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The crimson scales glowed like jewels he had yet to discover. The faded bluish light coming from the upper world refracted over his tail and fins, creating iridescent patterns. His dark skin seemed unfading and, he noticed, that no scars were lightening it, not even from the time he cut his finger to break the twisted prophecy of his people.
Though mesmerized by the play of colors and lights in his scales, and the fact that now they were warm crimson instead of radiant golden, he lifted his gaze to find his dark and bright eyes picturing a shy smile.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he asked with a hint of embarrassment.
“I- I’m sorry! Your scales…”
“Yes…” he played with his fingers. “I shed from time to time.”
“Oh…” he said to not stretch the silence between them further.
Some bubbles took up the space between their bodies produced by the movement of their tails and, perhaps, the turmoil of their thoughts. Siren sighed lightly. Their reunion was anticlimactic, between the chaos of their fates, to the point they did not even greet each other. Thus, they did not know how to proceed now. Or that was what he thought because Kappa shortened the distance when he reached out his arms.
“Should we hug? You know, to say hi and that…”
“Sure,” Siren mumbled, flustered.
Gently, they intertwined their arms. Both were thankful that, in spite of the time, their bodies remembered how to fit with the other and the comfort they found doing it. They relaxed in the embrace and breathed calmly for the first time in many days. They did not need to vocalize how much they had missed each other, and, of course, they did not mention their dreams involving the other. No words were needed when they understood each other just by sharing that moment.
“Look at you!” said Kappa, suddenly, to push aside any more comments about his appearance.
“There’s not much to see,” he shrugged. “When I return to the Castle, they will chasten me. All these scars are disgusting.”
“They are scars of war!” Kappa crooned, swimming around Siren while enjoying his embarrassment.
“They are not,” he mumbled, reddening when he remembered all the pathetic situations that led to his first scars –always running away from something that wanted to attack him, rob him, eat him or the three of them!—.
Kappa noticed his sudden gloomy demeanor and grabbed his hands to squeeze them in consolation. He grinned, flirty, and Siren curved his eyebrow.
“Scars are the signature of bad boys!”
“I’m not one,” he barely smiled, entertained by his fit of optimism.
“But it makes you hotter,” he winked.
Siren blinked, scarlet tinting his cheeks with such speed that he saw little lights. Then, he only looked at Kappa’s subtle smile.
“You are saying that just to make me feel better.”
And, although he pointed that out, when Siren looked at himself reflected in Kappa’s translucent eyes, he felt that any trace of concern faded away with a sigh, in a bubble that would travel through the vast ocean until lost from his thoughts.
What mattered the most was that moment and the tender feeling that evocated their fulfilled promise of reunion.