Chapter Text
The sun was setting, casting the ocean in a soft yellow light and people started retreating back home. The sand was still warm, crickets slowly filled the air with their song and a chilly breeze made her shiver for a moment. By all accounts, it was a lovely evening, anyone would kill for a view like this. For her, though, it seemed to be mocking her: how dare the atmosphere be so calm on such an occasion?
She twisted a strand of hair, nervously looking between her companion and the vast body of water before them. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet, but she couldn’t protest either, it’d just be delaying the inevitable.
Eventually, her partner stood up and turned, the setting sun casting a shadow over their figure. They grinned, only the bright white of their very sharp teeth visible in the shadows of their face. She gulped and stood up as well, too distracted to notice she’d stepped on a small pool of sea-water. After a minute, she slowly opened her mouth and--
Snowhill woke up and immediately knew something was wrong. It took her a minute to notice she was in her bedroom, the white curtains letting in the early morning sun. She could still smell the sea, feel the chilly breeze on her face and the gut-wrenching feeling of anxiousness. She groaned, already exhausted at a day that hadn't even begun yet. She slowly blinked at the white ceiling of her room, eyes still heavy with sleep and brain struggling to properly wake up. As per routine, she began mentally listing her tasks for the day, with luck it’d help her to remember what she was supposed to do today.
- Get up
- Brush fur.
- Brush hair.
- Get dressed, uniform’s on the chair.
- Wash face, teeth and brush hair again.
- Grab a cup of tea before leaving.
...Uniform?
Ah, shit, today was Monday. The first day of class, it was even marked with a huge red circle on her calendar; checking her phone, she noticed it was marked there as well.
Alright, no need to panic, the anxiousness was probably just “first-day jitters” (as her grandma called them). She sighed and, reluctantly, began the process of actually getting up to start another dull week of March. Her hoofs barely made a sound against the soft plush of the carpet, she grabbed the ridiculously big brush off her nightstand and made way to the bathroom. As usual, her brother was hogging it and, as usual, she angrily pounded the door with her fist as hard as possible.
“Dude c’mon!!” she stomped her hoof impatiently “I gotta brush and you’ve been in there for hours!”
“No I haven’t” came the muffled voice of her brother, calm and annoyingly awake “You just got up, go have breakfast or something. You never brush your fur anyways”.
“Don’t make me break down the door ‘cause you know I will”
“Oh yeah? What’re you gonna say to mom then?”
“That you made me do it, you stupid little--”
“Stop fighting and come get breakfast!!” Snowhill jumped, letting out a startled “baa” and dropping her brush “Leave your brother alone, you’re already late as it is!”
Grumbling, the half-goat picked up the brush and made way for the dining room. Her mother, a centaur named Alexa, was waiting for her with her arms crossed; she seemed angry and it wasn’t even 7:00 AM.
“...Sorry, couldn’t sleep last night so I didn’t hear the alarm...”.
“I can tell” Alexa cupped her face and turned it towards the light, a worried frown on her face “You’ve got huge rings under your eyes, poor thing. Was it another nightmare?”
She turned towards the stove and continued to mix whatever was in the small pot, her black tail swishing in agitation. Snowhill took a seat at the table, grabbed her mug (the biggest one) and took a deep breath; oh yeah, black tea with no sweetener, the perfect way to wake up on a Monday morning.
She thought about her dream for a moment. Her heart felt heavy, like it was missing something...or someone? And it just couldn’t deal with this, whatever (whoever?) it was, not being close-by.
“It didn’t feel like a nightmare. I mean, it was weird? But it wasn’t scary or anything” she drank a bit of her tea and smiled, already at peace “Didn’t have a sleep paralysis episode either”.
“That’s good! You’ve been having those a lot lately”.
“Yeah well, it’s not like I can actually control them”.
“Don’t you take that tone with me, I’m just worried”.
“S-Sorry, ‘m just tired”.
She heard the bathroom door open and close and sighed, grabbing her brush once again. Snowhill hated going to the bathroom after her brother, he always left the tiny room so damp and hot, it made her fur fluff up and then it was almost impossible to brush it properly. He always had the stupid excuse of “well I’m a mermaid so I can’t help it if I need water”. It was absolute bullshit and he never got in trouble for it. Stupid Ponce. Stupid steamy bathroom.
She brushed as much as she could, softly mumbling curses about her stupidly thick, brown fur. Surely no other hybrid had to deal with this? Her mom was a centaur and she only had to brush her hair and tail! It was so unfair, she didn’t ask to be covered hoof-to-neck in fur; the warmer months made it very difficult to cover up.
Thirty minutes later, she was done. The fur on her back was still a bit tangled, that could wait though. Her mom could help her with that after class but she’d be late if she didn’t leave now. She went back to her room and dressed quickly; it was difficult to pull the thick, black turtleneck over her horns but she managed. The skirt was a bit easier though,
her mom nagging her for not eating breakfast (again) and taking too long in the bathroom (...again). Snowhill bit her tongue and frowned, her thick eyebrows making her eye bags look even darker.
“Don’t look at your mom like that or she’ll grab you by the horns” her father Lazar walked out the door, his trusty spellbook under his arm.
“You know I will, don’t you test me!” she waved her fist in the air, flicking her ears and tail clearly irritated. Her brother snickered and Alexa turned to him, furious “Don’t laugh at your sister, you’re not out of the water yet young man. Stop leaving scales all over the bathroom, or so help me!”
Snowhill and Ponce looked at eachother and turned tail, running to the car and their awaiting father, the witch barely containing his laughter through the whole ordeal.
The ride to school was normal, but she was still anxious. She couldn’t stop bouncing her leg, tapping on the window and twisting the long sleeves of her sweater. Ponce even kicked her seat once, telling her to stop fidgeting because it was making him and their dad nervous. She couldn’t help it though! She was nervous and she didn’t know why, which annoyed her because she usually had such a good handle on her emotions. Which, in turn, made her anxious at the thought that she was so out of it today. Maybe a disaster was about to happen? An earthquake? She was usually pretty good at predicting them, and this didn’t feel like that, so it was probably something else.
A test? Nah, it’s the first day of class, they didn’t even have homework yet.
Maybe she forgot to return a book? But the librarian would’ve called after a day, that couldn’t be either.
So, unable to figure out what made her so anxious, she was back to square one: anxiously stomping her hoof, tapping the window and tugging on her hair and sweater.
By the time they’de arrived at the school she was so wired up, she opened the door and tried to rush out, resulting in almost falling flat on her face had Lazar not grabbed her by the horn.
“Jesus, what is wrong with you today?” he helped her get settled, patting her hair to make it a bit less messy “You okay? Is there something you’re not telling us?”
“No, it’s...uh, I dunno? I’m just nervous” Snowhill grabbed her backpack from the backseat and stood still for a moment “...Dad, is it normal to dream of the sea?”
“The sea? Sure, a lot of people do” he shrugged nonchalantly “It usually means change, as most water-centered dreams do. The sea focuses more on your emotions”.
“...’kay” she mumbled, turning around and walking towards the school’s entrance “thanks. I’ll, uh, see you later”.
“Bye! Have a good day and please be careful!”
She nodded and continued walking, Ponce quickly ditching her at the sight of his friends. She didn’t mind though, he’d always be the most social of the two of them, it made sense he’d want to catch up with his friends as soon as possible; it also gave her some much needed alone time. Snowhill looked around at the different creatures arriving at the school, some of which she recognized as her own classmates. Not like they talked much though, but it was a relief to know she’d be stuck with the same people from the past 3 years.
A huge bus was also parked right outside the entrance, a small group of sea-creatures running towards the school, completely unaware of the huge pools of water they were leaving behind. She smiled behind her turtleneck, they were probably first years, fresh out of the water (hehehe) and stupidly excited to start a new school year on land.
She continued walking, stepping over the puddles as much as she could; sea water made her fur stiff and hoofs itchy, it was the last thing she needed today. The doorman, a gargoyle who was actually the History teacher, smiled and nodded at her. He was nice enough, not her favorite teacher by a long stretch, though he did seem to have a soft spot for her and Ponce.
“Morning, miss! Excited to be back?” his wings flared and a couple students ducked, sending annoyed stares at the both of them.
“Yeah. I
sea
we got a new
shipment
of exchange students?”
He chuckled before nodding, “Yes! In fact, we’ll be receiving one in our own class. I hope you’ll help them get settled?”
She replied in affirmative, her blank expression not betraying how confused she really was. An exchange student in the 3rd year? And a sea creature no less? They had one more year before leaving school, it made absolutely no sense. Sea creatures usually arrived on land during the first year, it was extremely rare for them to do so later; almost unheard of, in fact.
The History teacher dismissed her, mentioning the welcome ceremony would be starting soon and she’d better hurry. Grumbling a bit, Snowhill slowly made her way to the main courtyard...or, rather, the only courtyard; it was a small school after all. As expected, it was absolutely packed, students trying (and failing) to find an empty space not too close to the front, but not too far on the back to be called out. She stood for a moment surveying the area, then walked straight forward to the furthest wall of the courtyard; the small corner had a nice, cool shade and it was secluded from everyone else.
Perfect!
She carefully sat down on the floor, watching out for any stray piece of gum that might stick to her fur. Once settled, she set her backpack on her lap and waited for the ceremony to start. As per usual, most creatures were grouping up with others from their own species; small fairies flew by in a triangle formation, centaurs and minotaurs were rough-housing in the middle of the courtyard, and so on. The sea creatures from the bus were walking around together, almost like they were on a field trip, taking pictures and looking around the school completely star-struck.
She huffed, amused at their antics. It was almost cute to see them so excited, it wouldn’t last for more than a week but, in the meantime, she was happy they could enjoy their first visit to the surface.
“Students!” the principal, an ogre, stood in front of the crowd “Please find a seat, the ceremony will start in fifteen minutes!”
Snowhill knew, of course, that “we’ll start in 15 minutes” actually meant “we’ll start as soon as we can find the microphone”. She’d seen a second-year witch perform an invisibility spell, sneak into the teacher’s lounge, steal the microphone and hide it. The girl was doing the lord’s work honestly, no one wanted to stand around for an hour and listen to the same speech every single year.
“Oh for sure, that sounds really stupid!”
She startled so bad, she jumped a bit and let out a small bleat. Shit, had she said that outloud? Was it a teacher who heard her?
“No teacher, just me!” a complete stranger sat down next to her, way too close for comfort “You talk to yourself a lot, huh? So do I! In fact, you wouldn’t believe the conversations I’ve had--”
A girl was sitting down next to her. When did that happen? Had she really been so distracted? Like, this was a whole-ass person, how on earth did she not notice someone sitting next to her? Not to mention, there was something so weird about this girl too something almost...familiar? About her; instinctevely, she thought about her dream. The longing she felt for her mysterious companion on the beach, how it (now) felt like she’d finally found what she’d been missing since then. What on God’s green earth was happening?
While the stranger babbled on and on, Snowhill silently studied her. This girl was tall, probably a foot or two taller than her (not like it was hard anyways); her hair black hair seemed to have a weird texture, probably dyed? Her scales shimmered in the early-morning sun, giving her...blue-ish? colored skin a slight glow. She took notice of how, even though they wore the exact same uniform, this girl had somehow managed to wear actual combat boots to school.Her face was very angular too, sharp features that probably indicated she was some sort of predator on her natural habitat; sharp claws, sharp eyes and very white, very bright--
“Sharp teeth” she mumbled, the realization feeling like a punch in the gut. “ Sharp teeth just like my dream”.
“Huh?” the other girl paused, her brown eyes open wide.
“Sorry, uh, nevermind me” Snowhill hid deeper into her turtleneck, covering most of her face with her own long, chestnut hair “What’re you doing here? Do I know you?”
“Oh! Sorry, I kinda thought you were someone else so I came over to say hi. Sorry, sorry!” she waved her hands in a soothing motion, her sharp claws glinting in the sun “Buuuut...now that I’m here, this is a great opportunity to get to know each other!”
She continued to talk, Snowhill lifting an eyebrow clearly unimpressed. After a few minutes, she cleared her throat and held her hand up “Look, I’m clearly not the person you thought I was. You better go look for your friend somewhere else”.
“Aw, but there’s no need! We’re having a great time!!”
“...Sure. Anyways, I got a few things to take care of, so I’m gonna take off”.
She stood up, annoyed at having to leave such a good spot just because some people clearly didn’t know how to take a hint. The other girl stared for a moment, perplexed, before also standing up as close to her as possible; displeased, Snowhill noted that she was, in fact, a good head taller than her.
“Cool! I’ll go with you then!”
“T-There’s no need, just go look for your friend or go find your classroom. I’m busy” she walked off quickly, her hoofs making a harsh “clack” sound at her quick steps.
“Wait! Could you maybe tell me where it is? I mean, it’s not a big school, but I’ve never been here so I’m a bit lost”
Every two steps for her seemed to be a single one for this girl, she quickly caught up and followed her, still talking about the “many interesting things I’ve seen on land!”.
“Fuck. Fuck-dammit, why does this always happen to me” she thought annoyed, suddenly stopping and turning around to face her companion “Look, if I tell you where your classroom is, do you promise to leave me alone?”
The other girl smiled wide and nodded, her sharp teeth exactly the same as the figure from her dream. It made absolutely no sense. They didn’t know each other, she was sure this was the first time she’d seen this person, yet she also felt so...relieved? It felt like she’d been looking for her for ages, but the situation was so weird she couldn’t decide on whether to trust her or not.
For now, she’d focus on one thing at a time, she knew how to do that much at least. She extended her hand and the other girl handed her a piece of paper, which included her schedule, classroom and head teacher. Suppressing a groan, she handed them back and began walking again.
“We’re in the same class” the stranger let out a small “whoo!” and followed her “The classroom’s on the third floor, you can pick whatever seat you want, no one cares on the first day”.
“Awesome!!” she actually clapped at that, what was wrong with this girl? “Oh! I don’t think I caught your name before?”
“Snowhill” she blurted out, ready to be done with the conversation.
“Cool! I’m Coral, it’s very nice to meet you!”
And she hugged her, lifting her up to smush their cheeks together.
The goat’s eyes popped wide open, she let out a small bleat in surprise and completely froze up. What the hell? What in the fresh hell? !
She could feel the panic trying to rise and being promptly squashed down by a completely new feeling. She’d been hugged plenty before, her family was very touchy and clingy, but this felt…
Right. It feels right, like we’ve done it so many times before. I missed it. No. No I didn’t, what the hell? Why would I miss it? We just met!! But I did miss it. A lot. I’ve wanted this for years. No, not years. Days? Months? Minutes? Decades?
It was all so conflicting and weird, her mind seemingly shut off while her body acted on pure instinct. Before she could react, Snowhill lifted her leg as much as she could and brought it down on Coral’s foot; the combat boots were no match for her hoof, she stomped hard and dug it into the other’s foot for good measure.
“OW!!!” naturally, Coral let her go and she fell flat on her ass.
“What is wrong with you?!” she yelled, stood up and pointed her horns at the sea creature “Do you go around hugging people you don’t know?! Is that fuckin’ normal to you?!”
“What’s wrong with you ?! Why’d you step on me?!” admittedly, she looked hilarious jumping on only one foot.
“Don’t turn this on me, I didn’t give you permission to touch me in the first place!!”
Their yelling had attracted a small crowd , some were actually encouraging them to start a fist-fight. The more rational students had run off to get a teacher, while others took out their cellphones and were silently recording. Snowhill took a deep breath, her nostrils flared and she continued to point her horns at the other girl.
“Touch me again and I swear to God, I’ll ram my horns so far up your ass, your descendants will feel it”.
Coral stared wide-eyed, her mouth agape and still clutching her injured foot in one hand. She didn’t seem scared, if anything she looked offended and upset at the threat. Why though?! They were strangers for crying out loud!
A few teachers interrupted their little stand-off, two of them helped Coral to the infirmary while another escorted Snowhill to the principal’s office. The crowd dissipated, no longer interested as there was no fight to record; the gossip, however, would surely last for days. Not too shabby for a first day of class.
A while later, Snowhill found herself standing in front of the infirmary door. The conversation replayed in her mind like a broken record.
“Why should I apologize?!” she yelled, the principal just stared in silence “ She touched me without consent!!!”
“You physically assaulted a student” the goat opened her mouth and he held up his hand, universal sign to shut up “Not any student, mind you. You physically assaulted an exchange student, on her first day on land no less, who came from one of the most renewed deep-sea schools in the city. I hope you’re proud of yourself”.
That got her to shut up even faster than the hand. Shit, it’d been her first day on land? What a good first impression she must’ve gotten. Snowhill groaned, now embarrassed, anxious and mortified.
“First things first” continued the director, picking up the phone “you’re going to apologize. You’ll help her with anything she needs: be it walking her to her classes, holding her books or getting her things she might need. You’re at her beck and call, is that clear?”
“Yes, sir…”
“Second, we’re calling your parents” he began dialing the number “I know this is your first offense, but it’s rather serious so serious measurements need to be taken. Now, go on, go to the infirmary and apologize. Your parents will be picking you both up, then they’ll decide where to go from there”.
She’d even been suspended for the rest of the week. It was so unfair, she’d just defended herself! Why on earth did she have to apologize?! She didn’t even feel bad, she was still pissed.
...Except that was a lie. She felt awful. In fact, she felt like an asshole.
Sighing, Snowhill gently knocked on the door. Of course she was at fault here, a mere hug didn’t warrant a broken foot; she’d exaggerated and now needed to face the consequences.
“Come in, it’s open!”
Taking another deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside.
The infirmary wasn’t anything fancy really. A small room equipped with the standard bed, uncomfortable plastic chair, a small desk and a cabinet with medicine. Coral was sitting up on the bed, her foot propped up with a few pillows and bandaged tightly. She was holding a mug, steam wafting up and filling the room with a strong smell of mint. The sea creature didn’t even look surprised, she just lifted an eyebrow and gestured to the chair next to the bed.
“Sit” she took a small sip and winced, the tea was too strong “You look like you’re about to pass out”.
“ ‘m not gonna pass out.” mumbled the goat, sitting down nonetheless “Besides, you shouldn’t be worrying about me, I broke your foot”.
“Of course I shouldn’t but, see,” she set down the cup on the desk, turned to face Snowhill and crossed her arms, still unimpressed “unlike others, I’m not an insensitive asshole, so I like to worry about people”
Wow, ouch. Low blow. Absolutely warranted, but still a low blow.
“S-Sorry” she tugged a few strands of her hair, nervous “I, uh, came to apologize. I didn’t mean to s-stomp your foot. You kinda...y-you freaked me out! Why did you hug me?! We don’t even know each other!” her temper betrayed her, as always.
“I know!!” Coral yelled back, startling the goat into silence and waving her hands around “I don’t know why I did it!! I-I just, I just reached out ‘cause it felt--”
“Normal”
They stared at each other for a moment, both caught off guard.
“You...you felt it too?” the sea creature asked, her fins wiggling a bit.
“Yeah” the goat answered, her own ears flicking down “I...I panicked. It was weird, ‘cause I wanted you to keep hugging me, but I don’t know you. S-So...I panicked. Sorry”.
“It’s okay”
“Of course it’s not okay, don’t say that!”
“Well, yeah, I’m still pissed at you but I’d rather move past this. I’m tired, my foot hurts and I’m hungry. I just wanna go home”.
The goat thought about it for a moment, then hesitantly stood up and walked to the foot of the bed “I can help you with one of those, if you’ll let me”.
Coral stared but ultimately shrugged, silently giving her the ‘go ahead’. Nodding, Snowhill grabbed a small pouch tied to her skirt, taking out a few plants and gently placing them on the other’s foot; mint, rosemary and lavender.
“T-The mint and lavender are to calm your nerves” she lifted her hands and hovered over her foot, closing her eyes “and the rosemary’s for the inflammation”
Confused, Coral just nodded, she guessed that if it failed at the very least her foot would smell quite pleasantly.
The room was silent for a moment, then Snowhill muttered an incantation too low for her to hear. After a minute, the plants began glowing with a soft green color; the sea creature stared amazed, she’d known creatures on land used different forms of magic but she’d never seen anything like this. She lifted her hand, very intent on touching the plants, but Snowhill grabbed it before she could.
“If you touch them,” her eyes still closed, she adjusted the grip on her hand, almost gently cradling it “this is gonna hurt more than it needs to”.
“What? It doesn’t hur--”
And then it hurt.
White, hot pain like she’d never felt before; she wrestled octopuses and sharks on a regular basis, so she was pretty used to pain. Coral gasped and clenched her teeth, gripping the goat’s hand tightly.Admittedly, a bit harder than was necessary, but she felt like she was at least owed that much. Snowhill winced a bit but continued, her focus directed at completing the spell. After a minute, the plants stopped glowing and actually melted into her skin what--
“What the fuck?!” she panted, the pain slowly fading away.
“Don’t freak out, it’s supposed to do that.” the goat let go of her hand, shook hers for a minute and sat down on the chair “Fixing your foot is the least I could do, but I’m begging you to keep quiet, I don’t want a repeat of the first year. Just give it a minute before actually standing up”.
She wanted to ask what exactly happened in the first year, but she got the feeling the other girl wouldn’t tell her even if she asked nicely. So, they sat in silence for a moment, both too exhausted to bother with small talk. Coral sipped from her (disgusting) mint tea, while Snowhill reclined a bit on the chair trying (and failing) to quench her nausea.
Eventually, the goat sat up again and said “Your foot should be fine now, no need to go to a doctor. I-I mean, you still should get an x-ray at the very least, but it’s not broken anymore”.
“No shit, for real?!” she didn’t like to swear, but it’d been a long day full of unexpected events.
She quickly stood up confirming that, in fact, her foot was no longer broken. Excited, she walked around for a bit around the small room; she’d never felt better in her life, whatever magic the other girl had done worked wonders.
“It’s healing magic.”
Wait. Did I say that out loud? Coral turned and looked at the goat; she probably had, she did have a habit of talking to herself a lot.
“Technically, I’m not supposed to do it, regulations and all that. But uh, it’s cheaper than going to the hospital so...yeah” the goat grabbed her cold tea, poured it down the sink and walked over to the thermos.
Coral watched her silently, sitting down on the bed once again. They lapsed into a comfortable silence while Snowhill poured them both tea, lavender and black tea. She wondered how often the other girl hung around the infirmary, she clearly knew where most things were and moved around with ease. This was probably the most calm she’d ever seen her.
Wait, we just met. How would I know that?
“Here”
She looked down (hehehe) at the offered mug, a much gentle smell wafting from it. Eagerly, she took a small sip and sighed; oh yeah, this tea was so much better than the other one.
“Sorry again.” Snowhill sat down again on the chair, staring up at her “F-For real. I, uh, didn’t mean to stomp on your foot. It’s your first day on land and I ruined...s-so, uh, I hope I can make it up to you”.
“...It’s okay” Coral laughed at the others expression “Really, I mean it this time! I shouldn’t have hugged you without permission. Still...I would like it if we could get along from now on, so!”
She stood up once again, extending her hand and smiling brightly.
“The name’s Coral! This is my first day on the surface, so I hope we can get along!”
The goat stared for a minute before laughing a small, soft smile on her face “Nice to meet you. I’m Snowhill, I’ll help you with whatever I can”.
They shook hands and, completely unaware, both thought the exact same thing,
Huh. Fits right in.