Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This has got to be the end. Two guppies, just learning how to hunt, all alone. In water so cold its practically ice. There is no way they will ever be able to survive like this, and they know it.

Nonetheless they must try, it is the only chance they have to ever get home.

"You three stay out of trouble while we are gone. Ranboo, you are in charge of these little sea monsters," Phil smiled at his guppies.

"Hey!"

"We are perfect little angels," Tubbo frowned in mock pain.

A melodic giggle sounded throughout the cave. "Mhm, of course you are," Kristin carefully maneuvered out of the tight fit of a cave entrance before scooping up her guppies into a hug, "Come here you angels."

Tubbo tried, and failed, to wriggle out of her grasp.

"Kristin, we really should be going."

The woman sighed, letting the triplets go, "Right. Now remember guppies, stay within the reef."

"Okay momma," Ranboo spoke for the three of them.

"Bye guppies," Phil called before swimming off into the deep blue sea with Kristin.

Surely they missed their parents return. It has to have been a day or two. What Ranboo and Tommy wouldn't give to enjoy their hunt. Their momma and papa must have caught handfuls of groupers and hogfish.

Tubbo must have had a feast.

The three were swimming aimlessly through the coral. Every once in a while one of them would find something to poke at. For the most part the guppies found themselves with little to do.

"Ranbooo, I'm bored," Tubbo dramatically flung himself around, narrowly missing some nearby rocks.

Ranboo was quick to scold him, "Tubbo! Watch what you are doing. You almost hurt yourself on that."

Tubbo looked around himself then shrugged, clearly not as concerned. His expression soon twisted to be that of confusion, "Where did Tommy go?"

There was a moment of stillness broken only by Ranboo getting body slammed into the soft sand below.

Bubbles came bursting from Ranboo upon impact. Tommy quickly realized his mistake and helped the tiny mer regain his composure.

"You squished me," Ranboo pouted. More bruises were starting to form.

"Forgot you weren't as much of a big man as I am. Momma and papa aren't very wise, if they were I would have been put in charge. You are too wimpy, I think we can all agree that me, being the strong brother I am, should be the leader now. From now on you both take orders fro-"

"Lets play a game!" Tubbo cut Tommy off, not that anyone was listening anyway.

"Tubbo! You interrupted me!" Tommy whined.

"What kind of game?"

"Guyyys!"

"Maybe turtle shell hunt?"

"That sounds fun," Ranboo's fins perked up.

"Tommy, you in?" Tubbo asked having not noticed the boy's mini fit.

"I don't want to play turtle shell hunt," the boy grumbled.

"Perfect! Tommy is it, lets hide," Tubbo cheered while grabbing Ranboo by the wrist and swimming deeper into the forest of coral.

Actually is Tubbo even okay? He seemed hurt.

Momma and papa had to have found him. He should be fine. He's lucky, momma and papa haven't found them yet, soon though they will come to the rescue.

"Ha! I found you two. I am such an amazing hunter," Tommy stopped swimming briefly to start his monolog.

"Hurry Ranboo, before he catches us!" Tubbo shouted, excitement radiating off him.

The smaller guppies took off hand in hand, Tubbo slightly dragging Ranboo.

Tommy was pulled from his epicness in a startle, "This is turtle shell hunt, you can't swim!"

"We are right now."

"You know thats not what I mean Tubbo. Get back here, I won!" Tommy darted after them.

Tommy was easily starting to catch up to the two runaways. Ranboo looked behind them, "Tubbo he is gaining!"

Tubbo thought for a moment before pushing off of the smaller, "We need to split up. Good luck."

"Tubbo wait!"

"Good luck!" Tubbo held back a laugh.

Tubbo swam away some before stopping to watch as Tommy targeted the slower guppy.

It was quite an amusing display. Ranboo swimming for dear life, making sharp turns in hopes of keeping Tommy away. Tommy tried his hardest to follow Ranboo's movements at first before realizing it was fast to go straight after him. Tubbo was laughing all the while at Ranboo's desperate pleas to save him.

Tubbo's laughter was quick to stop as the two neared one particular cliff at the edge of the reef.

"Tommy stop!" Tubbo screamed.

Oh how Tommy wishes he listened.

Tommy's stomach is killing him and he is sure Ranboo's must be as well. Tommy held Ranboo close, it's so cold. So many fish swam right past them and they couldn't do anything about it, they are so cold their bodies have slowed. There is nothing Tommy can do but apologize.

Tubbo yelled something but that was not important to Tommy; what was is how Ranboo is so close he could almost grab him.

With a burst of all Tommy's strength he practically pounced on the poor guppy, "Got you!"

Truly, he did not mean to shove him so hard.

"Ranboo!" Tubbo shrieked right behind Tommy. When did Tubbo get so close? Tommy began to panic, realizing too late they were dangerously close to a fast moving current. A dangerously close current which now carries a helpless Ranboo.

"Fuck! Ranboo swim!" Tommy was just about ready to join Ranboo to help but something stopped him. Tubbo was going to beat him to it.

"I can't!" Ranboo cried, struggling against the current in a losing battle.

"Don't worry Boo, I'm coming," Tubbo was almost to the current.

"Tubbo no!" Tommy ordered, voice almost failing him in panic.

Tubbo was stubborn. Tommy did all he could to stop him, with all his might he whacked Tubbo with his tail. Tubbo plummeted to the coral down below, hard. Tommy payed no more thought to him, he had to get Ranboo. As the biggest it was his duty.

Into the current he went. He was able to reach Ranboo quickly by swimming with the current.

"I got you, it's okay." He cooed at his terrified brother.

The water was strong than he anticipated. Even with both guppies trying their hardest they were swept away, only being able to watch as they got further from their brother who was slumped on the sharp rocks and coral.

"Tommy, maybe we can eat some sort of algae. Like the little fish," Ranboo suggested while curled up to his brother.

Tommy pondered the idea, not like things could get any worse. "Yeah, good thinking Boob."

Tommy slowly made his way to the seabed for anything edible. Ranboo was still held close to him as they searched.

Soon enough they had a pile of mystery plants.

The guppies stared at the pile anxiously, neither one of them daring to make the first move.

"Is it safe?" Ranboo eventually pondered, voice hushed.

Tommy shrugged, nervousness bubbling in him, "Who knows. You should try it big man."

"Maybe algae was a bad idea after all. I'm not eating that," Ranboo looked around, "Surely there is a fish around here we can catch."

"Come on boob, eat your greens," Tommy grinned while shoving a glob in Ranboo's face.

Ranboo batted Tommy's hands away, "Gross! Stop it Tommy!"

Tommy tried again, "But they are good for you. Come on big man, just eat it."

Ranboo hit Tommy with his tail, successfully knocking the algae out of his grasp. Tommy exaggerated a gasp before scolding him, "You ruined your meal. Good thing I got extras!"

"Stay away from me," Ranboo groaned out of desperation before spotting a small hole under some nearby rocks. He slipped inside as fast as he could.

"Boob, come out and eat your dinner."

Ranboo shrunk into the hole even more.

The two stayed silent for a while until Tommy made some really disgusting noises.

Ranboo poked his head out to find Tommy gagging. "What are you doing?" His voice held so much concern.

"We are not eating this shit. It tastes awful."

"Oh."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Tommy was still making those gross gags.

Ranboo slid out of his tiny cave. "I will try to get a fish. Maybe they won't be scared off if I try," Ranboo  swam slowly to a nearby school.

Tommy watched as Ranboo attempted to stalk some odd looking fish, they weren't very appealing but fish is fish. Anything had to be better than the mush he found.

Just as the fish were getting away from Ranboo something extraordinary happened. A big shadow swept over from the surface and caught the whole school.

Ranboo barely made it out of the way before he too was captured. Frightened, he rushed back to his brother.

"What is that?" Ranboo spoke once back to the safety of his brother.

"No clue, but on the bright side it stopped the fish for us," Tommy gestured to the now still fish wrapped up in something.

Ranboo nodded then cautiously approached the still beast. It seemed to make no move to stop him as he neared its hunt.

Ranboo touched one of the strange looking fish, still nothing from the creature. Confidence soon found itself pouring into the guppy. He tried yanking out one of the fish but found it to be a harder task than it first seemed.

After much struggle Ranboo managed to squeeze out a smaller fish. Tommy was quick to take their prize to clamp his jaws on it. They now successfully got a fish.

"Here, Ranboo, you can eat this one. I can get my own fish," Tommy was beaming.

"Okay, but it's difficult," Ranboo tried to pull his arms away.

"Difficult? I don't even know what that means I'm such a-"

"Tommy! I'm stuck!"

"What?"

Ranboo was panicking, trying to tear his arms from whatever caught all the fish.

"Uh oh!" Tommy tried his best to get his brother's arms freeas well. Every panicked attempt only seemed to tighten the beast's hold on him.

Ranboo stilled his movements, letting Tommy take charge of freeing his arms. "It tricked me and now I'm going to die," Ranboo sobbed, everything finally crashing down around him.

"Hey, hey. Ranboo don't worry, I am not going to let it eat you," Tommy  pulled his shaking brother into a hug, "But we might have to cut you free."

Ranboo nodded, still crying.

"Should I chew off your arms or do you want to?" Tommy genuinely asked.

"You."

Tommy nodded at his brother. He grabbed one of his arms and bit down, not as hard as he could have though. Ranboo held back a scream, his crying picking up with intensity.

"Stop! Stop, no more!" Ranboo sounded so hurt. Tommy instantly unlatched his needle like teeth from his thin arm. The bite mark was deep, blood seeped from the wound.

"I will find some seaweed," Tommy hurried away. He knew that when one of them gets hurt papa wraps it up with stuff.

Tommy moved as fast as he could. Grab the seaweed then help his brother, simple as that. Quickly, Tommy got some decent looking seaweed. Now back to Boo. While swimming back to his brother he saw an alarming sight. He swan faster, they need to leave.

The water around Ranboo was tinted pink by ribbons of red flowing from his arm. Tommy was relieved that Ranboo was still okay. For now anyway.

"We need to get you out, fast," Tommy was looking over the creature holding him, "Do you think I could bite it?"

"It's really big Tommy. You will make it mad if you do."

"We have other problems to worry about Boob. There us a massive, and I mean massive, shark bitch nearby," Tommy was focusing on the task at hand, Ranboo's captor.

"Tommy."

"Not now, I'm calculating."

"But Tommy," Ranboo whimpered.

Tommy was tugging at the things again.

"Tommy! I see it!"

Toomy looked up, "See what?"

The shark mer was getting close, too close.

"Fuck! It's grip isn't too strong, maybe if we try hard enough-"

"Hurry Tommy, swim away while you still can!" Ranboo looked horrified. No way was Tommy leaving him to die.

"No! I am getting you out of here!" Tommy was starting to tear up at the thought of what would happen if he were to go now.

"It's too late for me. You need to go home. Tell momma and papa and Tubbo that I love them super so much," Ranboo held back his sorrow, releasing some in his voice now and then.

This broke Tommy's heart. If Ranboo is to die today he is going down with him; and damn it, if he goes down it's going to be fighting till the end.

The shark mer is so close now. It's now or never. God please don't let angering this thing come back to haunt them later.

Tommy bit down on the thing. He tore through it easier than he could ever have hoped to. The beast didn't even seem to react that much; Ranboo was freed. Not a second too soon, the shark mer now staring them down.

"Quick!" Tommy snatched Ranboo by the wrist to help them escape.

But escape didn't come.

"It got me! I'm done for!" Ranboo screamed.

The creature grabbed a hold of his tail and started dragging him up towards the surface. He must gave angered the beast after all. To make things worse the shark mer was now swimming top speed after them.

This is the end. "Bye Tubbo," Tommy whispered.

Chapter Text

"This should be good, Kristin," Phil had his hands cupped around a few live fish. It was a struggle but eventually the two of them caught enough of the tiny fish (the guppies favorites: hogfish, grouper, and perch) to feed their small family.

Kristin turned to the other, "Right, to the guppies we go!"

The two orca sized mers swam back to their nesting grounds. Unsurprisingly the guppies weren't in the cavern.

Kristin set down her fish into a pile on a flat stone slab in the middle of the large room.

"Hey Phil, do you need help putting your hunt away?" Kristin asked after watching him having trouble with the live fish.

"That would be much appreciated, yes."

Kristin swiftly rolled away a large stone that led to a small chamber. She allowed Phil to shove the fish in before she sealed the cave up again.

"We should get the guppies. Phil could you call them while I divide the meal?" Kristin already started sorting the fish for each guppy.

Phil gave a nod before going out into the reef to collect the guppies.

A low whistle sounded throughout the entire reef. He was ready to scoop up his three adorable little guppies into a hug when they come racing to collect dinner.

But nobody came.

Phil sighed, slightly annoyed by his guppies ignoring him then tried again.

Not even an attempt to return the gesture.

Now this was worrying. Did something happen to them? Are they too far away? He wouldn't be surprised if they went past the reef, ignoring all their warnings.

Phil burst back into the den, "They are gone!"

Kristin's smile dropped, "What do you mean they're gone?"

"I don't know! They aren't responding to me!" Phil was in a panic.

Kristin sped out the cave entrance, sending out whistles all the while.

They had completely lost contact with the guppies. Neither parent knew what to do or where to start in getting them back. It was so still that if not for the random items scattered around the area by the guppies, one would think the triplets didn't exist in the first place.

"Phil, you check the east, I'll check the west. We have to find them," she paused, "What if something got to them!"

"I will call you if I find them," Phil declared then swam off in a hurry, leaving Kristin to herself.

Kristin of course was terrified; terrified that something hurt or took her guppies. She dare not think what they would do if the guppies were dead. They better be okay. Her poor guppies, devoured by some sick beast. She couldn't vear the thought; she needs to find them, now.

Kristin was diligently scanning the reef when a low whistle caught her attention. No doubt Phil was beckoning her to come; maybe he found their guppies.

Whistle after whistle echoed around the reef. Phil is in a hurry; that can't be good.

Kristin swam as fast as she could, pushing herself to her limits. The larger dolphinfish mer was soon in sight.

"What's wrong!" Kristin's voice dripped with anxiety.

Phil held up one of the triplets, "I found him face down in the coral! There was blood everywhere! He needs medical attention now!"

Kristin didn't need to take too close a look at Tubbo to agree with Phil. He was unconscious and thick ribbons of red seeped around his face. If Kristin saw correctly he may even be needing an eyepatch. It was not a pretty sight.

"Where are the others?" Kristin looked around trying to spot her other two guppies.

"I don't know... but Tubbo probably will."

"Phil, they need us. We have to find them. Surely they were with him. They have to be here!"

Kristin desperately swam around the area, calling out to them as she did so. There was no sign of the guppies ever being here other than their injured brother. "Where are my guppies," the trembling mother whined.

Kristin hated it but the other guppies will have to wait, if they still can that is.

"Phil, you don't think that whatever got to Tubbo killed them. Do you?"

"I sure hope not. Lets help Tubbo though before he bleeds out."

The older mers had an odd mixture or feelings; relief for having found a guppy, yet also dread for how hurt he is and what might have happened to the other two. What were they doing by the reef edge? Why is Tubbo so messed up? Are Tommy and Ranboo also hurt? They can only hope they are doing the right thing.

Please don't be dead you two.

~•●•~

Techno was having a pleasant swim just off the shore of South Africa. It was quite relaxing just swimming aimlessly. No pressure, no mers, just sightseeing. He wishes this could last forever.

Unfortunately he jinxed it.

It started as just a slight smell; a phantom sense if you may. Soon however his senses became overloaded with the distinct smell of blood, mer blood.

Techno does not know why or how, but the next thing he knew his body turned itself to locate the source of such a smell.

This was the absolute last thing he wanted. Why can't he just have a simple swim in peace? Why can't he just leave the mysterious bleeding mer to itself?

With slow swishes of his tail, Techno continued his journey towards the bloody scent.

Far off in the distance he could have sworn he saw a tiny flash of red swimming to the blood source. This greatly confused Technoblade; he does not recognize any red fish that would grow to such a size around here.

Techno could not keep himself from investigating the odd sighting, as well as why there was so much blood. Slowly he crept ever so slightly in the direction he saw the red scales heading. So many theories as to what he could have seen flooded his mind.

He never could have been prepared for what he was met with when he found the red thing. There were two tropical guppies right next to a small vessel bearing a full fishnet. Techno could have sworn there weren't any pods nearby, let alone any for this species. So what in the world are two guppies doing out here, next to a fishing boat nonetheless.

The shark mer could not easily make out the guppies from the distance he was at. He could however now see that the streaks of blood where flowing from the smaller of the two.

Techno wanted to get closer.

He slowed his swimming as he got closer in attempt to not alarm the guppies. After all he was a large predator and they seemed to be alone and hurt. Hopefully there pod would have taught them basic surveil skill of avoiding predator.

The injured guppy kept staring right at him. Perhaps moving slowly wasn't working. Though the two have yet to flee, so maybe it was. The guppies were moving around the net a lot; or at least the red one was.

Without warning the guppies burst into a swim. There was a painfully sharp cry from the hurt guppy as they froze in place, still flailing about. The red one whipped around fast and started fluttering around the other as if they where a worried mother.

Within an instant it became apparent what had the guppies so distressed; the net was starting to drag in its catch, the smaller being pulled with it.

Techno took off without a second of thought; bolting at the poor guppies like a torpedo. The two guppies sort of deflated, the red one grabbing ahold of the smaller in an awkward hug of sorts, hiding them behind himself as much as he could.

Techno, once in range, entwined his fingers in the fish net. Effectively stopped the net from dragging the guppy upwards to certain doom. Techno started to reach his other hand to it. Sharp claws ready to rip through the net. Quickly glancing down he saw the petrified guppy below him. The thing was so tiny, possibly the size of a small human child. Suddenly there was a tiny sting coming from one of his fins, but he payed no mind to it as he quickly sliced through the net. Slicing it up in mere seconds.

The tiny, injured guppy burst from the fish net in a panic. He ended up colliding face first right into Techno's massive form.

The larger red one swam up to the disoriented guppy. They were both very distressed, seeming to act before their brains could catch up.

"Hurry!" the red guppy yelled while helping the other to swim away.

Technoblade just watched in surprise as the two desperately swam, barely making any progress in leaving. A trail of blood following the two boys.

Now, Techno could call this a day and leave or he could continue to disappoint himself.

Disappointing himself, Techno found himself attempting to calm the frightened guppies down with a soft rumble.

This completely backfired; if anything the guppies seemed even more scared than before. Perhaps there are no sharks in their pod. Either way if he actually wants to help them he would need to catch them first. Something that would be very easy to do and definitely not cause any issues.

"You two get back here," Techno nonchalantly called to them.

"Go, go, go!" one of the two cried.

As Technoblade suspected, this wasn't going to be very fun.

The shark mer began to swim behind the guppies, "Fine, you leave me no choice."

The two seemed to notice the larger's change in movement seeing as how they tried to swim even harder. Techno trailed them at a steady pace, letting the guppies stay just ahead. Surely they will tire themselves out.

The bleeding guppy eventually slipped out of the red guppy's grasp. He stayed there unmoving, either too tired to carry on or well, there was a lot of blood in the water.

"Boo!" the bigger guppy shrieked.

Techno hurried to the tiny guppy, hoping his effort wouldn't be for nothing. He scooped the fragile thing up. His sad eyes met Techno's for a moment before looking away.

Tiny razor sharp teeth sunk in into Technoblade's left arm. He looked down to see the bigger guppy knawing at him while snarling like a little puppy. His movements were very sloppy. The two seemed to be okay despite the obvious.

"So, uh... you guppies hungry?"