Chapter Text
He was in the water. He couldn’t tell which way was the surface, he was being tossed around by the currents like a leaf in a breeze. His lungs were already burning for air, he couldn’t see, the salt stung his eyes, and he gasped as he was slammed against a reef, pain lancing up his shoulder. Instinctually he inhaled, choking on water, gagging and only inhaling more as he flailed. The current grabbed him again, scraping him against the jagged coral, snagging onto his arm before the current tried to throw him head over heels out into the open ocean, screaming as he felt bone snap, before finally being pulled out past the reef.
He felt unbearably heavy. He was vaguely aware of sinking, of falling deeper into the cold water, past the depths of the storm tossed waves, happy to just sink downwards, and let the current take him.
He could taste copper in his mouth, bright spots the only thing he could see, and distantly he realized he was going to drown. It really wasn't that bad.
And there was music. Serene, beautiful music, that made him smile even as water choked his lungs, soothing him with warmth. He wanted to stay in that music, forever.
He felt something wrap around him, triggering his sluggish instincts as he struggled, feeling it grasp tighter as he realized he was speeding through the water, faster than any current he’d ever heard of.
He was aware of air on his face, of being placed gently on rough stone, something prodded at his chest and he let out a choked gasp, coughing up buckets of seawater, hacking until his throat burned and he’d curled into a ball.
He was shaking with cold and pure exhaustion, his clothes were obviously soaked and the sea breeze sent chills through every pore. He tried to push himself up, but fell back down with a pained whimper, his shoulder giving out under him. His hand came away red. He heard something, words he couldn’t understand, saw something large towering over him with orange eyes, and he tried to push himself backwards, away from the thing.
It reached out to him, and he scrambled back farther into the cave, breath coming fast and sharp, eyes wide with fear. He was working on primal instincts. Large meant predator. Human meant predator. He winced again, breathing hitched from pain.
“English?” That word cut through his haze, and his head shot up, locking onto the creature’s for a quick second before darting his gaze away. “You understood that!” It exclaimed, voice echoing through the small space, making him flinch back even further, not that there was anywhere to go. The cave sloped down into the water, and sloped up maybe five feet. Still within easy reach of It.
“No, no, it’s ok, I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise! I need to go get someone who can help, but I’ll be right back, ok?” The thing hesitated waiting for a response, perhaps, but he’d already slumped over, unconscious and trembling. The merman let out a worried breath, before vanishing under the waves.
…
He swam fast and hard, practically crashing through the large kelp forest that led into his friend’s underwater cave. He needed him to be home, he doubted the mer would go out in this weather.
“Logan! Lo!” He called, looking around. The cave was also filled with kelp, though it was kept trimmed and tidy, only two to three feet tall, except for the back where Logan usually slept. On the left side of the cave, there were shelves carefully crafted of driftwood that held all manner of human artifacts. The right held makeshift nests and an artificial reef, where Logan helped rehabilitate or shelter injured or orphaned sea life he came across.
“Roman, would you please quiet down? You’re upsetting them. Not to mention me.” Logan grumbled, emerging from the kelp, swimming over to the reef and soothing an eel who had peeked his head out, then rubbing the head of a sea turtle.
Wheareas Roman had the white spotted blue tail of a Whale Shark, and shared its larger size, maybe 24 feet head to tail, Logan was closer to the human’s size. He was about 6 feet in length, his tail the black and gray striped and spotted of a Reef Shark, one gray fin emerging from his back as well.
“Sorry, I know, but I need help.” Logan’s attention snapped to his friend, the worry clear in his voice. Something was hurt, that’s the only reason he’d be this anxious.
“Let’s go.”
…
“No.” Logan said flatly, arms crossed.
“Lo, please, you know I don’t have that power.” Roman pleaded, but Logan looked unmoved.
“He’s a human. Do you know how many animals I find, tangled in their nets, starved, injured, drowned? Turtles choking on plastic bags they mistook for jelly fish, fish filled with toxins, dead spots in the ocean where nothing can survive, all because of them? They cut off shark’s fins then toss them back in the ocean to die. They throw explosives into whales to kill them for their oil. One less should not be mourned.” Logan replied, eyes flashing.
“He’s just a kid, though. He didn’t do anything wrong! They were whale watching, I saw the boat. I let them see my tail and they got so excited!” Logan looked at him disapprovingly.
“you shouldn’t take that risk. If they saw the rest of you-“ His attention was stolen by the human huddling in the back corner of the cave. He didn’t seem awake, quite, but he was talking.
“I’m sorry… please… I didn’t mean it… I’ll do better… don’t” the human flinched, as if he’d been struck. “sorry, sorry, I’m sorry…” he whimpered, curling tighter against himself. Roman sucked in a breath, looking once again to Logan.
The mer’s tail flicked uncertainly as he looked at the waterlogged human, drifting closer to the shore to assess him a bit more closely. His sweater was overly large, hanging down to almost halfway down his thighs, the arms pulled over his hands. He’d pulled the hood tight around his head. His dark pants were a bit faded, worn, his sneakers battered so he could see a toe poking through the front of one shoe, the sole separating from the other. He was too thin, too and he could see the dark bruises under his eyes from lack of sleep. It was clear whatever humans this child was under the care of were not very nurturing.
“Please Lo? I know most of them don’t deserve it but… he’s so small.” Logan could see what he meant. It wasn’t just that the human was physically smaller than the whale mer, it was how it was curled up tight, how even unconscious it was afraid, how it had clearly been hurt by its own kind. Only humans could be that cruel to their young, and it made him furious. Finally he sighed, face softening.
“Alright. You’ll have to bring him closer.” He relented. Roman swished forwards, sitting on the rocky shore, tail dangling in the water, as he very carefully scooped up the small human in his large hands. The poor thing was too weak to even try and fight him this time, merely letting out a small hiss and clenching his fists tight as Roman lowered him just above the water level before Logan.
Carefully, Logan peeled the sweater off the boy, placing it on the shore. Then he turned back to the human, wincing in sympathy at his injuries. His shoulder was torn open, angry red scrapes across the entirety of his back. He had a large lump on the back of his head, and his hair was matted with blood. He noted a multitude of old bruises on his wrists, a faded yellow bruise across his cheek. There was also a multitude of new, dark purple splotches across his body. Most alarmingly, the boy’s right arm was bent at unnatural angle at the elbow, the bone snapped clean in half, part of it sticking out through the skin.
Logan carefully held his hands over the boy’s chest, ignoring his wince and inhale of breath. He let his power flow through him and out of his hands, a soft green glow enveloping the human. Slowly, his shoulder healed, leaving not even a scar, the bruises vanished, the scrapes healed. Only the arm was left.
“I have to set this back in place before I can heal it. It’s going to hurt… a lot. He’s not going to like it, but it’s necessary. I’m going to need you to hold him still.” Logan said seriously, looking up at Roman, who had been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time. Roman nodded, shifting the human so he was laying flat across one of his hands. With the other he pressed carefully down against the human, making sure he wasn’t pushing too hard, fingers splayed so that his head was exposed.
“Ready.” Logan nodded, gripping the human’s arm, carefully guiding the bone back into place.
“It’s ok, it’s ok, I know, it hurts, I know, but you’ll be better in a sec.” Roman soothed, feeling the human trying to thrash underneath his hand. His brown eyes snapped open as he let out a strained shout.
Logan held the bone in place, green flowing from his hands as he felt his way through the bone structure, rebuilding the joint and muscle tissue, repairing the ligaments and torn structures, rebuilding the bone strength, finally letting go with a sigh.
“Done.” Logan backed up, uncomfortable now that the human was awake, and had seen him. He avoided them when at all possible, he wasn’t the show off that Roman was. He loved flouncing for boats, singing whale song to them. He could sing siren songs as well, ones so beautiful any human would gladly drown themselves for it, but Roman was too fond of the land walkers to use that power, too gentle to sing when there was any risk of humans hearing him.
The human was now struggling against Roman’s grasp, who was doing his best to calm it, but the human seemed to be too afraid or disoriented to listen. The human managed to escape Roman’s hands, and splashed into the water. He floundered for a moment, before Roman lifted him to the shore, where he collapsed in a sputtering, shivering heap.
“Oh goodness, are you alright? I’m sorry we scared you, but it was the only way to get you fixed up.” Roman explained, consciously keeping his voice soft so as not to startle it.
“What… who… are you?” He choked out, arms hugging himself tightly, scooting so he was once again leaning against the back wall, knees pulled to his chest.
“I’m Roman, that’s Logan. We are merpeople.”
“Specifically, I am a Reef Shark mer, and Roman is a Whale Shark mer, hence his size.”
“Oh great I’m surrounded by giant shark people, look if you’re gonna eat me or kill me or whatever, can you just do it? You might as well, not like anyone’ll miss me anyway.” He muttered the last sentence under his breath, shivering harder as he hugged his chest. The two mers exchanged a glance.
“We have no intent to eat you, or otherwise do you any harm.” Logan answered, tentatively. “I healed your injuries as best I could, though you may still feel some soreness in your arm as that was a rather severe injury. You may also be light headed as you did lose a lot of blood, not to mention nearly drowning.”
“fine. I’m… I’m fine… I guess. This is crazy, I’m probably hallucinating, but I’m sure it’s fine.” He whispered, rocking back and forth on his heels.
He was shaking. At this point he couldn’t tell if it was from fear or pain or cold, but it didn’t seem to matter at this point. Either this was real, and he was in a random ocean cave with two mermen or he was drowning in the ocean and this was his brain’s final death throes. He couldn’t quite decide which was worse.
“What’s wrong with him?” He heard Roman ask distantly.
“He’s too cold. Humans don’t have the resistance to cold that we do. Our bodies regulate it like any other ocean creature, but they aren’t built to withstand it. We need to get him properly dried and warmed, or he’ll get hypothermia.” His teeth were chattering, and darkness was closing in once again. He barely cared as he felt Roman scoop him up once again. He looked up tiredly as Roman held him close to his face.
“I know you’re scared right now. I know you have no reason to trust us.” He hesitated, “I know the other humans didn’t treat you very well, so there’s no reason to believe we would be kind either. But I promise we’re going to help you. I promise I won’t let anything hurt you. I’m going to swim very fast with you, and I’m going to cup you in my hands so you’ll stay as dry as possible. I promise I won’t crush you. Ok?” Roman asked, looking at the human for any sign of aquiescence.
“Roman, what are you doing? We should hurry before it gets worse.” Logan replied.
“I want him to know what’s going on. It’s important he knows so he’s not scared. So he can decide to trust us.” Roman replied, looking back down at the kid. His eyes were closed, but he let out a long breath, nodding once. Roman cupped his hand over the human, heart cracking as he felt how hard the little thing was shaking, and how it clung to his hand for dear life.
“The sea is still pretty rough. I’ll have to stay near the surface. Are you sure you want to come?” Roman asked, glancing at Logan.
“Yes. You dragged me into this, I might as well see it through.” He replied, though Roman could tell he didn’t mean it harshly. If there was one thing Logan couldn’t stand it was creatures being abused or mistreated, and it was clear this human had been both. Without further ado, they swam out of the cave.