Work Text:
In a storm-struck night of turbulent waves, a false queen in flowing robes swam out and searched for his youngest daughter. His pale hands stained with his lover's lifeblood, his long hair decorated with the very pearls he once slotted into her hair at their wedding. The false queen flung open the bedroom door and found the young princess gone.
Spirited away with the waves, out of the Sea of Eternity.
Out of sight, out of memory, forever.
From that day on, the Sea of Eternity started living up to its name and prepared to seal itself in ice until the end of time.
For the coral in her hair, twisting like antlers, bells around her tail, jingling with every flick, they gave her the name Suzuka.
For her grace in battle, Nether Bow by her side, her prowess with the sword, Shadowchaser shining bright, they gave her the title of Gozen.
Suzuka Gozen. Powerful. Brave. Undefeated.
Many legends surround her, so many that sometimes even Suzuka Gozen herself cannot tell which ones are true and which ones are plain lies. A couple of the crab spirits started to claim that she was one of the most powerful yokai in the world; comparable to even the demon kings. She wants to say she doubts that, because she's also heard them claim an octopus on a ship as a future distributor of souls and gold. Although, it does make her kind of happy to hear others praising her as one of the best, no matter if it's true or not.
She knows she must have come from somewhere, even if she does not remember her birthplace. Suzuka Gozen is pretty sure she did not spontaneously appear out of tsunami tides and sea salt like the stories said.
Yet sometimes, when she's resting by the crashing waves with her haul of the day, roasting freshly caught fish into charred messes, she wonders if she really was born from the ocean. Where else, apart from its majestic depths, could she have remembered such haunting music? What else, apart from its all-encompassing embrace, could have produced such ethereal singing?
Maybe it's not the sea itself. She hopes she could hear that music again one day.
It's so warm, and it reminds her of something that feels like friendship, yet so much deeper.
She would later learn that it is the warmth of a family.
The day before she met Tamura, the man she would call her father, Suzuka Gozen got into an argument with a seagull spirit about whether flying or swimming is better.
Flying, the seagull argued, was better because the winds do not feel damp like water does. The sky is also clear of obstacles and concealed predators, thus much safer.
Swimming, Suzuka Gozen countered, was better precisely because you are surrounded by water. Floating is effortless and the sea embraces you, carrying you forth to beautiful and unexplored places. You'll never know what you'll find swimming in the sea, whether the currents will bring you glowing coral, hidden stories, or the notes of a song you didn't even know you'd lost.
The seagull then perked up with the statement that swimming and flying were the same because they are both experiences of freedom that chase away the stress of being landbound. That there was no difference between the two because, in the end, both water currents and wind currents take you not to places you want, but places you need, even if you don't know it at the time.
Suzuka Gozen didn't know how to argue with that philosophical statement, so she resolved it in her special fail-proof method of winning all arguments: punching him until he flew away crying.
He wasn't wrong, but she just couldn't stand that self-satisfied smirk on his face.
In the streets of Heian-Kyo, when Suzuka Gozen had wandered away from Tamura to gawk at the trinkets and snacks of street vendors, she happened upon a wandering fortune-teller. A lively girl, wearing red string in her hair and carrying a pack much too big for her. For someone that appeared so short, her voice was so vibrant that even Suzuka Gozen, picking toffee apples from a stall across the street, couldn't help but be drawn in due to pure curiosity, let alone the slowly expanding crowd surrounding the girl.
"...and here are your matchmaking charms! Remember to take the initiative if you really love her! Time waits for no one!"
Couples or singles came and went, entering with nervous or loving expressions and leaving with happy, sometimes blushing faces, the occasional bright red charm around their fingers. Halfway through, a messenger came to inform Suzuka Gozen that Tamura was caught up in some business that would take longer than he initially thought - she was free to explore the capital by herself for the day.
Yet of all the places she could have been seeing; the gilded arches of the royal palace, the bustling shops in the shotengai, or even the cold and noble estate of the Minamoto clan, she stayed here for the whole day. All the way until the sun began casting golden rays as it sank below the horizon, she stayed watching the fortune teller speak of relationships, bonds, and love. Until the crowd began dwindling and the people leaving, and she was the only one that remained.
"And our last customer for the day! How can I help you!"
Suzuka Gozen hesitated, and asked, "Could you do a reading for me?"
"Of course, of course! Got someone on your mind?" the girl grinned. Still filled with endless energy, as if she had not been busy for an entire day.
"Oh, um, you misunderstood." Suzuka Gozen was vaguely taken aback. "I just want a general reading."
"Oh, general reading, no worries." The girl seemed slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, she took her hand without a second word, furrowed her brows and concentrated.
In the end, she frowned. "I sense a dragon fate in you."
"Dragon fate?" Suzuka Gozen asked.
"Yes! This is a fate usually present in royalty or exceptionally powerful warriors. Are you perhaps from a warrior family?"
"Ah, I suppose so."
"Then that's it, but it's a curious dragon fate I sense from you. Inseparably tied to the depths of the ocean, I would describe it more as a sea dragon, or..."
"...a mermaid." the girl concluded.
"You have the bloodline of the merfolk in you." said the girl. "I can tell you're a spirit but everyone has their own reasons for disguising - even me. So don't worry, I understand the need for secrecy. However, it seems like it's a very strong dragon fate in you, very pure too."
"Is there anything that associates mermaids with occasional memories of haunting singing?" Suzuka Gozen asked.
The girl pondered. "The only mermaids I know of who can sing beautifully enough that the impression of the song still remains after years are those from the legendary Sea of Eternity. From the stories, however, it is only a vague emotion that is evoked. For you to remember even the melody and voice, the singer must be very talented indeed."
Talented, Suzuka Gozen thought, was an understatement. That was a song straight from the melancholic heart of the sea. Even if that legendary Sea of Eternity was a kingdom full of talented singers, that person must be the most talented of them all.
"So that's about it, I suppose!" lost in her musing, Suzuka Gozen hadn't realized the girl had packed up her fortune-telling stands and was about to leave. She managed to heave her oversized pack over her shoulders with much wobbling and prepared to start on her way.
"Wait!" Suzuka Gozen reacted. "How should I address you?"
"Nowadays I'm just a wandering merchant." the girl smiled and waved. "Though back in the day they called me Enmusubi no Kami!"
She didn't see the girl again until much later when she heard the news of a wandering goddess who had found her own match in the demon domain. By then, however, she had much bigger mysteries to piece together and news to catch up on.
Ironic, that to find a family of her own, she had to lose the first family she had.
Tamura disappeared amidst the clashing of blades as she took Ootakemaru away, diving into the welcoming embrace of the sea that promises refuge from the hands of humans. As the cries of men drowned out, Ootakemaru was uncharacteristically silent, as if he realized the ocean currents which flowed past her face carried away more than just salt water.
In the numbing silence, surrounded by the warmth of the waves, she flicked her powerful tail for the first time since what felt like a lifetime ago. Swimming deeper and deeper into the sea, Suzuka Gozen once again remembered the singing from her lost childhood that she never managed to find.
She thought perhaps that this outcome was the world's way of reminding her the sea was where she truly belonged, and to not mix amongst the humans on land in a place alien to her. To find the lost music in her life, but above all, to find the love of family and protect them.
Ootakemaru on the other hand didn't have such deep thoughts. He just hoped the human who Suzuka Gozen called father would be alright, if only for her sake.
After messing about Kyoto for so long, in the end, it all led back to the sea.
The Sea of Eternity. Aptly named, Suzuka Gozen thought. Even after 200 years, the sea will always remain that beautiful, unfathomable, safe haven for eternity.
In the horizon, where the sea meets sky, the setting sun paints the blue sky with streaks of orange fire. Its rays shine like strokes from an artist's brush, painting with the universe as their canvas.
"When Ootakemaru first arrived at Heian-kyo, it was also a sunset like this." a voice drifted from behind. Suzuka Gozen turned to see Yao Bikuni, the seer, walking up the rocky cliff to stand beside her. "Now perhaps, if he is not in the underworld, his spirit would also be looking over the sea under the same sunset."
"Perhaps." Suzuka Gozen echoed, curling her tail about nether bow. The Sea of Eternity. Where it all started.
Yao Bikuni noticed her absentmindedness. "Thinking about that place?"
She shook her head. "Ever since small, I've remembered a beautiful song, but I could never remember the face of the singer, or where I heard it. Yet it is as if the ocean and this Sea of Eternity we speak of... will definitely be where I'll find it. Although..."
"...I cannot place this emotion." she concludes with difficulty.
"There is a feeling that arises when you've revisited somewhere from long ago, especially someplace dear to your heart." answered Yao Bikuni.
“Then this feeling, what’s it called?”
“It is called nostalgia.”
The mermaid princess they met didn't leave a good impression on her at first. She was arrogant and aloof, although Suzuka Gozen begrudgingly admit she had a heart with true dedication to her home.
Proudly she introduced them to the beauty of the Sea of Eternity: beautiful gilded buildings, bioluminescent pearl drapings, and delectable delicacies exquisite enough to be classified as works of art.
"The love we weave throughout this sea is infinite, and so too is the songs of our people's wishes and dedication to our home." the mermaid princess declared arrogantly. "After all, the singing voice of us mermaids is the most beautiful in the world."
Despite this, even as they began warming up to each other, sharing stories of Mt Suzuka and the lost childhood Suzuka Gozen never knew, the mermaid princess didn't actually sing throughout all this time.
Then the false queen of the merfolk made his move and revealed the truth to the world. Suzuka Gozen was gravely injured but together with this arrogant but noble princess, they finally managed to vanquish him.
The restraint of bloodline, however, was an obstacle until the very end.
"You can't!" Suzuka Gozen cried. "You don't have the merdragon bloodline, the murex halberd will kill you!"
But the mermaid princess just smiled as she held the halberd, even as it cut her hand and slowly dyed the waters between them red. Suzuka Gozen was sure she wouldn't make it. She was already losing too much blood, and the ice crept inwards to a point where even she would have trouble undoing it with the power of the sea. This seemingly weak princess that had never experienced the cruel baptism of warfare, taking a task of such monumental extent -
Until her voice, her true singing voice, clearer than the miraged world of the open oceans and sharper than the frozen ice of the Sea of Eternity, rang hauntingly throughout the space between them and moved the power of the murex halberd. Finally, she was bringing an end to the eternal freeze, pulling to a close the distance between Suzuka Gozen's blurred memory and the mysterious singer.
Ah, so it was her. The best singer in the Sea of Eternity, the best singer in the world.
It was her sister, and her name is Senhime.
Falling beneath the ice, the false queen remembered sitting upon his throne where his lover once rested with her white tail curled around her legs. After so many years of wearing her skin, even as his natural beauty helped him mask his true identity, he could never emit her bone-deep elegance which made him fall in love all those years ago. From that moment when he looked up from her body, laughing maniacally with tears streaming from his eyes, everything afterwards felt like a dream. A feverish, never-ending dream.
But he finally saw his girl again. After so many years, his Reihime had come back. The part of him that loved her urged him to protect their youngest daughter and finally reunite their family, but the part that hated her had seethed with remembrance at the familiar shade of her scales and the all too identical confidence radiating in the edges of her upturned eyes. The last part of him that wanted to live reached out for his only hope, both for the kingdom, his future, and his own conscience.
He blinked, and for the first time in years, he felt like he was with his beloved again. Memories of the flaming horizon where the sky meets the sea, filled with shared laughter, tender moments, and the illusionary feeling of mutual, wholehearted trust.
What a beautiful dream those days were.
What a cruel, beautiful dream.