more careful when going to the surface.”

A deep voice sounded from the shadows.

“So you’ve been to the surface Yeager?”

Mikasa and Eren saluted with their hands over their hearts.

“Captain Levi sir!”

“Simply amazing.” Hanji crooned as she soaked in the words.

“I don’t know if ‘amazing’ is the right word for it. This stuff is really dark.” Armin muttered.

“It’s the ideas of transformation into things with improved speed and strength! He had the right idea, but poor execution.” Hanji clarified.

“Agreed. Look at how many failed subjects there were, and this line here insinuates that they became-“

“Hanji what are you doing?”

“Captain Levi sir!” Armin exclaimed and saluted.

Eren and Mikasa were following behind Levi as he entered the room with an annoyed look on his face.

“Ah Levi! We’re on a mission to save Eren’s girlfriend!” Hanji explained.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Eren squawked.

“Why should we be putting our effort towards getting Yeager a mate?” Levi intoned.

Hanji raised her hands in frustration (as did Eren in the background).

“Because if we don’t this could blow up and endanger our society! Our way of life! Even our species!” She exclaimed.

“Whoa whoa whoa. One second, (name’s) disappearance has that effect on us?” Eren asked.

“No not her disappearance, but the information found in these notes hints that we may have an enemy lurking in the shadows that could wipe us out.” Hanji hummed.

‘wait, what?!’

You were much less drowsy now; the fuzziness in your mind was gone and you opened your eyes.

‘No way.’

The first thing you noticed was that you were underwater and you’re lungs weren’t screaming for air.

‘Could I be dead?’

Then you felt the hunger. You were starved beyond reason.

You looked around and noted that you were in an iron cage and beyond that you could see the ship from before. It was massive and split in half as if it had been ripped in two. You couldn’t make out the whole name of the ship, but the last few letters showed: - SSAL

You went to move towards the bars of the cage, but something was off. You look down to your feet and opened your mouth in a silent scream.

Your feet were gone, and in their place was a single gray tail.

‘Calm down (name). You just have a tail now. No big deal. You have a tail and can breathe underwater and are in a cage. This is fine. You’re okay.”

Your panicked breathing started to slow as you calmed yourself down.

“Looks like she’s awake.”

You whipped around and saw three creatures beyond the bars. Your stomach growled and you started to wonder how they would taste.

‘hold up! They’re humanoid! I’m not about to eat them! No matter how hungry I am!’

“Annie I think you scared her.” One of the males snorted.

“We should stop teasing her guys.” The tallest male stated nervously.

The smallest one swam up to the cage; her eyes were black and dead looking like a shark’s.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

You shivered when she opened her mouth revealing jagged teeth.

‘a monster.’

The other two joined her.

“She’s too scared to talk.” The first guy said.

“I’m Annie.” The female continued. She jerked a pale thumb at the first male. “That’s Reiner.” And then pointed to the tallest male. “And that’s Bertholdt.”
She stared expectantly.

“(name).” you whispered.

“That’s a nice name.” Bertholdt added.

All three of them were staring at you with those black eyes.

‘they smell so nice, maybe I could have a little bit….NO! Nope nope nope! So not going there! Get your head together (name)!’

Bertholdt broke the silence.

“I’m- we’re sorry.”

“For what?” you asked.

He didn’t answer.

“We should probably head back to the settlement now.” Reiner stated.

They seemed to come to a silent agreement.

Suddenly there were ripples across their bodies and their pale skin took on healthy shades of color, their eyes turned to normal, their teeth reshaped, and their tails took on the colors of their eyes.

‘Camouflage.’

Without another word they swam off, leaving you to think over what you had just seen.

‘were those the sirens that Eren told me about? And if they can camouflage themselves, then Eren might be in danger!’

You gripped the bars in your hands as you pushed your face against the metal. You couldn’t see very much around you. The cage you were in was surrounded except on one side by more cages covered in tarp.

You saw shadows flitting in and out of the ship, but for the most part everything was dead.

‘Maybe I should worry about me first…’

Chapter Text

“Let me get this straight”, Levi said, “Grisha, our settlement’s ex-doctor, had been experimenting on mermaids and changing them into sirens using some kind of strange serum?”

“That’s what the notes state. In the earliest decipherable entry Grisha mentioned using said serum on a flounder he had caught, and a few hours later the fish lost all color and became quite vicious.” Hanji said.

“Do we even know where he got this stuff?” asked Eren.

“No. Many of the first recordings of his research have turned to rubble. We do know that the substance is black and a very thick liquid.”

“Is there anything there that’s relevant to our search?” Levi snapped, “If this really does have the effect on our way of life that you claim, then we’re wasting time.”

Hanji skimmed the slabs.

“Actually sir, this is concerning”, Armin offered, “It says here that the mermaids he had given the serum to had the ability to change from their colorless state to mimicking what they looked like originally. So…”

“… anyone in our settlement could be a siren without our knowledge.” Finished Mikasa.

“Exactly.” Armin confirmed.

“Then we have to lure them out! They could know where (name) is!” Eren demanded.

“I agree, but we need a plan.” Levi said.

“And I may have one, but it’s risky.” Armin murmured.

“You couldn’t think of something else?” Mikasa hissed at the blonde.

“Well I’m sorry! Next time you come up with the plans and I’ll critique!” Armin snapped back.

The two mermaids were hidden behind a boulder just outside of the settlement’s hunting grounds. Levi and his squad were hidden around the general area as well.

“I don’t like it. Eren could get hurt, and he only just recovered from the shark attack!”

“You think I’m happy with this? As much as we both hate it, Eren is the best bait we have.”

"Yeah and why is that again? We're (name's) friends too."

"If Grisha is really behind all this, don't you think he'd want to get ahold of Eren?"

“Quiet or I’ll send you both back to the settlement.” Levi’s voice shot out from a large patch of seaweed.

The mermaids turned their attention to Eren who was flitting with nervous energy in the middle of the clearing; waiting for someone to show up.

The plan itself was simple: Levi told Erwin of the situation and instructed that he should make an announcement that one of the mermaids had reported a missing person from another settlement and that while out hunting, they should be on the lookout for them. But while giving said announcement, "accidentally" slip in that Eren's friend was the one missing.

Armin figured that the spies would know the announcement was about (name) and would try and contact Eren, and lure him away with promises of (name's) whereabouts.

They had been hidden for half an hour before movement directed Eren's attention to the west.

"Hey Annie, Bertholdt, Reiner!" Eren greeted the trio approaching.

"Hey Eren. Did you catch anything yet?" asked Reiner.

"No, Everything seems to be avoiding me today." Eren gave a nervous chuckle.

"I'm sorry about your friend. What was their name again?" Annie murmured.

Eren's gaze shifted to the weeds behind Annie's head where Levi was hidden for a second, but the mermaid noticed the glance.

"Grab him!" She shrieked.

Suddenly multiple grey and black sirens burst from the shadows and kicked up sand blinding everyone.

"EREN!"

The rest of the mermaids surged forwards into the fray. A scream rent through the air and more yelling as a number of the sirens fled.

"Captain!"

"Captain Levi!"

The sand settled around the squad; Gunther and Petra were looking to a stab wound in Levi's tail that was disturbingly deep. Aururo and Erd were searching desperately for any of the younger mermaids.

"They must have followed the sirens!"

"Those brats! Let's go save them!"

-

Everything had happened so fast after Annie realized they set a trap. He felt two strong grips on his arms and was about about to yell for help when he was hit hard on the back of the head.

He knew he was being taken away from the fight when things got quieter, and then he hit the ground.

Shouting and a cry of pain.

Then Mikasa and Armin were holding him up; Armin was crying. He felt the small gems hit his arm gently as they fell from the blonde's chin. What happened?

-

He and Mikasa chased after the traitors. They had taken Eren while the squad was distracted with the backup they'd brought.

Armin grit his teeth; he should have foreseen this. He should have known they wouldn't be stupid enough to do something this risky without backup.
The betrayal was a cut in his heart too. Annie was helping them. He thought he knew her.

Luckily carrying Eren's dead weight slowed them down considerably and they were no match for Mikasa when she plowed straight into Reiner, knocking Eren to the ocean floor.

Mikasa spun around and dove after Bertholdt when he tried to come to Reiner's aid. Armin sped towards Reiner and tackled him to the ground, but he knew he wouldn't come out on top without Mikasa's help. They just needed to buy time till the squad could get there.

He heard a shout and glanced quickly at Mikasa on the ground after Annie pushed her off the taller mermaid. That second cost him.

Reiner surged up and slammed his shoulders into the rocks. He let out a short yelp as the sharp edges dug into his back and he struggled with the larger blonde's grip around his neck. His air was cut off and he felt himself getting weaker.

Then the pressure was gone and he heard Reiner cry out. It took a few seconds for his vision to stop swimming but what he saw made him jolt in shock.
Annie was standing behind Reiner, holding a knife covered in what seemed to Reiner's blood going by the gash on his back. Her expression was one of shock.

"Annie what the hell?!"

Mikasa had her knife drawn as well and turned as another siren showed up and began to speak.

"Grab her and retreat. Two of us are dead; we need reinforcements. Grisha will punish her with our newest sister."

Bertholdt and Reiner glared at the newcomer but moved to Annie and grasped her arms. But Annie was staring at Armin.

"Annie.... why?"

"Armin, I'm sorry. I couldn't let him kill you. I'm sorry." Black pearls fell to the rocks below as she was pulled away with the others.

Mikasa swam to where Eren was groggily moaning as he tried to lift himself up.

Armin joined her as he felt his eyes burn. He'd help her. If it's not already too late.

-

Erd and Aururo swam up as Eren was getting his balance back.

"Are you kids okay?" Erd asked.

"We're fine. They retreated." Armin answered.

"Well we're not going back there; we killed a couple of the sirens. You brats don't need to see that."

"Where's the captain? And Petra and Gunther?" Eren asked.

"The captain was injured in the fight; Petra and Gunther are tending to his wound. We are going back to the settlement so you guys can rest, and so we can keep a guard on Eren."

The three friends slowly made their way back to the settlement; hearts heavy.

-

'Okay I'm seriously starving right now. I'm about to try eating the bars.'

You had gotten used to your half human half fish body by now and were getting desperate.

There was a lot of activity earlier just after those three took off, but now the area was dead quiet.

Panic had set in a while ago.

'What if they don't come back? What if I'm trapped here till I die of starvation? What will happen to my family? They'll never know what happened to me!!!'

You swam to the lock and tried to pick it with a piece of twisted metal again, but it was harder than Clint made it look. The wire snapped inside the lock and you slammed your head against the bars in frustration.

"Just pitiful."

You bolted upright and noticed the older male a few feet away from the cage.

'Another siren?'

"Wh-who are you?" you tried to sound braver than you felt.

The man laughed cruelly and looked at you over his glasses.

"I am Grisha. And you are (name). You're going to finally get me reunited with my son."

"You're son? I don't know your son!?"

"Really? You stole his heart and you don't even know who his father is?"

'what?'

"Brown skin, brunette, snarky little shit; ring any bells?"

"Eren?! Eren is your son?! He doesn't even know where you are!"

Loud voices sounded out from beyond your line of sight.

"Reiner! Bertholdt! LET. ME. GO!!! PLEASE!"

Grisha swam off towards the commotion.

"What's going on? Where's Eren?"

"They had him when his friends jumped Reiner and Bertholdt; Reiner had one of them when Annie turned traitor. We had to retreat when Daz and Samuel were killed."

"So you actually had him and then you decided to back out?! Put her in there. She'll be a perfect first meal."

Grisha came back into view and tried to unlock the cage with the key, but the wire had jammed it shut.

"Heh you really trapped yourself. Well if you feast, you'll become stronger than ever and be able to do amazing things. Observe."

Then he ripped the metal door off it's hinges like it was foil.

You froze with shock. 'How is this possible?'

He grabbed you and pulled you out into the open. The two of the sirens from before were sullenly watching nearby as you were pushed into a larger enclosure. The door slammed shut behind you and the lock was bolted.

The first thing you noticed was the girl siren in the opposite corner. Her blue eyes pierced yours and you saw her arms were bound behind her.

Your stomach grumbled.

"Now." Called out the voice of Grisha. "Feast."

Chapter Text

Clint moved the curtain slightly to the side and peered out at the pair of soldiers standing ten feet or so from the house; one of them was trying light a paper filled with herbs to smoke.

"They're still out there.."

"We have to trust Mary. She wa- is (name)'s friend, she won't betray us." Richard said.

"Dad i'm tired." Peter murmured rubbing his eyes.

Richard looked on at his three boys waiting in the dark of the house and felt the gaping hole left from his daughter's absence.

"I know little one, you can sleep soon but not yet."

"Why are they even guarding us?!" Ryan broke his brooding silence.

Clint faced his brother and moved away from the window.

"Because you idiot, they're waiting for (name) to come back! And the only reason we aren't rotting in prison is because they need bait."

"Why would we be in prison?!"

"Have you not gotten it through your head yet? By association we are criminals in Charles' eyes. We have no rights! That's why we aren't allowed to leave the house."

Ryan and Clint glared at each other and in the silence they heard a small shout from outside. Clint rushed back to the window.

"They're gone! The guards are gone!"

The door opened quietly and Mary stepped inside.

"Quickly we must go now before the night guards come to take their shift!"

The boys scrambled with their belongings already packed and ready to go and followed the small figure to her family's coach. Once they were all packed into the carriage, Anthony cracked the whip and they were off.

Peter was fast asleep leaning on Richard's side despite the exciting events; Richard turned to Mary who was hugging Clint tightly.

"Where are we going?"

Mary detached herself slightly. "To the next town over for a few days, then we'll move on to the neighboring kingdom. I want to wait in the area to see if we can find (name) first."

"If she's still here", he murmured and looked out the window, watching as the ocean rushed past.

Chapter Text

Your eyes widen at Grisha’s words and you look outside the cage to the staring sirens searching for answers and finding none.

You were starving.

I can’t eat her! The thought repulsed you and you had to grab onto the bars of the cage to steady yourself.

But you are so hungry. You tighten your grip on the bars to keep yourself from lurching forwards as your body seems to move on its own.

“Just do it.”

You look into the female siren’s cold stare void of emotion. She’s trembling but her voice is resolute.

“I’m going to die today whether by your teeth or theirs” she motioned with her head towards the onlookers, “so just do it and maybe you’ll survive this day.”

My teeth? You run your tongue over your teeth and meet razor sharp resistance. You look at your hand not gripping the cage bar and see that your nails have sharpened to deadly points, perfect for tearing flesh.

“You are already starting to transform but you are still weak. It takes the consumption of the flesh of another to truly tap into your full power.” Grisha explained from beyond the bars. “Till you feast, you will hunger for nothing else but the flesh of another.”

You understand now.

“And what if I don’t?” you defiantly stare back at the oldest siren.

“You don’t understand your situation, do you? I will keep you here till you do succumb and then you will help me convince my rebellious son to finally join me and my cause!”

You swim quickly to the bars closest to Grisha to give your harshest glare. “I will never help you and neither will Eren!”.

“A meaningless effort.” Grisha commented before swimming away.

The rest of the sirens drifted off as well, it seems they will leave you to break from starvation.

You glance over at the other siren who has been watching you intently.

“I won’t kill you. I don’t care what happens to me, I won’t take another’s life.”

“Then we will both perish.” She muttered bluntly.

You stomach rumbled again and you closed your eyes against it.

No. I will not. You gripped the bars and slid to the iron floor of the cage.

~*~

“They can’t make us stay here!”. Eren pounded against a nearby wall in frustration.

“We think we know where the sirens are staying, we just need to be at our full strength before we attack.”

“Armin’s right Eren, I know your friend is there but we need to be smart about this. We can’t stand to lose more fighters.” Mikasa interjected.

Eren slumped against the wall but bolted upright when Jean swam into the room.

“Why are you skulking back here?” Eren grunted.

Jean gave him a stiff glare before speaking. “Eren the other scouts and I were talking about what happened and we know how much this affects you. We’ve decided to leave for the siren settlement.”

The trio perked up at this.

“What, now?” Armin cried. “It’s just past noon and the attack was this morning?”

“We were going to leave without the leaders.” Jean stated to the room.

They all started speaking at once.

“Do you really think that’s wis-?”

“I say we go!”

“It’ll almost be dark when we get there..”

The young scouts looked to each other and the air of agreement fell on the room.

Mikasa looked to Jean. “Then let’s head out.”