Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He lifted his hands from the dirt and grimaced at the feeling of soil stuck underneath his fingernails. He quickly rubbed the dirt off onto his black pants and reached for the gloves he had carelessly tossed aside. The heat was beating down his neck and sweat was pooling around his temple. Ray let out a groan as he abruptly stood up from his crouched position.

Beside his naked feet was a bucket of weeds with clumps of dirt stuck in between the mangled roots. Ray wriggled his toes over the damp grass and stretched till his back let out a loud crack. Guessing by the shadow of the sun, and a wristwatch Gavin bought last time he had been in the major markets, he had been weeding the gardens for well over an hour. It showed well; the carrots and potatoes, once an indiscernible mess lost within a field of sharp green, was separated by dirt and the tomato flower buds swept away as little green and red dots popped in. He’d even watered the crops and put extra manure to fertilize the soil, especially for his roses behind his little dirt hut of a house.

That had been Ray’s day and it wasn’t even early evening. Besides a well-deserved bath, Ray had no fucking clue what to do for the rest of the two weeks.

There really wasn’t much for him to do, a common problem whenever he found himself selected as temporary ‘knight’ of their little city. He hated watching the others pack to journey to the inner States for better markets knowing that he wasn’t going because he was picked as ‘knight’ a fucking lot. Maybe he should take it as a show of Geoff’s trust in his abilities, but that didn’t stop him from wishing Michael was the one here to guard instead.

It wasn’t fair, okay. He gets it, he does, and he understands Geoff may be more inclined to make him take Knight job because he doesn’t have someone waiting for him at the inner State. Doesn’t make it fair. Doesn’t mean Ray can’t feel a little justified to a pity party because all the cool shit is in the inner States, including the fucking tournaments. 

Ray grabbed the bucket in the other hand and toddled off to the fire pit to chuck the waste into the lava before heading to the back of Geoff’s house.

He wondered who would win this Spring’s TNT Speed Run. He wasn’t much of a betting man, but last Winter had a few new contestants that had been really fucking good. He’s pretty sure most of them, if not all, would be competing again this season. He’d also been hoping to see Mark again, a fellow competitor he had met in a violent version of hide and seek. It was all rather sudden; Ray, a magically projected bookcase had accidentally climbed on top of Mark, a magically projected wooden stand, and, together, we’re slaughtered. It was five emeralds lost, but a free dinner gained when Mark offered to pay after blowing their cover when he accidentally dropped Ray from his shoulders after getting stabbed in the gut by an enchanted sword.

Unlike Ray, Mark actually lived amongst the urban hubbub and made his living there at the Primus State as a professional competitor on-season, entertainer all seasons. If Gavin weren’t Gavin, Ray’s pretty sure he’d be able to meet up with Mark.

Sadly, there was no changing Gavin. Lost cause, he was.

Last time Geoff left Gavin in charge of the city, he had nearly burned down every house – including his dirt one. Fucking how? He doesn’t know.

The waves crashed against the small rocky Cliffside of Geoff’s house and Ray followed the declining cliff to a small coastline on the left. He grimaced at the water that ebbed and flowed over his feet.

Ray wasn’t a big fan of the ocean.

He inched forward a bit till the water was around his ankles before dunking the bucket as best as he could into the shallow water. It took a few dunks before the bucket was heavy with cold seawater and some sand.

Ray hesitated. 

It was a beautiful day.

The sun was hot and the water was cool, but the ocean was endlessly stretched in a gradient of green, blue, and finally black. There were gulls squawking overhead and a breeze that tugged at his white sleeveless shirt. The waves lazily crashed against the rocks and Ray couldn’t help but wonder if the reflecting sun’s light spattered across the water top were eyes. Thousands of eyes, glinting with curiosity and waiting – he wasn’t sure what yet for. Even though he knew it was just the trick of the light, he felt like he was staring into the distant eyes of the merman released several months ago.

It wasn’t a comforting thought and Ray couldn’t quite understand how Gavin could sit out here so often, hoping to catch said merman’s eyes. He knew he was biased, but he liked to believe that things have been set right again. Balance restored and all that shit. And while it did them no harm, Ray would grit his teeth each time he caught Gavin staring out into the horizon because he couldn’t help but feel Gavin was inviting that imbalance back.

It was clear; the merman wanted nothing to do with them anyways.

Ray stepped out of the water and carried the bucket back into their city.

After a wonderful hot bath, Ray poured the rest of the bucket into his cauldron.

There was one good thing about being alone for two weeks.

Moving Pat the Head’s head, he uncovered the hidden chest filled with various ingredients he had stocked up. Some, like the wolf’s tongue and spider’s eye, he was able to scavenge, but the vial of Ender’s blood and the scales of a Sea Guardian had come at a high price.

He uncovered a few empty bottles and filled them with the water from the cauldron before stashing them into a bag. Once he had what he felt was needed, he hid the chest and placed Pat on top before going to a dirt corner by his bed. After short work, he uncovered the wooden trap door and slipped inside.

~*~

When Ray was a child, his mom would tell him stories about how he was born. She would curl him in her lap; her strong arms would wrap around him and encase him in comforting warmth that has yet to be replicated, as she spoke softly. Her voice was not honey, but heat that snapped in melodic narrative. She would start by saying that when he drew his first birth; the universe was born.

They lived in a small hut made up by twigs, leaves, and clay, which resided at the center of a village. All the homes were huts, all the huts had clay, and only theirs had leaves and twigs that hung in front of the door and swayed whenever the wind moaned. There was a small river and a smaller lake, a nearby forest that bordered half their lands, and a desert on their doorstep.

She said that when he first cried, a dust bowl had swirled in and settled the red sand at the bottom of the river, forming the orange clay used for their homes. She said that when he giggled, light rain would fall and crops became plentiful.

When he was five, just starting to taste the world, a war began to brew.

When he was five, his father disappeared with the rest of his hunting group in what would be the first of many slaughters. 

She said that when he spoke, there was music and when he opened his eyes for the first time; the heavens were made. She told him that his hands were brown clay and he was special because he was a child of nature. She kissed him and said that when he dreamt, there was peace, and when he had nightmares; monsters were born.

When he was six, she taught him how to make his first potion. It had taken six tries, but on his seventh he made a weak healing potion.

She had never been prouder.

When he turned seven, she called him her apprentice and showed him medicinal herbs. She said he’d make a great healer.

When he was seven, he would watch her burn at the stake.

 ~*~

“Fuck.”

Ray had been patrolling for monsters when he had stumbled onto the attack. In the darkness, he wasn’t sure what was happening, but as he got closer he recognized Ryan. He let out a breath of surprise, but his moment was short lived when the merman let out a low wail. It was a strangled song, a cry for help, and Ray had rushed forward with his bow and arrows at ready.

But now that the threat was abated… 

The merman looked ghastly and Ray blanched at the deep cuts that littered his sides and the state of his tail. The creature had passed out, arms tightly wound around himself, hunched over what looked like either really large stones or eggs. Ray wished they were just really big fancy stones, but even in the dark he could tell they were the latter.

“Fuck!” Ray bit out again. He spared a glance to the crashing black sea and caught a glimmer. He shivered and rushed forward to try and pull Ryan further away from the edge, aware that whatever those things were they were watching.

He managed to get Ryan far enough inland before a low hiss started. It sounded nothing like a creeper. In fact, Ray couldn’t help but welcome a creeper’s hiss over the eerie hissing that picked up in volume. This hiss echoed in a cacophonic mess of several pitches and, what started as low, now mimicked the wail of a wind’s storm. With his body bent over the merman, Ray looked back to the dark Cliffside and felt his breath catch in his throat.

The darkness had shifted as a black form crawled onto the ledge. He could hear over the waves, the water and soil being dug together and he realized that it was crawling towards them. It opened its maw, its hiss interrupted briefly by an unholy snarl, as two large, white bulbous eyes opened and fixated onto him. The eyes were bright pearls and all Ray could think was how the sun’s reflection seemed dull in comparison.

Ray was terrified.

The creature did not crawl any further; it settled in the blackness and the hissing stopped. It was as if all the sound had been silenced; when the hissing died away, so too did the waves, the wind, and the distant monsters. For a second, Ray forgot what his own voice sounded like. Then, it spoke:

“Give me the unhatched.”

Its voice sounded nothing like Ray expected. It sounded like a song; each of its words a note that echoed a soprano melody. It was almost beautiful. If not for the disturbing mangled echo that chased after each sentence, Ray would be entranced.

“And I’ll let you live.”

Ray drew in a hitched breath.

It tilted its head, Ray knew because the eyes tilted vertically before righting itself again.

“Give me what I desire and I will give you peace.” It trilled.

Inside, Ray felt a churning as a familiar tingle danced over his flesh.

Ray shook his head.

“No?” It sadly sung and Ray felt sick.

There was a ponderous silence before the song picked up again.

“You are not what you seem.” Then, without speaking, its rhythm shifted and Ray felt terrified once more. “You are foolish. You have turned down my offer of safety and have decided to involve yourself in matters outside your hands.”

Ray shivered, hands instinctually grasping tightly onto Ryan when the black shadow shifted again.

“I will return and I will take those eggs after I drown you.” There was a moment’s pause, before it trilled. “And if he survives, I’ll eat him.”

A sharp chirping pierced the night and Ray realized it was laughing.

The darkness shifted and the pearl eyes sunk lower.

“Enjoy what little peace you have left, strange one.”

Then the eyes disappeared completely.

The sudden crash of the waves broke Ray from his trance. He let out a yelp as he heard the howl of the wind bite at his ears and heard the dull thumb of wet grass as he fell on his butt in fright. Yet, throughout this, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the coastline where the monster had once been, its melodic promise still echoing in his mind.

Chapter Text

It had taken the better part of the night to slowly drag Ryan into the city and away from the dark coastline. Fear and adrenaline had prevented Ray from taking breaks, but occasionally he would pause when he thought he heard something scrape near by. Momentarily he considered putting Ryan back in the hole they had originally made for him in Kung Fu house, however since Ray wasn’t about to stray to far from the injured merman, it meant he’d have to sleep closer to the shoreline.

Provided, if he got any sleep.

Instead, Ray managed to successfully and tediously drag Ryan and the two eggs to his small home where he spent several minutes trying to lift Ryan into the cauldron, making sure his gills were submerged enough in the water. While the dirt walls offered no illusion of safety, the familiarity comforted him more than Geoff’s stone walls could.

And the image of the black form crawling down the massive hall, it’s pearl white eyes growing with each scrape of scale and stone; he could see it waiting in the shadows of Geoff’s goliath.

He opened his chest and pulled out an enchanted diamond rapier. It was a Christmas gift from Michael and while it was no claymore, having the sword in hand made him feel marginally more in control of the situation.

For the first night, Ray hardly slept as he stood guard in his room, straining his ears for the scrape of dirt and scales from the monster of the deep.

He felt drained by the second day and the downpour did little to alleviate his exhaustion. Throughout the night he had checked on the merman, doing his best to patch up the easier of wounds, and making sure that he survived the night. He didn’t touch Ryan’s tail; most of the scales had been scratched clean off with muscle showing underneath and the webbed fins were ribbons. The tail hung awkwardly and limply over the cauldron and onto the dirt floor. A small red and brown puddle of congealed blood had grown underneath it overnight. Occasionally, the tail would twitch, but otherwise the merman did not move.

Not willing to venture outside and certainly not keen to sleep, Ray focused on building a better temporary pool instead. He ambled around the little space available and frowned.

Right, he lived in a shitty dirt shack; he had no space for an indoor pool on the ground floor.

The other floor…Ray bit his lip. What threat did the comatose merman pose if Ray were to bring him down to his lower level? It wasn’t like he could tell anyone – well he could. He could certainly tell Gavin after a long speel of hissing and gesticulations. Would Ryan even be here for that long though?

Ray looked over the merman.

Though some of the wounds were patched up, the rest were deep lashes running down his chest and back. Purple and yellow bruises bloomed across the pale skin and the bandage patch wrapped around his shoulder was dark red. Some of his wounds were still lightly bleeding and the clear seawater had been stained maroon.

The last time Ryan had ended in their care, he had given himself a concussion with minor cuts along his arms and a long gash aside his head. It had taken them a little over a week before Geoff deemed him healed enough to leave. Now, Ray wasn’t even sure if Ryan would be able to make it another night. Even if he did survive, would he even be able to return to the sea again? Monster aside, his tail was fucked up. He was like a butterfly with its wing ripped off.

Really, it would be better to just let Ryan die.

“Let’s not do that,” Ray muttered to himself. He wasn’t going to go down that line of thinking. Every form of life deserved a second chance of living, he didn’t have the right to judge whether the merman lived or died. If it meant making an indoor pool in the basement, well fuck, that’s all the options he has then.

Even if it’s for one night, Ray can at least make sure the merman was comfortable.

He’s thankful for the potion of strength he had made yesterday evening or else he wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell getting Ryan down the trap door’s ladder. The heat of the blaze powder swirled pleasantly in his stomach as he slowly climbed down the last few pegs and onto the cobblestone floor. The basement was a little wider than his ground floor and he was able to sufficiently build a shallow pool; large enough for Ryan to be comfortably submerged with his eggs, but not too deep that he can’t pull himself out of the water without having to strain his tail.

Provided, if he woke up at all, but it was the perfect depth for Ray to stand in without drowning.

The eggs were already underwater and Ray was careful to not step on them when stepped into the pool. He had used the water from the rain and the lukewarm water made his pants fabric cling uncomfortably against his legs. As he stepped deeper into the pool, Ryan’s body inched further into the water and swirls of red eased out of the exposed wounds. With the water to his neckline, Ray hesitated before dunking his head underwater to carefully place the merman on the pool’s floor.

There was a second, when his head popped back out of the water and his eyes were scrunched shut, that he could almost see it leaning over the edge of the pool and staring down at him. He could almost feel a dank breath that smelled like rotten fish puff across his face as the shadow watched with its bright pearl eyes.

He opened his eyes to only see the iron ceiling above and the cobblestone edge just an inch above his head.

He hoisted himself out and tried not to panic as he scanned the room, but it was empty save for himself and the merman below.

~*~ 

They gave him another name and he was quick to learn it. 

It sounded like empty vials clinking together and the bubbling snap of the brewing stand as undiluted solutions dripped down to its final product. It was the hiss of a black cat that lingered near the forgotten graves and the pungent smoke of flesh burning.

His youth saved him from its death sentence, but in the end he would always carry the name.

The monsters that killed his mother and destroyed his village made sure he’d never forget that.

~*~

He had to clean out the water by the third morning.

Ryan was still alive, though his pulse was weak, and Ray had managed four hours of sleep before abruptly waking up with the monster’s ghost fingers trailing up to wrap around his neck. He had heaved in a few gulps of breath until the burning in his lungs gradually dissipated.

He needed a distraction, a challenge, and a reason not to go outside. So he opened up an old damaged tome and searched for the ingredients for a strong potion of healing and set to work. He ventured out once to harvest the melons stacked behind Gavin’s house. Despite it being a beautiful day, Achievement City felt grey with dark shadows that stretched like claws over each home. He could almost feel phantom nails dig into his throat the longer he was outside.

It was awful.

The rest of it was spent inside, bent over a table as he focused on transforming the melon slice into a glistening melon. Fuck, if it wasn’t difficult. His hands hovered over the slice and shook with effort as beads of sweat built on his brow. The tips of his fingers were tingling, but nothing else. He bit his lip harder and tried to focus with the idea of what he wanted in his mind, just as the tome instructed. He took a lunch break when his fingers went numb with strain.

 ~*~

He had a cousin just a little bit older that the monsters kept as well. They kept only a handful of other children, but Ray saw them rarely. His cousin was the only related family he had left and by luck, they had been taken in by the same family. Ray loathed the woman with the sharp hazel eyes. She had taken it upon herself to educate them with reed, cold, and deprivation. From the little Ray can recall, he remembered the cruel bitch as a tight sack of sharp stones held together by a thin sheet of flesh. He did not like her toothy smiles that never reached her eyes or her hard nails that dug too tightly into his arm. He did not like her; he did not like the monster his nightmares had made.

His cousin was ashy peace. She was drained, but not beaten and the raw agony he had seen in her eyes as she watched her family massacred would never show again underneath the hard glaze that had taken over. She was not the warmth he wanted, but the wisps of the past’s ambers that he needed.

He never forgot his past because of her.

In the darkness, huddled in the cold, dead wooden house, she would appear and wake him from his nightmares. There was only one thing she could do; she would settle in beside him and tell him stories. She told him of the battle of the moon and sun and how their knives would rip seams of the night, creating the stars above. She whispered about winter’s loneliness and spring’s birth. Then one night she described the feeling of magic coursing through her hands. It was electric and raw, it pulsed in her veins and her arm-hair stood up. The magic had crawled up her arm and fell –

“Like a waterfall.” Veronica whispered and Ray gasped loudly. His hands snapped up to cover his mouth as a frightened look crossed his face. The two waited, anxiously huddled on the cot, but there was no sound of doors opening or the rough clack of the monster’s shoes upon the wooden floor. Still, Ray hesitated before rasping back.

“Really?" 

Veronica nodded and stretched out her hands, rough and bruised. “It started at the tips of my fingers and climbed up my arms till it danced down my spine.”

Ray stared wide-eyed at her fingers. “Did it hurt?” He asked softly.

A thin smile pulled at her mouth as she lightly grabbed his wrists. “It was raw and made my hands numb.” At the look of terror on her cousin’s face, she let out a light chuckle.

“It doesn’t hurt. Trust me,” The smile dropped as she let go of his hands. Her eyes had gone steely again. “I had never felt more alive then that moment.”

Ray swallowed and shifted uncomfortably at the bitter emptiness that filled the room.

“Veronica, how do you do magic?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t get the chance to properly learn.”

At Ray’s crest-fallen look, she quickly followed. “I think it takes concentration and focus. You’ll feel it and then it’s like,” she made a figure eight with her finger. “Like a wave. It’ll be like moving with the wind.”

 ~*~

His hands had gone numb as he tried to enchant the melon slice. He could feel the pricks of raw energy biting at his wrist and it was starting to itch. His mind was pushing against a brick wall and exhaustion was creeping in. Visualization, the tome had said.

“Like a waterfall” He murmured.

The brewing stand dripped and a bead of sweat slid down his face, dipping in and then out till it dripped off his chin. He imagined the drop of sweat hitting against a pool of water, each ripple slower than the next till a sudden rip fast-forwarded into a golden tornado of sand and blaze. He could feel the sand whipping against his arms as he held a golden storm in a jar, and he watched himself tip the jar back and drink it. Lava poured down his throat and filled his heart, which crackled the heat through his veins till he was nothing but hot blood swirling in cold rainwater.

The heat was gone.

He opened his eyes and he couldn’t feel his hands, his knees were shaking, and in front of him was a glistening melon slice.

For the first time in his life, Ray had used magic.

The rest of the potion was easier after that and there was a deep satisfaction as he poured the potion into the pool water. So his theory is, if he pours the potion into the pool, maybe it will better heal his injuries since he’ll be soaking in the pool. He wasn’t sure if he should have removed the eggs, but with the exhaustion seeping into his bones, well, he’s sure a healing potion won’t harm them.

He checked the trap door, he checked the corners of his basement, and he made sure to leave the lights on as he settled on the cot. His fingers were still numb and despite the worries lingering, Ray fell into a peaceful sleep never feeling lighter.

Chapter Text

As if the miracle of magic wasn’t enough, Ray woke up from a pleasant, dreamless sleep to the sound of alarmed hissing and splashing. His heart seized as he sat up looking for the pearl-eyed demon, but it calmed when the shadow was nowhere to be seen, only for it to pick up again when another large splash knocked tainted pick water onto the cobblestone floor.

Ray stood up and carefully approached the pool, eyes widening further.

Ryan had woken up.

He raised his hands. “Okay,” He said as he walked around the rim of the pool. “You’re okay.” However, the merman had yet to notice or hear him over his own thrashing and hissing.

“You’re not in danger,” His heart skipped a beat when the merman stilled and snapped his wild gaze towards Ray. On instinct, Ray took two steps back, well away from the pool’s edge.

He licked his lips and didn’t dare break the merman’s stare, his hands stretched out in what he hoped was nonthreatening.

Ryan let out a low, drawn hiss, but did not move to attack. He was curled into a corner, the eggs held protectively against his chest, and his tail flat on the pool floor. Ray licked his lips and inched forward slowly, only to stop abruptly when the merman barred his teeth again. The familiar situation was hardly comforting.

“Friend,” Ray started again.“ You’re hurt. I’m here to help.”

Ryan’s glare did not waiver, but the hissing stopped. Ray shifted uncomfortably under his silent staring. “You tail,” Ray pointed to Ryan’s tail, though Ryan did not look down. “Hurt.” He said before pointing at himself. “Help.”

Still, Ryan did not react.

‘Did Ryan even understand him?’ Ray wondered. He knew that Gavin had taught him some English, but it had been months since then and he could have easily forgotten what little he had learned. The idea unsettled his stomach; he tried one more time to get Ryan to react.

He edged closer and Ryan stiffened. He held his hands up and then pressed them against his chest.

“Ray.” He said.

He waited for a few seconds, with no reaction he continued.

“Ryan,” He pointed to the merman. Internally, he cheered when Ryan gave the smallest of nods. He paused once more, before placing his hand on his chest again.

“Ray help Ryan.” He spoke each word with pause and waited with baited breath to see if Ryan would react. Really, he wasn’t expecting him to react at all.

Ryan had almost killed him the last time he’d felt cornered, pretty much nearly drowned Gavin – despite the friendship that Gavin insisted they had – and it was clear that Ryan had hated them. He had resented their help and, really, what would make this incident any different?

Ray wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with this problem if Ryan refused his help; it wasn’t like he could even climb back up the fucking ladder. He shouldn’t even be involved with this whole mess. Maybe, he should have just left Ryan on the shores. Yet, the sudden image of Ryan being devoured by that sea demon made him quickly regret thinking that.

It was Ryan’s clicking that drew Ray away from his thoughts.

The guarded look had completely dropped from the merman’s face and in its place was an expression of pain and exhaustion. His rigid body had loosened till he was nearly slumped over the eggs, looking more and more like he was clinging desperately to them than just merely protecting them. In a snap of his fingers, Ryan went from fierce to resigned. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Ray found himself saying. “I promise, you’re safe now.”

Ray left Ryan alone with a few dead fish in a bucket. The somber air was becoming too much and with the merman hardly reacting to anything, Ray felt like he was choking on all the melancholy. He ventured over to his garden where the weeds had started to invade the fertilized soil, but the garden was otherwise growing well. He set to work, putting his gloves aside and losing himself in the easy tedious task of pulling the weeds.

An hour must have passed when Ray felt an unease disrupt his brief peace. He shifted on his hunches to check over the main lawn of achievement city only to find it empty as per usual. Straining his ears, he heard the wind whistle and the distant ocean waves roughly crash against the rocky shore, but nothing else. Still, Ray dropped the weeds clutched in his hand into the bucket before grabbing his gloves to check the city’s parameter. The feeling of being watched prickled at his back and he shot another glance back to his garden and the hill that towered behind it, but saw no one. Unnerved he disappeared into his house and grabbed his rapier as he went to walk out, he paused and, on second thought, quickly hid the entrance to his basement.

He checked through the houses first. He maneuvered his way past the paintings that obscured Gavin’s door and searched through the entirety of his stone house, including his tiny trophy room. He spared a glance down the trapdoor that lead to the fire-keg Michael and Gavin had built for four nights and decided to climb down just in case. With careful step, he checked out the eyesore of a hallway and thankfully found it bare. Again, he worked around the large painting that hid Kerry’s room and hesitated at the ladder.

He could see nothing substantial through the small squares of the trapdoor, despite the bright light of sun pouring through the window above it. Even though he had yet to find anything, his heart was racing and his palms were sweaty around the hilt of the sword. Every so often a shadow would flicker across the trapdoor above and Ray would have to inhale deeply in order to remind himself that it wasn’t her.

She wasn’t waiting up there. When he climbed up and pushed the trapdoor open, she wouldn’t be hovering behind him, her jaws open, her white eyes barely prominent behind the rows of sharp teeth that would snap down on his neck and rip the flesh, tissue, and muscle off his collarbone. She wasn’t there, he would have heard the scrape of her tail against the wood above, but it doesn’t matter because he’s close to hyperventilating and when he goes up she’ll be hanging off the edge grinning.

He lost track of how long he stood there, but with a snap of clarity and surge of more anxiety, he realized it had been for too long. He grasped the rungs of the wooden ladder, but his palms were so sweaty that the encrusted dirt made it too slippery to hold on. He wiped his palms on his pants, before grasping the rungs and taking the first step up. He reached the top in little time and hesitated as his hand pressed against the trapdoor’s frame. He shakily inhaled and then slammed the trapdoor open, nearly loosing his footing when he snapped around to face the center of Michael’s room, only to find it empty.

A weak laugh escaped him and with shaky arms he lifted the rest of his body from the floor. 

“Fucking siking myself out.”

He closed the trapdoor and was quick to survey all the windows, his shoulders sagging in relief when nothing unwanted was hovered outside. His paranoia was getting to the best of him and, really, over a creature that could easily be spotted and heard well before it could reach him. Everything was fine and he was just going stir-crazy after hiding in his hut for too long. He forced another weak laugh out as he continued his check, trying to find some solace that it was daytime.

But, something had to be wrong.

Instinctually, he felt that something dangerous was lurking within the shadows of the settlement watching him. It was there; stalking each step he took, past Michael’s house, through Jack’s, and into Geoff’s goliath. Despite the numerous torches that lined the stonewalls, Geoff’s home was very dark inside. Above, the ceiling was nearly pitch black. The little light that shone through the door’s window illuminated little of the inside and most of the torches at the end near Geoff’s bed had gone out.

Ray decided against going further in and immediately left.

He felt as safe as a fat seal in a lake of great whites. That didn’t make much sense, but after a few minutes of struggling, the rock he placed in front of Geoff’s door did. It covered half the door’s length and was a bitch to roll away from Caleb’s lava dump, but see if any monsters got through that.

They probably could, but Ray liked to pretend otherwise.

All that was left was the Kung Fu House.

“Fuck, it smells like fish in here.” He exclaimed, ducking his head out of the house to take in a deep inhale of clean air.

Ray tightly held his nose, eyes scrunched in disgust, as he inched into the empty house. They had stopped using the house as storage ever since Ryan’s first stay and the inside had overgrown. The weeds and grass reached lengths from his ankles up to his knees and dust webs littered the corners. He stepped onto the cracked cobblestone that overlooked the deep hole.

Rust had eaten away at most of the iron and while the top still had portions of the white, almost the entire bottom was stained a crusted brown-red. There was a glimmer from a puddle likely leftover from the rain a few nights past. In short; it looked like shit.

What bothered Ray though was the fact that it still smelled so pungently, especially since they had drained the seawater out months ago. 

Really, that should have been his first clue.

He heard the crunch, but by then it was too late. Ray barely managed a twist before a sharp sting flared in his hand forcing him to drop his sword. The rapier clattered against the cobblestone before falling down into the hole. Rough hands with sharp nails grabbed onto his right shoulder and shoved him forward till the heels of his feet were scraping against the edge for purchase. His hands held tightly to the wrist only to quickly let go when the tip of a harpoon pressed against his neck, the royal crest of the primus nation still prominent on the spike despite clear water damage.

He was literally a man on the edge. 

And, somehow, that was not the worst part.

There were three of them that he could see: two women and one male. The male was well built and was blocking the only door out of the house, the female holding the harpoon grunted towards the other, smaller woman who was literally holding Ray between life and death. They were all very pale, littered with scars, and very, very naked.

Ray was very focused on maintaining eye contact.

He cleared his throat when neither women nor man moved to speak.

“Man, I can honestly say that I never saw this coming.”

Ray cracked a weak grin, gesturing to the man in the back. “Not that I want to see that coming. Am I right?”

His forced chuckle was cut short as the harpoon pressed tighter against his throat; he raised his hands higher and swallowed roughly. “Okay, not funny, shutting up now.”

The trio shared a long look. 

“Oh, please don’t fuck me.” Ray muttered.

 Ray’s eyes flickered between each person, tensing up when the taller woman gave a stiff nod towards the smaller woman. He let out a small sigh of relief when the harpoon was gradually eased away from his neck. Ray let out a small squeak when the woman pulled him forward and onto solid cobblestone.

His arms pin wheeled for a second before he righted his footing, he stared at the floor for a few seconds.

“Okay…” His brows furrowed and he straightened his stance, as he shot the group a perplexed look. “…Not that I’m complaining, but isn’t this where you rob me and leave me for dead?”

The man in the back let out a snicker, the two women shared another unreadable look.

“I mean I’ve never been held hostage by butt fuck naked bandits before, it’s all a lot to take in. Do you want clothes? I can get you clothes.”

He made to take a step forward, but suddenly the woman hissed, shoving the harpoon back against his throat. He quickly raised his hands, eyes wide.

“Yeah, that’s cool. I always figured body armor and leather tunics couldn’t protect me against sharp swords as well as my unprotected flesh could.”

“He can’t be the human archer she warned us about.” The taller one spat. “Dylana, skewer him and let’s continue the search. He is of no use.”

 The smaller woman, Dylana, hesitated.

“She said she wanted him alive, didn’t she Maris?” 

Dylana looked back towards Maris who let out a small grunt followed by a partial shrug. “He talks too much to be the one she was talking about.”

The taller woman nodded. “Right, he agrees with me.”

Dylana frowned and shook her head. “Nerine, he’s the only human we have found in this settlement. I think he’s the only one.”

Nerine made to move forward, whether to snatch the harpoon from Dylana or simply strangle him with her own bare hands, but she stopped abruptly at Dylana’s warning hiss. “I refuse to be punished because you are so eager to bloodlust.”

Maris quickly stepped between the two, one hand on Nerine’s shoulder. He gave them each long stares that, some-fucking-how, must have been some coded message because the tension from the women’s shoulders eased.

“I feel that there is a joke here that I’m not getting.” He tried to smile, but it felt like a grimace when all three refocused their attention on him. 

“I’ll make this easy for you human.” Nerine said as the harpoon lightly cut into his neck. “Tell us where the merman is and we promise we’ll kill you quickly. Refuse,” A cruel grin spread across her face. “Well, I’m hoping you do because it will be more fun for us.”