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“After so long I’m finally having my debut Cap,” Melody sighed.
She’d lost her whole family to a witchcraft accusation. Some of them burned, but her brother was thrown into the sea to be drowned. She was only saved because the duke saw use for her. She sighed, singing the songs to herself she wasn’t allowed to sing anymore. The lullabies and stories her mother sang to her as a child. They were considered spells because her mother’s voice was mesmerizing. She felt tears slip down her face.
As she reached the end of her sorrowful songs, arms surrounded her. She started struggling, the person was larger and clearly a man from how they felt against her back. She flailed her arms and tried to kick the person behind her. She wasn’t supposed to be out alone for this reason. The adopted daughter of a duke could fetch a high price. Even higher if they knew he’d just wanted her as a trinket.
“Unhand me! Do you know who I am?” she shouted. The laughter of the man holding her sounded familiar, but too deep at the same time. She was panicking, she hadn’t been allowed to carry anything for defense. It was unbecoming of a young noblewoman.
“You’re my sister, Mel,” the man said. She froze, unable to breathe hearing those words. No one called her that anymore, she was lady Melody. She couldn’t bring herself to fight either. “I missed you Mel…”
“I should have you know, playing tricks like this is cruel. Unhand me now before I tell my father of what you’ve been doing.” She had to stay stoic. She’d had to learn to ignore the comments for years, this was nothing new. She held her tongue when people discussed her family and the accusations. Especially when discussing the poor soul drowned in the water for being cursed by his own parents. “Just because you seem to understand I lost my brother does not forgive this.”
The man holding her forced her to turn around. He was just a bit taller than her, but he still looked far too similar. The same shade of brown for his hair and eyes as her own. He smiled widely, showing off a dimple that mirrored her own. She started to struggle weakly again as the face of this stranger continued to feel familiar. He was too masculine to be her brother, but she desperately wanted to believe it was really him. She’d sat for hours at the beach the day they drowned him, pleading for him to appear again.
“Mel, it’s really me. I know I’ve been gone a long time. I wanted to come back, but you were never alone when you were near the beach,” he explained. She shook her head… there was one way to know for sure it was him. A name that only she knew because he’d been unable to share it before the accusations began.
“What’s your name?” she whispered. The familiar looking face smiled at her again.
“I’m Caprice… I’m guessing you kept that quiet all these years. Can you believe me now?”
Something in her seemed to snap. She ignored all the things she’d been taught and kneed the man in the stomach. He let her go and she backed away, closer to the cliff they were on. The man doubled over in pain. Melody glared at him, freezing as a shadow started to cover the two of them. She didn’t dare look behind her, it had to just be a cloud and nothing more.
“Mel,” the man coughed. “There’s a lot that mom and dad didn’t tell us. Kyrie is part of that. He found me after I was dropped in the water… after I changed.”
She took a few more steps back. She couldn’t see anyone else, she couldn’t find this Kyrie he mentioned. Her foot hit the air and her stomach dropped when she started to fall. Something warm and soft caught her. She looked up only to see giant blue eyes staring down on her. She couldn’t move as the impossibly large hand lifted her up to the face above her. The shadow wasn’t a cloud, it was something their parents warned them about. They’d been told that beings from the waters might find them and to be wary. Laying in the hand of one wasn’t the caution she needed.
“Hi,” the giant thing whispered. She couldn’t understand. His voice was almost welcoming in that one word.
“Kyrie, can you put her down? I’m pretty sure she’ll be terrified right now,” the man… Caprice said. She couldn’t believe it was really him, but it had to be.
The one holding her slowly moved his hand away from his face. He tilted his hand and slipped her off his palm. She saw the claws at the edge of his fingers and shivered. Caprice came to kneel in front of her. He shouldn’t be taller, he was her twin. He was supposed to be her identical twin, looking up at him felt wrong. She couldn’t believe he was here. That he was alive.
“You’re dead… I waited for hours. The duke had to drag me home. He didn’t let me leave for weeks out of fear I’d follow you into the water,” she cried. Caprice pulled her into a hug. She cried into his chest, unable to believe this happened today of all days. “Happy birthday…”
“Happy birthday Mel, guess they decided your debut wasn’t going to be on our actual birthday?” She buried her face deeper into his chest. She didn’t even want to face him.
“The duke decided it would be best to have a different day associated with me. We weren’t good omens so he decided to claim I was born tomorrow. I would debut then and high society would assume that’s the truth.” She finally pulled away looking up at the creature who caught her. She wasn’t even the height of a finger. He leaned closer, she had no idea how to defend herself from him. She squeezed Caprice’s hand.
“Kyrie’s a big softy, you don’t have to be scared Mel.” Caprice stood helping Melody to her feet as well. “He saved me. After they dropped me in the water I… well I changed and Kyrie took me back to where he lived with Pelago and Byssal. Apparently merfolk have magic, they helped me become me. That's why I’m taller than you now.”
Melody laughed. Hearing that someone helped Caprice become who he truly was made them amazing to her. Even if they were the same creatures they were warned against. She tried to face the eyes of the creature. He was staring at her as if she was all that existed. She stepped forward, performing a curtsy as is proper for someone of her standing.
“Thank you for saving Caprice and aiding him,” she said. Kyrie made a chirp sound that caused her to jump. She was terrified he’d try to touch her again. He made another chirp and Caprice tapped her to look up. She did and saw Kyrie with a wide smile and his eyes closed. His fangs were on display, but she almost found him adorable like that.
“Mel there’s a lot more. There’s a reason I couldn’t come back until now.”
Caprice backed away from her. She made a face, but watched as he neared the opposite side of Kyrie. The giant looked down at him with a sad look. Both nodded at each other before Kyrie's hand started to move. He slowly lifted a hand up over the two before dumping water all over Caprice. She shouted as the water splashed her as well. She stared in fear as her brother changed.
He grew fins over his ears and his size slowly increased. She backed up herself as his fingers grew longer and claws grew over his nails. His eyes became solid brown rather than the normal match to her own. Even his hair seemed to get longer than it currently was. She felt her heart start to race as his legs seemed to fuse. A pattern of solid white scales coated his legs as fins replaced his feet. He was the same as Kyrie now. Once it stopped he was sitting on the damp ground, the human man now had the same features as the one that towered over them.
“I see,” she breathed. Caprice looked ready to say something, but she understood. Her mind was filled with accusations that she knew were false. Things the duke had insisted at times too, that Caprice had been the reason. His actions, the push outside of what was expected for the two of them, he brought about the tragedy. He didn’t though, he just happened to have his own part of their cursed blood.
She turned to leave. This was enough, he wasn’t her brother anymore. She was Lady Melody, the duke’s adopted daughter. She had more things to worry about than how to feel about this. She heard him call her name but kept walking. Her gown was splashed, she’d have to deal with the consequences of visiting here today. The duke would likely send her to bed without dinner. It wasn’t unusual at least.
“Melody?” Kyrie asked. Somehow his voice bothered her more. He looked innocent, but he’d stolen her family. He may have saved Caprice, but he took him from her. She felt tears in her eyes and tried not to act on it. She turned and glared at both of them.
“I would appreciate you addressing me with the proper title. I am a noble woman, a part of the Duke’s family. You two are less than commoners. This should not have happened, I will pretend I dreamed this… don’t come back here,” she said. She had honed this persona for years. Even Caprice flinched from her words. There was a venom she hadn’t expected, but she was angry. She’d been tortured and Caprice got to live a happy life forgetting all about her and their family. She was jealous.
“Mel… just call my name if you want to see me again. I won’t disappear again,” he shouted. Caprice would disappear because she’d make him. This was an unbelievable dream the gods gave her. She got to pretend her brother survived the calamity that befell their family. It was more than she expected.
She returned home and what she expected did happen. She was punished for the water on her gown. She’d been told to stay away from the place they’d killed her brother, she visited often despite that. It was worse than she expected though, restricted to her room until her debut the next evening. The maids came in to help her dress, discussing how foolish she was. She had been spitting in the face of the one who saved her insisting on visiting the site so often.
“Are you prepared?” the duke asked as he walked in. His ostentatious sense of dress was a stark contrast to the plain red garment he supplied for her. She curtsied before him.
“Of course my lord, I will perform as expected and approach the young men you’ve instructed prior to this,” she answered. The smile she was given made her sick. She hated the life he saved, but she would keep living. Although she could run away from this now, beg Caprice to help her. He would…
“Come then, the others have arrived. You will greet them all and sing once they’ve quieted.”
“Yes sir.” The duke turned on her and grabbed her face. He narrowed his eyes as he looked into her own.
“Do not forget that I own you. You do as I say or those accusations I saved you from come back without a second thought. The witch who mesmerized me to save her as her family died.”
“I understand. I shall do as you’ve instructed, good lord.” She waited until the duke let her go.
Once he released her she followed quickly. The maids continued to whisper about how she’ll prove she wasn’t worth it tonight. That would hopefully be true. She wanted to not be worth it. When they threw her to drown maybe she could be saved too. She made her entrance to the room following the duke. She smiled and curtsied pretending to love this place. She made sure to greet the men the duke noted for her to try and woo tonight. Her debut wasn’t for herself, it was for him.
“I hope you all will welcome my daughter to high society this evening. Melody, grace us with a song my dear,” he announced. She shot him a smile and gave a short practiced laugh.
“Of course, father. I’m happy to sing for you and our guests,” she said. She approached the musicians and told them the song her father prepared, one of solemn longing. They’d been paid well. She turned and flared the skirt of her gown. The music began and she opened her mouth to sing.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyrie was still resting below the cliff where he’d met Melody. Caprice was resting on his chest, more torn up than he’d admit. He knew the goal was that she’d ask to go with them. She instead rejected them both. He knew Caprice hurt more than he could imagine, but there was more to it on his side too.
“Caprice… why does she speak differently than you?” he asked. He couldn’t just ask what he wanted. Caprice rolled over to stare up at his face, he was human again right now. Something only he could do.
“The language for merfolk is more like how I speak, Mel speaks proper english. I changed once I learned the mer language,” he explained. Kyrie nodded. He brought his hand up to the man on his chest and started to fidget with his limbs. They started this at some point a long time ago, it helped calm them both down.
“She’s in danger, her voice is what Pel warned you about,” Kyrie murmured. Caprice pulled his arm free and glared up at him.
“Don’t lie to make me feel better, I didn’t feel anything when she was singing.”
“I did…for her. Pel and Byss said you were probably an oceanid too and wouldn’t feel it. They said that’s why you should have brought Byss…”
“Well I brought you! Why didn’t you say anything?! She’s singing tonight they’ll kill her!”
Caprice climbed to his feet and started walking up Kyrie’s chest. Kyrie stopped him, snaking his fingers around the small human form of his family. He sat up and placed Caprice on the cliff. He rested his chin on the ground and stared down at him. The human came up and punched his face as hard as he could. He then rested his forehead against Kyrie’s cheek.
“Better?” he whispered.
“No…” Caprice croaked. “Kyrie, they're gonna kill her. Her voice is gonna make them go crazy and they’ll-”
Caprice was cut off as shouts were heard nearby. Kyrie moved quickly to duck under the cliff. Caprice would jump down if it wasn’t safe for him, Kyrie knew that. The sounds were awful and reminded him of the reasons Pelago and Byssal encouraged them to hide. The voices were getting louder and Kyrie couldn’t get Caprice’s words out of his head. The other humans could be hurting Melody.
“Kill her!” the shout stabbed through his heart. He could hear Caprice whispering to himself, but couldn’t make out the words.
“Stop!” another voice screamed, it wasn’t Melody though. “I’ll deal with her, she doesn’t have an escape from here.”
Kyrie reached up and pulled Caprice down. He was thrashing in his grip, but that human was something different. He could hear it in their voice, Caprice would be in too much danger up there. He heard panting approaching the cliff, he wanted to hear one of their names called. The panting human came closer.
“What do I do?” Melody asked. He could feel Caprice freeze in his hand. “I.. I can’t ask them… not after that. I don’t… I need to-”
“Melody!” the cold voice shouted. She screamed in response and Kyrie could imagine her stepping back. He had to hold back a growl as he pictured the fear on her face.
“M-my lord, I-I don’t know what happened. Please I-”
“After everything I did to make use of you. Orchestrating the hunt against your family and removing that monster of a sibling that was bringing you down the wrong path. You went and tried to use the same damned magic your mother held against me.”
“W-what… you…” Kyrie flinched when the small sob escaped Caprice. “You did it. You took everyone from me? You killed my brother?!”
“Right you’ve insisted you had a brother this whole time. If she would have played her role properly I wouldn’t have had her killed. Your mother wouldn’t give you to me so I had to get creative and now you have the power and attempted to betray me. You were supposed to charm the others and raise my rank. Not ruin me by revealing your own witchcraft.”
“You monster! I didn’t do anything. I don’t know what happened, I was just doing as instructed. I’m glad I ruined you though. I hope you burn in hell after all of this.”
“My dear daughter, you’ll be waiting there for me.” Melody screamed and Kyrie almost moved. He had to wait a little longer, he wouldn’t let her die. He wanted to make sure she got what she needed.
“Caprice! Kyrie!” she called.
“Calling out for the dead now of all times. One of those must be this brother you go one about. Stand still, unless you’d rather drown too.”
“Please, I'm sorry!”
Kyrie had been moving before her second shout. He came up over the cliff slowly. He brought the hand with Caprice close to her and let him go. The two held each other. Kyrie bared his fangs and growled low and loudly. Melody squeaked and he wanted to turn down and comfort her. The one who’d been threatening her was staring at Caprice.
“How are you alive?” the other human breathed. “How are you like that?”
“Funny the things our cursed blood can do, plenty of ways to fuck you over,” Caprice seethed. Kyrie leaned a bit lower, his shadow casting the twins in darkness. The other human finally looked up at him with a strange face.
“Now I understand, it was all true. You can control those things.” The human laughed. Kyrie let out another growl. He placed his hands on the cliff letting his claws land near the other human. He dug fingers into the dirt. The way the human shook told him he was just as dangerous to him as he wanted to appear.
“No, if he controlled me you’d be safe,” Kyrie growled. He dug his nails deeper into the ground. The human’s fear came to the forefront as it happened this time. He glared down, the human was small enough it would be easy to take care of them. He lifted one hand slightly off the ground and brought it towards them.
“Hah, you can’t kill me. The others will go hunting for her body and mine if I don’t come back. They’ll kill you and I’ll still win in the end.” Kyrie curled his fingers around the small human. The bravado fell as his fingers trapped the cruel man. He pulled himself out of the water more and leaned forward so his face was close to the human. He wondered if Caprice and Melody were worried as he hovered over them.
“It’s not hard to make sure they can’t find you later…” The human seemed to be searching for some response.
“Hey Kyrie,” Caprice calling out was unexpected, but he hummed in response. “When’s the last time you ate?”
“Long enough…” His eyes cast a slight glow as the human realized the danger he was truly in. The human stabbed his hand with the same weapon he’d pulled out against Melody. He growled, but wasn’t bothered as he pinched the small man. He lifted the man up to his face ignoring the way he struggled.
“Stop!” Melody shouted. Kyrie did as she asked, leaning back to look down at her. She looked at him with a mixture of pain and fear he didn’t want to see. He was only protecting her. “Let him go…please.”
Kyrie did what she wanted, dropping the human a full arm’s length away. The human stood and ran without looking back. He brought his hand close and held the finger with a sword in it out to Caprice. He pulled it out, handing the blade to Melody. Kyrie looked at her sadly, the human wasn’t actually in danger, he was going to scare him then drop him on a beach somewhere. He had a feeling she’d doubt him.
“I told you to cool it on the fake eating people bit,” Caprice said. Kyrie smiled, carefully pushing him. “Although I guess I did encourage it… a bit.”
“I wasn’t going to try that until you brought up how long since I’ve eaten,” Kyrie laughed. Melody seemed to relax at least. He brought his head down below the cliff until his eyes were level with her. “I’m sorry I scared you… Caprice taught me that humans handle events like that a lot differently than mers. I wouldn’t eat a human for real.”
“Have you ever?” she asked. Her voice was quiet, but she stepped forward. He shook his head. “Would you?” Shook his head again. “What about merfolk, have you eaten them?”
Kyrie felt his heart drop. He couldn’t lie to her. He nodded slowly. She narrowed her eyes, he wished he could see the details more clearly. She was so small he wanted to just keep her safe. She was less than half the size of his smallest finger, but she held so much power. She stepped forward again, if she stabbed him with that sword he’d take it. He didn’t want to be someone she feared.
“Why did you do it?” she whispered.
“Mel don’t-” Caprice tried.
“Let him answer me.” She glared at him before turning back to look at Kyrie. Her face was emotionless. “Why?”
“...it’s how things go. We don’t like doing it, but sometimes someone is too determined to hurt us so it’s the only choice.”
“Who’s us?”
“Byssal,” Caprice chimed in again. “The two of them are the biggest of our pod, but Byss is a lot smaller than Kyrie, it’s what happens sometimes. It’s normal for it to happen with merfolk. They don’t do it to anyone innocent.”
“What do you mean innocent?” Melody’s eyes were locked on Kyrie’s.
“He means ones who aren’t bothering us. When I was smaller a lot of others tried to kill me. Byss did what he could, but sometimes it was the only option. Now bigger ones show up because our pod has three skilled with magic and me.”
She stepped forward and placed one of her hands on his face. She stared into his eyes as if she was reading his soul. It only took a few more moments for the dead look to change to a smile. She moved her hand back and forth petting his skin.
“Thank you for saving me and keeping Caprice safe. I-I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier…” she looked behind her “both of you. I just didn’t want you getting caught up in what I’d been. I knew if he saw you he’d want at the very least Caprice killed or captured.”
She stepped away and kept a warm smile. If Kyrie hadn’t already felt a pull he’d want to make sure he kept that smile in his life. It was something he never could have expected to see directed at him. He wanted to find a way to make her feel this too. He wanted to speak, but she had already turned away. She took the sword in hand and used it to cut the gown freeing her legs. Then she stabbed it through the cloth near her hip.
“I’ll be going now. Thank you again for saving me. I hope I’ll see you both again someday,” she announced. Kyrie widened his eyes, he didn’t know how to stop her. Caprice blocked her path instead.
“Mel, I didn’t just come here to finally tell you I was alive. It took a while to find a place once I told them about you, but we found somewhere for all of us to live. Pelago helped me to cast spells to head into towns and get the supplies we’d need. Kyrie and Byssal helped build the home too. You can come stay with us,” he said. Kyrie was desperately hoping she’d agree to this. She laughed bitterly.
“Cap, I’m not like you. I can’t turn into a merfolk and breathe underwater. It’s best if I just find somewhere to go on my own. Don’t destroy the life you built trying to fit me into it.” She started to walk away, pushing past him. Kyrie brought his hand up to block her from leaving.
“Melody, Caprice is in our pod so you are too. You don’t have to go off on your own.” He felt selfish like this. Stopping her wasn’t for Caprice, it was because he wanted her to stay. She started shaking, regret for stopping her started to overwhelm him.
“Why?” Kyrie almost missed it. Her voice was too quiet, but she looked at him with tears. “Why!? They’re going to hunt me down. So will the duke. It’s better if I go now so you’ll all live. Don’t give me reasons to survive anymore!”
“Mel…” Caprice walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders. “Mel, we’re good at hiding. Pelago is probably the best in the ocean with magic. Byssal and Kyrie can be terrifying. Please, stop giving things up for other people.”
Kyrie was panicking. He couldn’t imagine her leaving, but he couldn’t stop her either. She started to cry again before nodding her head. Caprice looked over at him and gave him a thumbs up before pulling Melody into a hug. He picked them both up carefully, the gasp from her a bit concerning. He dropped them in his palm before holding it tight to his chest and starting on the trip. It was significantly faster to swim on his own than having Caprice swim alongside him.
He had to stay above water which slowed him down a bit, but their home came into view soon enough. A cave that faced open water. Inside they’d built up a house that Caprice specified for him and Melody. He never adjusted to being a mer completely. He slowed as he swam in, Byssal and Pelago looking at him worried. Pelago let out a chirp, but before she could ask he set the two down on the dry land.
Melody looked around with a mixture of awe and fear. Kyrie was nervous for her to meet Byssal. Pelago was almost their size and warm, but Byss could seem cruel. Melody seemed to freeze when she locked eyes with Byssal. Slowly she shifted her gaze to Pelago before looking at her skirt and blushing. She grabbed the edges of the torn clothes and held them out to her side bowing a bit.
“H-Hello my lord and lady, I apologize for my appearance. I had not been intending to meet anyone after the events of this evening,” she said. Her voice seemed to shake a bit. “I am Melody, I am…was the adopted daughter of the Duke of Harmona until this evening. I thank you for taking in my brother after he’d been unjustly punished.”
“You’re so cute,” Pelago said. She pulled herself out of the water and was fussing over Melody’s hair quickly. “Humans have such soft hair. Caprice has it too. It’s wonderful to meet you, Melody. Caprice has told us a lot about you, I hope you’re happy here with us. Of course if you need to go out to a human village we can take you there. Byssal is a bit better to ask than Kyrie though. The big pup sticks out more than blood with sharks.”
Byssal made a small sound that was close enough to a growl Kyrie worried Melody would misunderstand. She looked up at Byss, like she needed his approval for something. He wanted to calm her, but didn’t have the words. Byssal moved so he was closer to her and set a finger on her head before rubbing it back and forth. He loved to give head pats, he did it to Caprice in his human form all the time.
“Don’t be afraid to ask,” he murmured. Melody nodded, Kyrie swore she was hiding a smile as she tilted her head down. Pelago started talking about all the things they gathered for her and Byssal backed off to watch silently. Eventually Melody gave him a look, he offered a close mouthed smile.
“Welcome home,” he mouthed. She gave him another one of the smiles from the cliff. He would do everything to get close to her, as long as he could see that smile he’d be happy even if it wasn’t for him.