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Today was the day.
And it took the young merman named Fakir years to get to the point he was at now---the turning point.
He could still remember the day that he first met her, tangled up in vines and looking ridiculous as she thrashed beneath the water. They hadn't really started off on the right foot. He'd been rude, berated her about being too far from the colony, and blamed her predicament on her carelessness. He set her free, but not without a lecture and a warning about straying too far out into the deep waters again.
Fakir had been pretty certain that she despised him then. And it hadn't bothered him. She was a foolish young mermaid with no regard for her own well-being or for others. Naivety might as well have been her middle name. He didn't care for being associated with loud, bubbly types like her that didn't care about the consequences of their own actions.
But it had been her, that fiery and cheerful redhead mermaid by the name of Ahiru, that came to his aid when he was in peril. His scouting mission had gone horribly wrong when he was investigating a shipwreck. By the time he heard the cracking of the sodden wood and felt the lurch of pressure from above, he'd been sure that it was too late to stop the inevitable.
She came out of nowhere, crying "Look out!" just before she impacted his torso with surprising force and sent them both just out of reach of the collapsing hull of the ship. A cloud of bubbled dirt and wood engulfed them, but in the end, they were fine. They were alive.
He'd been stunned as they laid on the ocean floor. "Why did you save me?" he'd asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" was her own incredulous reply. "You could have died."
And in that moment, everything changed. The mermaid with the bright red hair that should have despised him put her own life on the line to save his. He'd never said a kind word to her. He gave her no incentive to care about him.
But that hadn't mattered to Ahiru. She didn't let such things cloud her judgment. She didn't think twice before pushing him out of harm's way, even when he had treated her so poorly.
After that, the two of them had somehow or another become an awkward pair of friends. She found his gruff behavior and scowling no longer off-putting or intimidating, but amusing. He began to enjoy her company, no matter how loud she was or how much she swam around him and poked into his business when he was working on building something. Somehow, he even let up enough to allow her to accompany him on excursions and scoutings, as long as he could keep a close eye on her.
Somewhere along the way, he had fallen in love with her. This vibrant, innocent little redheaded mermaid, so full life and cheer and a kind word for anyone... how could he not have fallen for her?
And today, he was finally going to tell her, finally going to ask her if she would accept these feelings for her.
Fakir was nervous, flitting about back and forth. There was a clumsy bouquet of water lilies he had tried to arrange for her, sitting hidden upon some rocks nearby. He hoped they would make her smile.
In a little while, she would come to share a lunch with him as per their daily schedule. Sometimes she was late, but he never minded---he waited, and perhaps teased her a bit about what might have distracted her along the way or what item she might have lost. The ghost of a smile almost tugged his lips with the thought alone.
There was still time to prepare, but the words he'd been thinking of and the way to say them were difficult to keep track of in his mind. He had never felt this way for someone before. How could he properly express it to her?
"FAKIR!" her shrill voice reached his ears even before the familiar excited swishing noise of her short, sea-green tail.
With one flip of a fin, he turned to face her, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. Behind that neutral facade, his heart was hammering. He hadn't expected her yet. "You're early?" he quipped. "Are you sure that you're really Ahiru or should I be worried?"
He was rewarded with a pout and a flip of her tail fin in his face. "I can be early sometimes," she shot back. "But actually... I came as fast as I could because Ihavesomethingreallyexcitingtotellyou!"
She burst into his face with the exclamation with such fervor that Fakir almost missed her words from the sheer close proximity of her face to his.
"W---What is it?" he finally managed, hoping there was no color in his cheeks that betrayed his voice.
Ahiru pulled back and spun in a circle, reaching her arms up to gesture above. "Fakir, I'm going to the surface!"
That took the dark-haired merman by surprise. "The surface?" he asked incredulously. "But that's dangerous. We don't belong up there. You'll die--"
"I...." she suddenly looked sheepish---sheepish, but with a very wistful smile on her features. "Fakir, I'm going to become human. I almost can't believe it myself, but... but just a few days ago, I met a prince. He was drowning and I rescued him and---oh, Fakir, he said he'd give anything to see me again. And there's a whole world up there I've never seen, so much bigger than the colony and--"
At some point amidst her rambling, Fakir went numb. This was too much to take in. Become human? A prince? What was she talking about? His head hurt.
Abruptly, she came up to him and took one of his hands into both of hers. "You understand, right? This is what I've always wanted. To see, to live beyond the colony, and... and maybe even to find my..."
She blushed and his heart clenched, but Fakir stubbornly ignored it.
"I.... Be.... be careful. And... be happy, Ahiru." It was all that he could bring himself to say without coming undone. He released her hands with one final squeeze.
"Thank you. Gosh, Fakir---I'm gonna miss you." she leaned forward to embrace him. "We've been through a lot. But I just know that this is what I have to do---this is my dream of seeing the outside world and it's going to come true!"
He raised his arms to return the embrace, but his hands fell short. Fakir was almost afraid that if he took her in his arms now, he wouldn't be able to let go. He would beg her not to leave, to give him a chance to make her happy.
Finally, she pulled away, smiling with a tremble in her lips. "Goodbye. I'll always remember you, Fakir. You're my dearest friend."
With that, she turned away, her long red hair forming a curtain behind her that barred her from him. And then she was swimming away, rapidly and enthusiastically following her dreams. He wanted to reach out and call to her, to say something before he regretted it.
But nothing came.
He watched with faraway eyes until she swam completely out of sight, a spec moving closer and closer to the bright surface above until it was taken into the light and out of his view. She was gone.
Just how long Fakir floated there silently, still fixated on that same spot, he didn't know. Once he remembered how to move, he slowly made his way over to the forgotten bouquet of flowers and gingerly picked up the lifeless buds and stems, twined tight with vine.
"I'd have given it all to you," he whispered through the waters.
His life, his love, his very existence...
Silently, he released the bouquet of water lilies from his hands, letting them gently float down until they soundlessly rested upon the ocean floor, the water gently lifting and rippling among the petals and leaves.
Ahiru wanted to chase her dreams. And he... was not a part of them.
The flowers and his unspoken feelings for her would be left to die here, alone on the ocean floor.