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Kae was scared. He sat on the bottom of the boat staring at the creature beneath the glass. The thing stared back smiling widely, before darting away.
The ship's captain answered Kae's unspoken question "that was one of the merfolk". " It's why your here in the first place, it's going to eat you " Kae's eyes widened "why?!"
"It's what we brought you for brat" came the snapped reply.
The captain grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up the stairs. The crew stood on the ship deck all looking bored, along with a well dressed man Kae didn't recognize who looked very pleased. Kae was dragged to the edge of the boat and stood there shaking.
He didn't want to die.
"It's nothing personal" the ship's captain said "we just have a very high paying man who enjoys feeding people to the mer".
Kae's eyes filled with tears, he didn't want to die.
The captain shoved him off the edge, and Kae screamed.
The water was freezing and Kae didn't know how to swim.He was almost immediately dragged under the water. Squeezing his eyes shut He attempted to scream again but unfortunately only ended up inhaling water.
He kicked wildly but whatever had grabbed him obviously had no intention of letting him go. Kae opened his eyes.
Oh.
It was the mer that held him.
The creature pulled him closer, and snapped its mouth open. Kae stared into the mers mouth, it was light blue and lined with hundreds of shark-like teeth.
Kae's hands were delicately placed in the mer's mouth, and immediately swallowed. It gently licked him in the face before swallowing his head and shoulders.
It swallowed once more leaving just Kae's legs sticking out. Three more swallows left Kae completely inside of it's belly.
The mer had been extremely careful not to bite Kae, it hadn't even scratched him . Why? Kae was not sure, but at least he wasn't bleeding.
"Please let me out" Kae begged as he tried hard not to cry.
"No".
"P-please I'll d-do anything"
"No".
I-if you w-w-won't let me o-out, t-then I-I-I'll get out m-myself".
The mer snorted "have fun".
Kae thrashed wildly, but it didn't seem to bother the mer.
The mer poked him " I think your gonna have to try a little harder than that ".
Kae struggled harder.
"If your trying to make me sick it's not working".
Kae burst in into tears "p-please i-i don't w -want to d-die".
The mer sighed exasperatedly before gently placing its hand on him "calm down I'm not going to hurt you" .
Y-your not? "
"I'm not, your in my first stomach".
"W-what's t-that got to d-do w-with anything?"
" I can't digest stuff in my first stomach, so I didn't couldn't hurt you even if I wanted to".
"Y-you p-promise".
"Yeah".
Kae slowly relaxed at the mer's words, "d-do you have a name?"
" Yes".
"W-what is it?"
"Azure".
"I'm Kae".
"Why d-did you eat me?"
"You would have drowned or some other mer would have eaten you which probably would not have turned out well, and I didn't think I would scare you that bad".
"Oh"
"Kae I have a question"
"What is it?"
"Would you like me to take you home with me or somewhere else" .
Kae blinked, Azure was asking if he wanted to go home? He was quiet for a minute, there wasn't anyone or thing back where he used to live, he had no family and no home. "I....i'd like to go with you".
"Alright but you don't get to complain if I eat you again" .
He nodded before realizing Azure couldn't see him, "that's fine".
"I'll let you out when I get home ".
"Ok"
Kae yawned, he was tired and Azures belly was very squishy. It felt like he was being hugged from all angles".
"You tired kid?"
Kae yawned again "yeah".
"You can go to sleep if you want"
" Ok"
Kae snuggled into Azures stomach "I guess it's not so bad in here". No, no it wasn't bad at all, sure it was sticky, dark and squished, but it was also warm and soft.
"Good night Azure" he mumbled.
" .......sleep tight kid".
But Kae was already asleep.