Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sea is not a very forgiving place, but if there's nothing left for you on land, it's better than, well, nothing. That's what Red keeps telling himself, him being the lowest deckhand on the ship. Ever since he was 15 and sickness took his mom, he's been working from ship to ship in search of something to fill the hole that was left, whether it be with adventure or treasure. He was disappointed to find few and far between both of these things, finding himself still cleaning up after wild pirates and peeling potatoes at the age of 20 instead. Five whole years at sea, and he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.

The boat, the Heartbreaker, was moored in a sort of cove, the large island itself shaped like a crescent moon. Coral reefs were close by and were dotted with all sorts of tropical fish. Red could see a forest of palm trees that spread as far as the eye could see. Tropical flowers and all the like dotted the lush landscape. It was beautiful and untouched, except for the clear line in the trees where the crew had trudged. The crew wasn’t all that bad, there was a young man with wild black hair named Spoke who liked to make rainbow bracelets out of whatever ropes and strings he could find, a skittish boy named Parker (Red wasn’t sure why they even went to sea with how cautious they were), and another bold boy named Branzy with white hair and piercing purple eyes with a wicked scar covering one of his arms, impeding its functionality somewhat. All were around his age and they got along well enough. The first boy, Spoke, had formed a strange friendship with the captain’s cyan parrot, which was creatively named Parrot, an odd bird who liked nothing more than to escape its cage and yell about “Pants”, one of the only words it knew. Spoke had made a smaller version of his rainbow headband for the bird and tied it around its leg. Spoke had taught the bird his favorite trick that he also did, sneaking up on people and mimicking the sound of a cannon going off in their ear.

The captain however on this particular vessel, quite like all the others Red had been on, was focused more so on money and treasure than everything else. Over the ship, over the crew, over his own safety. He wanted nothing more than to be “The biggest fish in the ocean.” So it was no surprise when Red, the mopboy, was to be left alone on the ship to boatsit when the captain decided to go ashore with the crew chasing some new treasure. Red had heard some whispers about it being called a Heart of the Sea, a big blue pearl with some kind of magic attached to it. Whatever, this just meant that Red could get some alone time, be able to catch up on chores, and actually enjoy it for once.

Red, brushing his bright red hair out of his face, began to sing to himself as he mopped the deck, quietly and then louder as he got bolder, confident that nobody was listening. Most songs on the ship were sea shanties of a sort, brash and slurred with drunkenness. This was a lighter tune, one that reminded him of home. A home that didn’t exist anymore, but one whose memories still made him smile. Despite the circumstances, he relished moments like this. Where he could be himself, at least for a little bit.

He almost didn’t hear the splashing around the side of the boat over his singing, but he stopped. A splash was heard, like something diving back underwater. Red began to sing again, pulling his dark glasses over his eyes and was sure to keep them focused off the side of the boat, but in a way that nobody would be able to tell that he was looking. Sure enough, a…head? Popped out of the water, covered in long, wet, black and purple hair, watching him intently. Red stopped mopping but kept singing, making sure to look like he was simply staring off into the jungle. He leaned on the railing, whistling tunelessly now. The thing did not move, seemingly transfixed by the noise.

“It's rude to stare you know.” Red says, whipping his head to look at the thing. It quickly ducked back underwater in shock, only to pop up timidly closer to the boat a few seconds later. Red swears he could hear a small “sorry…” over the lapping of the waves.

Red’s eyebrows raised. “...You talk?”

The figure raises a very humanlike arm with webbed fingers out of the water, moving some of the hair off of its face, revealing a purple eye with black sclera and a mouth of pointy teeth. “Yeah I talk, stupid.”

Red’s jaw drops. “Who are you?” Red’s eyes trace down the humanoid upper half down to a…tail? “WHAT are you?”

The creature sighs. “Come down here so I don’t have to yell and I’ll tell you!” Red hesitates. Ash yells “I’m not gonna drown you or anything, honest! I know your buddies would put more holes than a sea sponge in me for that.” Red thinks it over, then clambers down a ladder off the side of the ship and approaches a rocky outcrop near the shore where the water was deeper so the creature wouldn’t beach himself. “Now that we can talk like adults, I might as well introduce myself.”

The creature holds out a tanned-skinned purple-webbed hand. “I’m Ash.” Red takes the hand in his and shakes it. “I’m Red. Nice to meet you.” Ash scoffs. “Red, I feel like I could have figured out that one.” Ash points at Red’s red hair, and Red yells “Hey!” in retaliation.

There is an awkward pause and Ash mumbles something. “Huh?” asks Red. “I couldn’t hear you.” Ash turns away slightly, his cheeks getting red. “I said you have a nice singing voice…” Red feels his face get, well, red at the compliment. Nobody usually hears him sing, and when he does in front of other people it's the same sea shanties as everybody else. “Thank you…” He manages to squeak out, before coughing to relieve the tension. “So uh, how are you?” Asks Red with an awkward smile. Ash grins through pointed teeth, clearly enjoying this. “Small talk? Really? You’re staring down a talking sea monster and you’re making small talk?” “Aren’t you going to ask about why you’re here, the Heart?” Red flusters slightly but nods. Red says “Might as well ask, I’ve heard it's some sort of magic thing? The Heart of the Sea?”

“Ohhhh yeah,” Says Ash, looking at his pointed nails. “Very powerful magic indeed. The Heart is kept in a temple in the middle of the island, a source of powerful transformation magic. The kind that affects this whole island. Hell, it's probably working its magic on you right now.” Ash points a claw at Red, who pales.

Red pats himself down, frantically checking to see if he is in fact still 100% human. He is, at least as far as he can tell. “What? Transform? Why?”

"That's how this place works," Ash explains, nonchalantly. "I had read some books on it before coming here, legends and fairy tales really. Never expected to actually end up here. The Heart, according to legend, is supposed to change you into what you truly are meant to be. The Heart knows what your heart wants." Ash pokes Red in the chest for emphasis and then leans back on the sand, purple and black tail splashing the water slightly with thought.

“I came here a while ago, can’t say how long. My boat crashed here from a wicked storm, I was the only one aboard. I was on a trip to try to become the “Richest pirate in all the 7 seas”.” Ash does air quotes at the last bit. ”Something called me into the jungle, to the Temple of the Heart. However, as soon as I touched it on the pedestal, feeling the cold magic crackle off my fingertips, I felt myself beginning to stumble. I aimed for a stream of water to soften the fall and…” Ash flaps his tail for emphasis. “I became this. A fucking merman.” He frustratedly slaps down his tail.

“I’m not entirely sure why, given the fact that I quite liked land.” Ash frowns. “I’ve been living out of my wrecked ship on the other side of the island since its half-submerged. It's just been me here for quite a while. I’m afraid to swim farther out because I don’t know of any islands nearby and I don’t want to get eaten by a shark or something. Or worse, caught by people who would sell me for top dollar.”

"Not many folks find this place. Hell, this is probably one of those places that find you." Ash laughs nervously at that and sighs. "It's nice to finally see people again though." ̶E̶s̶p̶e̶c̶i̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶.̶ Ash continues, "Since your buddies are after the Heart, expect them to uh. Not look quite like themselves anymore when they get back."

“WHAT?” Exclaimed Red, not noticing the red scales forming on the backs of his legs.

Chapter Text

The crew and captain had trudged through the jungle for a bit before they saw it. In a clearing in the center of the island was a massive temple of marble, crumbling to pieces and reclaimed by the jungle. The captain pushed them all forward, using his sword to cut through the thick vegetation. The group all stopped at the base of the stairs of the Temple, which had high walls on either side. “I’m not sure we should even be here,” said Parker, nervously looking around. “This is probably booby-trapped to all hell.” “Heh. Booby.” muttered Spoke under his breath, thinking about Parrot, who was left on the ship. Branzy went over to comfort his friend. “Aw come on Parker, it’ll be fun!” “Or we all die.” said Parker, unconvinced to move a muscle farther up the stairs. Branzy sighed. “Fine, if you won’t go, I will~” said Branzy as he quickly ascended the stairs. “WAIT!” Yelled Parker, running after Branzy. Spoke followed close behind, followed by the captain.

Strangely, as he ascended the stairs, Parker felt more at ease instead of more scared. He quickened his pace, letting go of the wall he had been clinging to fully run, running even past Branzy. “Holy shit Parker,” panted a winded Branzy. “You sure turned around quick.” Parker shrugged. “Just felt…safe.” Branzy’s eyebrow raised. “Safe? You double-check under your bunk you’ve slept in every night for months for secret attackers, and this is where you feel safe?” Spoke interrupted the two, coming up the stairs. “Where is the thing anyway? It’s getting dark out already and I want to get back to the ship before night.” All 3 heard a whoop of celebration from inside the temple. The captain had split off from the group to try to find it himself, and find it he did. A glowing blue pearl, about the size of a coconut, sat on top of a marble pedestal in the middle of the temple. The roof had long caved in on the temple, with massive holes in the roof, and vegetation growing alongside pools of water on the floor. He did not approach, only instructing that one of the crew should grab it since he was “the boss here, and too important to get booby-trapped to kingdom come.” While Spoke and Branzy were busy bickering over who would be the unlucky one to try to actually go up there to grab it, Parker simply walked up to the pedestal, completely at ease. He heard Branzy yell “WAIT-” but it was too late. Parker picked up the Heart and felt a cool sensation crackle over his body. “See! I told you it was safe!” he yelled back at the gobsmacked crew. Parker hesitated to put the Heart in his bag, feeling that something was off with taking it. He walked back to the crew and they all began the trek back to the ship, the boys hanging back to talk among themselves as the captain hacked a quicker path back with his sword.

Parker had to admit, it was…strange. He hasn’t felt this relaxed in…well, forever. Pirates always had to keep an eye out for dangers, and Parker took that to the extreme. Always double and triple-checking everything most days, from only eating food he made himself to standing in doorways just in case he had to run. He had been on some bad ships in the past, and he had learned how to keep himself safe. He was forever on edge, but at least he was alive. But now? It’s like he knew there was no danger. A peace he hasn’t felt in ages. A quieted nervous part of him still whispers that the Heart might be a trap in itself, but he sincerely doubts that. He feels…happy. If this was a trap, it would certainly be the nicest one he’s ever been in. The gentle sensation of the Heart in his bag knocking against his leg as he walked was the only thing that felt wrong, but not in a dangerous kind of way, in a sad sort of way. Like it wasn’t meant to leave the Temple.

The captain was far ahead of the group hacking away, deadset on getting him and the treasure out of here. Spoke and Branzy were talking about something or the other behind Parker when he felt a sort of pull in his gut, making him stop dead in his tracks. He quickly turned around, snatched up Branzy in his arms, picked up the taller friend, and ran a short distance before putting him down again. “PARKER WHAT THE HELL-” Branzy yelled as he was snatched. Parker, panting after putting him down, could only say “I don’t-” until they saw it.

A snake, coiled and camouflaged perfectly against a tree Branzy definitely would have brushed up against.

Triangular head. Venomous. And sliding back into the undergrowth.

“What the fuck?” Was all Parker said as looked at his hands and realized that they weren’t shaking. A shock like that normally would have had him on edge for hours, but it’s like he knows that it's safe now. He was calm. How was he calm?

“Parker? Are you ok?” Asked Branzy, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah. I am,” said Parker, meaning it for the first time in a while.

“... But where the hell is Spoke?”

…

It was late afternoon as they were leaving the temple, the shadows getting longer with the setting sun. Spoke was talking with Branzy about cannon mechanics, the best gunpowder-to-ball ratios and all that, when Parker ran up from in front of them, scaring the hell out of him. He stepped into a shadowy part of the path and felt himself sink in, like the quickest quicksand. He was falling. Floating? Whatever it was, he stopped in the middle and stood up, taking a deep breath of surprise. Where was he? On all 3 sides was darkness but when he looked up he saw…the undersides of the trees?

It’s like he was under the path, but not in the ground. It was confusing, to say the least. He walked along the length of the path, realizing that he could only see out the parts where shadows fell on it. “Shadows…” he muttered to himself. He then looked down at his own hands, only to be met with them being as black as night. He wasn’t scared, merely curious. It was at that point that he realized that his friends were shouting for him.

“Spoke? SPOKE?” Yelled Branzy, looking all around the jungle from the path. Parker looked strangely…relaxed? and looked around calmly. Spoke simply walked up the path, directly under their shoes, and looked up. And then he got an idea. What if I…

Branzy felt something grab his leg and jumped about 5 feet in the air. “WHAT THE?” He screamed as he watched an arm of shadow pull back into the ground. Parker simply watched, unphased. Then he watched as an arm, then another, then a whole figure pulled themselves out of the ground, rainbow headband and all. Branzy blinked hard, not sure what was happening. “...Spoke?” squeaked out Branzy.

“Yeah?” Asked Spoke, standing up and brushing off his pants.

“What the fuck?” Asked Branzy.

“I’m not sure either man.” Responded Spoke, shrugging. “Now why the hell did you jump but Mr. Paranoia himself didn’t?” Asked Spoke, looking at Parker.

“It’s because we weren’t in real danger…” He concluded, voice trailing off in thought. Calm. He was still calm. Parker, checking to make sure that the captain was far enough away to not notice, pulled out the Heart from his bag, still glowing blue. “This thing HAS to be enchanted with something that did this to us…” concluded Parker, turning it in his hand. The other two huddled around it, mesmerized.

“When I touched it, I felt this…wave…go through me. And I haven’t felt nervous since, except for that gut feeling with the snake. It’s like I moved faster than I was able to think to save you.” Spoke piped up, “But I didn’t touch it! How was I able to do…whatever that was?” Parker thought it over. “Since we were all close to this, it affected us more. Me touching it probably brought out all of my… ” Parker struggles with words. “Gift.” he smiles. “All of my gift at once.”

“Should I touch it?” Asked Spoke, transfixed. Parker smiles and lets out a small laugh. “Trust me, it won’t hurt.” Spoke reaches out and touches the Heart, feeling the same crackle of energy that makes his hair stand on end. And stay standing. Branzy pipes up,
“Uhhh Spoke? Might wanna look in a mirror-”. Spoke runs over to a small pool of water by the carved path, seeing that his short black hair was standing slightly, waving in the wind, the tips becoming semi-transparent like… “Shadows. My gift is shadows! That explains what I did, I can do stuff with shadows!” Spoke is excitedly jumping around at this point, jumping into a larger shadow cast by a tree and jumping back out of another.

Branzy takes a deep breath in. And out. “Parker. Hand me the thing.” Parker laughs and hands it to his best friend, who takes it in his more shriveled hand. You see, Branzy was a simple orphan living on the mainland alongside Parker before a freak accident burned the orphanage to the ground. Branzy got stuck under burning rubble by his arm but got saved by a mysterious stranger. His arm has been covered by red and black scars ever since, weakened to the point of being almost unusable. The two took to the sea together to try to find something they could call their own.

After touching the Heart and feeling the energy, immediately the scars on his arm shift and change, becoming flat, the flesh underneath healing. Branzy flexes the fingers on that hand for the first time in ages. “Whoa.” Says Branzy, a smile of wonderment creeping over his face. “This is incredible!” The scars themselves swirl and change, gliding on the arm like living tattoos, tickling slightly. Branzy watches and feels in amazement as they go over his legs, his arm, and even his face, before settling down again on his arm. Branzy lets out a breathy “Holy shit.” before all 3 hear a shout of “HURRY UP!” in the distance. Oh shit. They forgot about the captain. The greedy abusive captain would take advantage of anything the Heart gives him. The three all had the same thought, Parker putting the Heart back in his bag, Spoke smoothing down his hair, and Branzy making sure his scars were in the right place. “Whatever happens, he doesn’t get this.” Parker says solemnly. The other two nod and head down the path to the Heartbreaker as night fell on the island, the only real light being the ship's lanterns in the distance and the faint blue glow coming from Parker's bag.

Chapter Text

“So, this is your place?” Red asked, walking down the coast, following the form of Ash who was swimming in the deeper water. Red had abandoned his post at the ship, choosing to instead let out that noisy Parrot to watch. He knew he wouldn’t go far without Spoke, and figured just having that one set of beady eyes on the ship wouldn’t hurt since nobody else was here.

Ash popped his head out of the water to look at Red.“Yep! It’s uh. Not much, but hey it's home.” A wrecked ship, a little smaller than the Heartbreaker, sat on large rocks on the shore. A giant gaping hole in the back was dipping into the water. The reef was much larger here, tropical fish of all types flitting in and out of the ship. Red approached it, stumbling over rocks, to wipe off a bit of grime from the hull. It revealed that it was called… “The S.S. Swag?” Red stifles a laugh as he feels a splash of water hit him from an irritated Ash. “It sounded cooler in my head!” scoffed a blushing Ash. “There's a ladder on the outside of the hull, you can climb that to get to the dry side.” Ash said, swimming in through the hole in the bottom.

Red climbed the rope ladder to the top deck, covered in sand and debris from having not been used for so long. Red heard a “Down here!” and opened the hatch to the lower level and had his eyes almost bug out of his head. “Remember how I said that I wanted to be the richest pirate?” Asked a smirking Ash, reclining on a large pile of doubloons and treasures. The hull had breached in such a way that the treasures were spilling out into the reef, coins glittering among the corals and kelp. “If you’re wondering, the Royal Navy was chasing me before they turned back because of the storm.” Red dropped down, splashing into the shallower end of the deck, coins clinking in the water at his feet. “I’ve never seen this much gold at once,” said an awed Red, running his hands through some gold in a half-rotted chest. “The captain never lets us look at the treasure for long…”

Ash frowns. “I saw him on the way in. Bad vibes all around, your buddies looked tense.” Red gulps. “Yeah, he’s a crusty old hardass, but at least the rest of em are good. Only reason why I didn’t dip yet.” Ash thinks it over for only a second. “Well, what's mine is yours dude, I sure as hell don’t need it anymore…” Red gasped and began rifling through the treasures with much more vigor. Ash got an idea and began digging through a particular chest for something special. “Aha!” said Ash, cupping his webbed-fingered hands around something, swimming up to Red who was deep into a chest. “I uh. Thought of this one thing that made me think of you.” Red poked his head out of another chest, having put on several gold necklaces and filled the pockets of his shorts with doubloons. Ash laughed at the ridiculous sight, making Red hit his head off the lid of the chest at the sound. It was like bubbles and tinkling glass and it made Red’s knees feel like jellyfish. He wanted to hear it forever. “Ow…” was all Red said as he took off the necklaces, his neck too heavy for himself to stand properly. “Well, what is it?” Red squatted down, eye level with Ash. “Close your eyes and put out your hands.” said Ash, smiling coyly.

Red raises an eyebrow. “It better not be an urchin or-”

“It’s not an urchin! I promise.” said Ash. Red raised his eyebrow higher. “Or any other sea creature!” said Ash. “Fine.” Said Red, holding out his hands. He feels something heavy slip onto one of his fingers and opens his eyes to… “A ring?” It was a golden ring, a large Red Ruby stuck in the center. Ash grinned with his pointy teeth. “It’s red! Like you!”

Red feels himself blush. “Ok, now it really reminds me of you-” says Ash, giggling that giggle again that makes Red’s stomach do backflips. “T...Thanks…” stammers out Red. He looks out the hole in the hull to see the sun getting low. “Shit! Better head back to the ship, they’ll probably be coming back now-” Said Red, looking for a way back up. “Uh, the only way out is through the hull, hope you don’t mind getting wet.” said a sheepish Ash. Red empties his pockets, figuring that the gold would just weigh him down, but keeps the ring on his finger. Red walks into the water, next to Ash, who shows him the smoothest way out without getting snagged on the coral. Swimming next to Ash feels…natural. Hell, swimming feels natural at that moment. The two swim next to each other for a bit, Ash occasionally doing jumps out of the water. Red just feels himself falling deeper and deeper in…love. That's what it was, love. He had fallen for a Fishman and didn’t feel the least bit bothered by it.

Red eventually clambers out of the water, running against the setting sun, wet clothes dripping from the water. Ash is watching him leave when he notices something. Scales. Red scales on the backs of Red’s legs. No. No no no Red can’t be trapped here! He should be able to go where he wants, not be trapped in a rotting ship with him. No matter how warm he made Ash feel inside, he had to get off the island. Ash had to get him to leave. So, in the dark water, Ash swam his way to the Heartbreaker, intending to have it live up to its namesake. For Red’s own good.

Chapter Text

“…Red, why the hell are you soaking wet?”

The words hit him in the back like a wet fish as he turned around. He had snuck back onto the ship from the other side as the others were walking up to the boat. “Uh…. I fell in-” He squeaked out, trying to not look nervous. Before anybody else could get a word in Parrot swooped down and sat on a delighted Spoke’s shoulder. “Pwoh!” he said, imitating the sound of a cannon. Directly into Spoke’s ear. Spoke was used to it. Spoke patted the bird and the rest of the crew filed onto the ship, Parker taking up the rear, one hand holding his bag, just in case. Night had fallen, the moon peeking out of a few sparse clouds. It was clear. Quiet. The gentle lapping of the waves almost wasn’t enough to muffle the sounds of somebody swimming up to the side of the boat, pressing a finned ear to the hull to hear what was happening inside.

Red had air-dried by the time the crew had made a meal of some hardtack, a crackerlike bread with the taste and texture of sawdust. Mmm, delicious. Well, at least Parrot liked it. “You guys sure you hadn’t seen any other sort of food on this island anywhere?” complained Red. The other three crewmembers all looked at each other, knowing damn well that their minds were on other things. The captain simply said “You ate it at sea, you’ll eat it here. It builds character.” emphasizing his words with a crunch.

“Alright Parker, bring it out.” The captain says, crunching on his hardtack. Outside, unseen by anyone, a merman braces for…something.

Both Spoke and Branzy visibly pale, but Parker looks…calm? Something that was rare for Red to see to be sure. Parker puts his bag on the table, something glowing from the inside. Red’s jaw drops as Parker pulls out a jumbo blue pearl. The Heart.

“Here it is.” Says Parker, holding it aloft over the table.

The Captain simply holds out a hand, making a beckoning motion.

Parker feels the pull again and comes up with a split decision plan. A lantern hung on the wall behind him where most of the light in the room was coming from, casting shadows in the room. Parker looks to Spoke, then the floor. Parker goes to hand the Heart to the captain, accidentally dropping it onto the floor, with Spoke reaching a shadowy hand to grab it. Quietly, he pockets it. Nobody moves to “pick it up”.

Red starts getting up from his seat to check the floor, but Branzy holds out an arm, his formerly shriveled arm, and stops him. Red takes note of the arm, eyes widening as the lines form uneasy squiggles right in front of his eyes. Ash’s words ring in his head of his friends “ Not looking quite like themselves anymore” and gulps. Something was gonna happen. Even Parrot stops eating and looks worried at the situation. Well, as worried as a bird can look.

“Hardee har har.” says the captain, unimpressed. “How didja pocket it.” Nobody moves. The captain’s eyes narrow. “If yer planning on stealing from me, we are in the middle of nowhere.” His hand goes to his sword. “And I know you bilge rats can’t fight.”

Ash hears a clatter from outside the ship as the crewmembers make a break for it on the upper deck. Using the shadows, Spoke passes it to Branzy, with Parker distracting the captain and getting slashed at. The captain misses every swing, Parker knowing where he is going to aim. Red is just confused and Parrot is squawking loud enough to wake the dead. Spoke runs up to Red. “Don’t let him get it!” Is all Spoke says as Red watches Spoke run directly into a wall. Red has no time to process this as he watches Spoke step out of the shadows to try to knock the captain over with his shoulder, a full shadow himself with glowing white eyes but that unmistakable rainbow headband. The Captain stumbles but swings behind himself, just missing Spoke, who sinks into the floor.

“WITCHCRAFT!” The captain shouts, swinging wildly when he makes eye contact with Red. “YOU. MY OWN CREW. MUTINY.” He runs up to Red, grabbing his shirt collar with one hand, and poking his sword at Red’s belly with the other. Red puts his hands up in fear. “I DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THIS! I WAS HERE AT THE SHIP!” The two are pushing and backing up until Red’s back is to the railing, high above the water. Then the captain spots something. “AND YOU WERE IN MY TREASURE ROOM! THIEF! THIEVES, ALL OF YOU!” He yanks the ring off of Red’s finger, who lets out a gasp of pain. Parker and the crew are trying to figure out how to best intercede but the moon came out of the clouds, meaning no shadows close by to the two. Suddenly, Parrot swoops down, clawing and distracting the Captain. Red takes the chance and JUMPS into the water. “ABANDON SHIP!” yells Spoke as he jumps overboard on the other side, the other two following suit.

Red splashes down into the water, right next to Ash. “Ohmigods are you ok?” Asks Ash. Red is unresponsive. Ash swims as fast as he can to his boat, gently carrying Red above the water. He gets to his home and rests Red on the shallow side. Ash begins to look Red over, gasping when he sees a cloud of red forming around Red in the water. The captain didn’t just pull off the ring. A large stab wound is deep in Red’s belly, and Ash lets out a cry. “Red… Red please… don’t leave me… Don’t go…” He sobs, not noticing 3 figures and a bird approaching.

“Hello? Red?” Asks a voice. “He’s hurt. He’s hurt bad.” Ash croaks out. He hears footsteps on the deck, and the sounds of someone splashing down. The boys’ eyes widen at the sight of him but Ash figures that that's just normal. “I’m a friend, I’m a friend-” he reassures, holding his arms up. “I was his friend…” he says quieter, arms lowering.

“So are we.” Says one of the boys, with black floating hair and a parrot on his shoulder. The tattoo on the other’s arm has become countless teardrops as he holds his hand over his mouth.

But the third. Just stands there. Calm.

“I have an idea,” he says finally. “Branzy. Hand me the thing.” The tattooed boy hands the calm one the Heart. Ash feels conflicted but swallows down his worry. “May I approach?” asks the calm one. Ash nods, knowing exactly what’s going to happen.

Parker says a silent prayer to the Heart, praying that this works, touching it to the wound.

The hole begins to close on Red's chest, but something much stranger happens. A red light comes from Red’s lower half, fading away to reveal a tail, not unlike Ash’s. Ash was right. He pulled Red into a bit of deeper water, knowing that his fate had been sealed.

Ash witnessed a rush of air exit Red’s lungs, and the first rush of water enter his gills.

…

The captain went into his quarters that night with a haughty laugh, convinced that the ring was just another treasure on top of the other gold and jewels he hoarded like a dragon. He would track those bastards all over this island for that pearl in the morning. His laughs turned to garbled coughs behind the door, but nobody was there to hear or care. By the morning, all that was left was a wet pile of clothes with the ring sitting triumphantly on top. They all stunk of fish. The ship’s window was left swinging open, facing the sea.

Chapter Text

Red wakes up in a haze, staring directly into the eyes of Ash. “...Ash?” He asks, still dazed and waking up. “Why do I feel…” he coughs, then gets a better look at his surroundings, noticing bubbles heading to the surface.

Underwater. He was underwater and talking.

“Wh-” He looks down at his lower half, first seeing a healed-over wound that should have killed him and then noticing that he had a long red scaled tail. Just like Ash. “I…I’m a…” Red looks at his now webbed hand and runs it through his hair, feeling the trickle of bubbles coming out of his neck.

“Yes, you are…” says Ash, trying his damndest to not sound sad. “Like me.” Red swims over in a flash to Ash, hugging him tightly. “I thought I was done for…” Red mutters. “So did I.” says back Ash.

It pains him, but Ash pulls back from the hug. “Your friends are at my ship. They…one of them touched you with the Heart hoping it would work and… It sure did. But not without…doing that.” Red raises an eyebrow. “...Why do you sound upset? You said it yourself, this is apparently what I’m supposed to be.”

Ash flinches at his own words. “It wasn’t supposed to be.” blurts out Ash. “You were supposed to leave and leave me behind.” Ash turns away from Red, not wanting to look him in the eyes. “I… when you left, I saw the starts of scales on your legs…” Red swam closer to Ash, trying to put his hand on his shoulder, Ash flinching away. “Ash-”

“And now you’re stuck here with me in a rotting boat! When you should be able to see the world.” Ash is glad they’re underwater and Red can’t see the tears starting to form.

“Ash.” Says Red. “Ash, look at me.” Ash puts his head in his hands. Red sighs, swimming in front of Ash. Red shouts “I was going to find a way anyway for us to stay together!” Ash looks into Red’s now red eyes with black sclera. “...What?”

Red explains. “We could’ve had you follow the ship, or made a tank or something, hell, my plan C was to have the crew maroon me here. You didn’t deserve to be alone for as long as you had been, and I wanted to make sure you’d never be lonely again!”

“I was thinking on my way back to the ship, that whatever the Heart was going to do to me, if it was going to do it, I knew I wanted it to involve the two of us.”

Red swims up to Ash, cradling his face in his hands. “To you, I might not have been meant to be a merman, but I was meant to be with you no matter what!”

Ash blankly stares at Red, not believing what he was hearing. “I…you…you mean it?” Ash began to blush. Red chuckles. “Hey, that's my color!” Ash cracks a smile, pointy teeth and all. “And that's my joke-” Red pulls Ash in, and they both kiss.

“Now, you said something about my friends?” says Red.

…

Red met up with his close group of friends, swimming to the outside of the S. S. Swag, with a sheepish Ash following behind. They all got to know each other, and their various powers. The sun began to rise, and there was a nervous realization that they need to check the Heartbreaker. The mers swam up in the water alongside the ship, not hearing a sound from inside. They swam back to the others, telling them the news. Steeling themselves, the crew boarded the ship. Parker felt no fear, and he opened the door to the captain’s quarters to see the pile of clothes. He knew something good had happened, whatever it was, and he thanked the Heart in his bag for it. It seemed to glow brighter in acknowledgment, then dim again to its normal hue.

Parker walked back onto the deck. “He’s gone.” All let out a sigh of relief. The ring was returned to Red, who put it back on happily. The crewmembers also ransacked the former captain’s treasure stash, finally getting to access some of their rightful treasures. Red heard the whoops of joy from inside the ship and hoisted his new form onto a rock to sunbathe close to the water. He was still getting used to it, but quite enjoyed the sensation of gliding through the water, especially next to Ash. But, the tropical sun also felt nice on his new tail. Nice and warm.

“Pants!” squawked Parrot, flying over to sit on the rock by him.

“Shouldn’t you have learned a new word by now?” muttered Red, his sunglasses lazily covering his eyes.

“Pants! Pants!” squawked Parrot more incessantly this time, landing on Red’s chest.

Red sat up to swat the bird off and realized something. The bird was right. There were pants.

and legs.

Red got up in a wobbly panic, falling back into the water. His legs then felt warm, and Red looked down to see them glow red and become a tail again.

“GUYS!” he yelled from the water, “I HAD LEGS!” Ash swims over, confused. “Yes, you did, but-”

“NO NO NO THEY CAME BACK-” Red said, hoisting himself back onto the rock. The crew had come off the ship, Spoke and Branzy sporting some gold jewelry from the spoils of the treasure hold. All watched in awe as Red’s tail, as soon as it left the water and dried slightly, glowed red and then became legs again.

“How…” said a mystified Ash.

Rek felt The Pull again, and stared at the ring on Red’s hand, only himself seeing a faint blue glow around it for a second, then it faded back to normal. None realized it at the time, but Parker’s eyes did the same. “It’s… the Gift… It’s connected somehow, letting you go on land again…” Rek says, not sure what to make of this.

Red gasps, looking at Ash. “It must have been a mixture of the whole “wanting to stay together” thing and the fact that you wanted me to “be able to go anywhere” thing!” He pauses, a grin on his face. “…I have an idea.” Red ran into the Heartbreaker, looking for something specific. He ran back out, holding something in his cupped hands. He waded into the water, his tail returning, to where Ash was swimming.

“Close your eyes.” Ash complied and felt a weight hanging around his neck. He opened his eyes to an Amethyst pendant around his neck, the gem itself a square-ish cut, with a gold chain. Red watched the dots connect in Ash’s head. “Red? Does this mean?”

Red smiles. “Well, we are meant to stay together!” Red hoisted himself onto the rock, helping Ash up there as well. Ash gasped when a purple light enveloped his tail, making it into his legs again. Ash got up on shaky legs for the first time in forever and the whole group cheered, Ash and Red sharing another kiss. Both did keep some attributes in this more humanoid form, however, most notably their black scleras and splashes of scales on the backs of their legs, the webbed fingers and finlike ears changing with the tails and legs.

…

The group of friends, deciding to not leave the island, instead made it into a paradise, or at least as close as they could get it. The two with fins helped push the medium vessel inland to act as the main house, the original crew living inside. Parker became the group's leader, given his ability to sense danger and his strange closer connection to The Heart. There was a joke, started by Branzy, that Parker was a new man, the opposite of the terrified individual from before. “You’re like opposite Parker now, so, Rekrap!” The nickname stuck, and Rek quite liked his new name and lease on life. He was finally at peace.

On a more thorough once-over, the island had plenty of animals to farm, as well as wilder crops and wild fruits. The S. S. Swag became a home for two, with Red moving in since Ash was ok with sharing the space with his love. The group all settled and dubbed the main town Heartbreak, after the vessel that made up its main building. Rek had returned the Heart to its rightful place in The Temple, naming himself the protector of it as well, with Ash filling in some of the folklore behind it. They would all stay and protect the Heart, because who knows what could happen if it ended up in the wrong hands. Plus, what if more folks washed ashore?

Chapter Text

Spoke was distraught one day when he realized that he hadn’t seen Parrot. One day turned to two, Spoke patrolling far into the jungle to look for his best friend. Night fell on the third day and nobody could rouse Spoke from his quarters he was so depressed. However, in the morning, there was a great crashing of leaves, and a new figure emerged from the trees. It was strange given the fact that nobody had seen a ship or any sort of raft arriving at the island, and he looked too put-together to have washed up on shore. The figure charged through the camp before anybody could react to knock on Spoke’s door. The frantic knocking had the boy throw open his door to be met with a crushing hug. When the two had pulled themselves off each other, Spoke asked a simple “Who are you?”

The figure simply held their leg up, hopping on one foot, to show off a rainbow-colored anklet, cyan wings flapping to help keep balance, all the while making explosion noises with his mouth. Parrot had come home.

…

A few weeks passed after that, and a small boat came into view on the horizon at dusk, a single blue light being the only real indicator it was there. Those on land helped make a massive fire to try to smoke signal them in, and they eventually did, the tallest on the boat running onshore and kissing the sand. And then immediately running back on the boat when he got a good look at the people on the shore. He was swinging around an elaborate golden sword some of the more worldly former pirates recognized as being of Royal make. After everything got settled down, they got him to tell their tale around the campfire.

"We were Royal sailors, the lot of us." The one who went by Bacon explained, himself ironically gnawing on a fire-cooked pork chop. "I was one of their top fighters, and earned my nickname by fighting like a wild pig." He grins, showing off a gold tooth shaped like a fang. "Jaron here," he squeezes the knee of the boy next to him, "was one of their best strategizers. And is my best friend." Jaron perks up and squeezes Bacon's knee back to show that he was there.

"But," continues Bacon, choking up slightly, "Jaron got sick. Real sick." The group takes a good look at Jaron, who is as pale as a ghost. Even his clothes looked bleached by the sun. Most striking, however, was his milky eyes. "He got pale. Went…blind. Mute. Nobody knew why." A tear falls from Bacon's face, sliding down his cheek. "I knew when they were going to take him next to the ship's doctor, they weren't going to bring him back. And not because he…went naturally." His grip tightens on the handle of his sword and Jaron began patting Bacon’s knee for reassurance. " "No place for weakness on the high sea" they used to tell me…" He clenches his teeth.

"I had to fight to get him off the boat, grabbed this beauty," he lifted the sword, turning its golden glory in the light, "right out of the Captain's hands. Not without consequences though, given the new marks on my mug. I'm just lucky it missed my eye." Long red gashes were all along the left side of his face, smooth cuts from a sword still healing. "We grabbed that ship we came in on and booked it."

"This one, however," Bacon clapped his hand down on the shoulder of the other boy they had come in with, a smaller boy in torn robes depicting the stars who went by Planet, “We found floating on a piece of driftwood.” The boy flinches at the roughness of Bacon but adjusts his glasses. He pipes up, “I uh. Fell off a Royal ship. Nobody noticed.” and looks away, embarrassed. Jaron reaches for him as well, grasping until he finds his hand to squeeze for reassurance. “We noticed!” Says Bacon. “You sure as hell kept all 3 of our sanities on the trip, what with that funny blue lantern you’ve got and your stories.”

Planet speaks up. “That “funny lantern” is an EverBurner, a sort of magic that burns, well, forever.” Planet explains and relaxes a bit more when telling of his passion. “I’ve always loved the stars, the city back where I came from was too bright to see them properly, so I joined the Royal Navy to help chart the stars for navigational reasons.” Planet looked up at the night sky in wonder. “I’ve never seen ones quite like here though, they're so bright and close… Hell, we followed one here. It was unusually bright and blue, so we followed it, hoping it was a sign.” He smiles. “I guess it was.”

“I like telling the stories of the stars, their formations, and the meanings behind them. I can tell them if you all would like?” The group stayed up late, listening to stories from their new friends.

As their days turned to weeks on the island, all 3 improved in unexpected ways. Bacon tried to fight it at first, believing he could resist the Heart’s Gift for him but gave in after he realized that he could hold more and more wood that was cut as the days went on, more and more weight. Taller, stronger. Be able to protect the island easier. Be able to protect his friends. Fight harder. Protect his Own. He woke up the next day living up to his namesake, snout and all, gold filling in the scars on his face. Planet quipped that he was now as pigheaded as he was personality-wise, and it earned him a light punch in the arm that almost knocked Planet over. He had to get used to that- He also let Jaron know what had happened and let him touch his face, his unseeing eyes widening in surprise upon feeling a piggy snout and tusks.

Planet loved nothing more than sitting on the highest peak of the island and studying the stars. Ash had pulled an old telescope from his shipwreck for Planet to use, and he scrambled up there, night after night, to look at the stars and their beauty. He had all sorts of maps drawn up, numbers, and symbols that nobody truly understood other than him. After a time he noticed that his glasses were no longer needed. After even more time, he noticed a star slowly falling from the sky. Not like a shooting star, more like a slowly descending star. It seemed to be heading for a part of the peak of the mountain, slowly dripping from the heavens like a drop of honey from a hive. It was the very same star that had led them here, and Planet was set on catching it. The fateful night came when the star was close enough to reach, Planet sliding in to catch it before it hit the ground. He held it tenderly in his hands, surprised that it wasn’t burning them. He was so entranced that he didn’t realize that he had stepped off a sheer cliff nearby. Bracing for the impact, Planet pulled the precious star close to his chest to protect it, when he felt a sudden weight on his shoulders. He waited to fall but instead landed softly. He looked at his hands first, realizing that the star was gone. Then he noticed two sticks waving in his face, probably stuck in there from the fall in his headband that Spoke made. He went to pull them out but “ouch! …what the?” they were attached. He could feel them now, dangling in the breeze. Antenna. Panicking slightly, he looked behind himself, feeling like there was a big blanket behind him. Wings. He had wings. Wings and antennae. Like a big butterfly? No, wait, these are like that of a moth, with patterns of stars on them that glow slightly. How the- The star. His gift! He got his gift!!! He looked up to thank the heavens when he spotted a purple and blue halo around his own head, his own personal ring of stars. He flew back to the camp, giggling like a little kid, the star shining in his eyes. Planet of course also let Jaron touch his wings, of which Planet loved nothing more than to wrap them around him and Bacon on colder nights spent around the fire.

Jaron had the most unexpected (no, prayed for,) recovery. He seemed to have not changed at all during the weeks when the other two had changed so much, so the three set out through the jungle to the Temple of the Heart. While staying on the island changed you over time, depending on your willingness to give in to the magic along with the type of transformation, direct touch could change you instantly as everyone knew. Jaron seemingly hadn’t changed, even getting paler and shaky with his hands at times, so they figured it would be worth a shot to speed up the process at the advice of Rek. The three braved the Jungle, Bacon carrying Jaron most of the way, until they got to the Temple. Bacon put him down at the base of the pedestal that held the Heart, positioning Jaron's hand over it. There was a collectively held breath as Jaron touched it and fell to his knees, his friends rushing over to help him with whatever happened next. He had turned as white as a sheet of paper. Something was wrong. Both went to comfort him when he turned around, sobbing, black tears streaking down his face. Bacon touched it to wipe it away and recoiled in surprise at the recognition of what it was. Ink.

…

Back before all of this, Jaron was an amazing strategist for the Royal Navy, drawing battleplans with unknown accuracy, and noticing the smallest details. After becoming friends with his bunkmate, renowned brawler Bacon, he revealed a little bit of a secret.

“It’s…stupid-” says a sheepish Jaron, pulling a small stack of papers from underneath his bunk. Bacon sticks his head over the side of his bed, looking at Jaron from the top bunk. “Dude, if it's anything by you, it's going to be great.”

“Alright, but don’t say I never warned you-” said Jaron, pulling out a book full of illustrations. Bacon got down from his top bunk to look at Jaron, gasping at the papers. It was drawings and comics in black and white about a detective who looked an awful lot like Jaron. “You drew all this?” asked an impressed Bacon. “Y…Yeah!” said Jaron. “When I get out of the Navy, I’m gonna see if I can get these published somewhere!”

…

Bacon kneels down Next to Jaron, who is on his knees, sobbing. “Jaron, it’s ok, tell me what happened.” Planet flies over, holding his wings around them both. Jaron is still unable to speak but pulls papers out of his jacket pocket, the ink falling from his eyes on the page, spelling words he can’t bear to say, even if he could...

You threw away your life for me.
An impulsive decision you had to justify.
That’s why you keep me around, useless useless me…
Can’t even do what I’m good at anymore…

Bacon balks. “T-THREW AWAY? Never in a million years did I think I was throwing anything away. Hell, I stopped THEM from throwing YOU away! It wasn’t much of a life anyway, all fighting. I’m happy here! With you! And everybody else here! You are still you, no matter what happens. You don’t have to prove yourself, I care about you no matter what!”

Planet cuts in. “Look, I might not know exactly what happened between you two that day, but if you guys hadn't shown up, I'd be dead in the water! In a weird, honestly fucked up kind of way, things lined up perfectly. We even have friggin powers because of the Heart! Whatever you “Think you should be” at this moment isn’t true! You’re supposed to be you, not fade away! We care about you Jaron, please, stay with us.”

As the two talked, color began to creep up Jaron, starting from the shoes, to his brown coat, to his face with blue eyes, and then to his brown hat. Jaron blinks once, twice, And then looks into the faces of his best friends.

“...Guys?” says Jaron, in a voice that hadn’t been heard in a long, long time.

Overjoyed, the three group hugged and ran back to the town of Heartbreak. Jaron became Rek’s right-hand man in running the island, with his drawings and diagrams that seemed to move on the page. They did in fact move, Jaron’s favorite being a small doodle of a certain Detective who would go on little adventures, the story and scenery changing without Jaron lifting a quill. His “Movie Nights” were a big hit as well, a spare sail acting as a canvas for his stories. He loved seeing the smiles on his friend's faces, especially Bacon and Planet. He was grateful to see them and to have a second chance at life.

Chapter Text

Branzy loved his gift. He really did! He had gotten back his arm, plus one hell of a party trick. Alongside, yanno, a big group of caring friends and a place to call his own. He had everything a pirate could want.

But why did it still feel like something was…missing? Sure he found himself staring at Red and Ash, the two splashing in the reef, eyes only for each other, but he wasn't jealous! No siree! It hasn’t gotten to the point where he considered kissing a squid in the hopes it would turn into a prince! He was fine by himself! He was… oh who was he kidding-

It’s just that there wasn’t anybody he was interested in on the island, and dating off of the island could get weird real fast. Hey! I’m Branzy, ignore the moving tattoos! And forget about bringing them home- He didn’t hold anything against his strange little family, it's just that one wrong person brought home would have the Royal Navy import a surplus of pitchforks and torches to the next island over. He just needed to find somebody that would understand, which was impossible to ever truly tell. Branzy instead found himself staring out at the waves from the crow's nest of the beached Heartbreak on yet another lonely night, hoping for something, anything.

He woke up to the sensation of his tattoo moving like crazy. This wasn’t unusual, given the fact that the damn thing had a mind of its own. But they seemed. Extra antsy today. “Hm?” asked a bleary Branzy, stretching and feeling his joints pop from sleeping in such close quarters. He looked at his arm, the red and black lines swirling and moving. They formed…an arrow? As Branzy moved his arm back and forth, the arrow stayed pointed in the same direction, like the arm of a compass. “What the hell…” he muttered under his still sleepy breath. "At least let me wake up first?" He asked the tattoos, which responded by swirling faster, then making the arrow again. "Ok ok! I get the picture!" Branzy says, clambering back down the ship's mast. It was the crack of dawn, and the sun's rays were just starting to creep over the island. Branzy followed the arrow down to the edge of the beach, and then down to an area most folks didn't usually go to, with large rocks dotting the shore and small tide pools between the rocks. Branzy began checking the tide pools, the shore, and the rocks until he found something…unusual to say the least.

"A hat. You woke me up early for a wet hat?!" Branzy turned it over in his hands, black with a dark red inside, the hat itself seeming to come to two points at the sides, like curving horns, with little jingle bells on the ends. Branzy put it on his head, shaking his head to hear the jingling. “Neat design, but why would-” Branzy felt the tattoo moving again, reforming the arrow, pointing further down the beach. “Again?” Branzy asked. The tattoo responded by swirling faster than before and reforming the arrow.

Branzy followed the arrow further down the beach that was mostly the same, with the occasional crab scuttling in and out of the pools. This time he saw what he was looking for much easier, its handle sticking out from some rocks. Branzy scrabbled over the rocks to get a closer look. “Black metal with red gems in it… Matches the hat!” Branzy muttered under his breath, thinking of the best way to get this thing unstuck. He decided to give it a good ol fashioned yank, putting way too much effort into the pull and landing on his butt on the rocks. “Ow…” said Branzy, getting a good look at the item for the first time. A massive scythe, its black blade glinting in the morning light. “Whoa…” said Branzy, awestruck. “This thing is fucking heavy-” he said as he tried to pick it up, choosing instead to drag it by the handle, the blade first clonking off the rocks and then making a line in the sand.

He turned around to go home but felt the tattoo swirling again, even faster. It reformed the arrow much larger than before as well. Branzy began to sprint, dragging the scythe until he got to a large stone archway carved over time by the waves and wind. Past the arch lay a smooth pristine beach.

And a body.

“HOLY SHIT-” Yelled Branzy, dropping the scythe and running over. The figure was faceup, the tide lapping at its legs. They were dressed in a red and black long coat with gold accents rimming the edges, poofy pants of some sort, black gloves, and big black boots. But most unusually, they wore a mask with a face of black eyes and a grinning smile. Branzy wasn’t sure if they were breathing. “Fuck! uhhhh what would Rek do what would Rek do-” Branzy babbled to himself, before getting a good idea.

Branzy reached his hand under the person’s chin to flip up the mask when the body’s hand grabbed his wrist in a strong grip. Branzy blanks, too surprised to move.

“...Why are you wearing my hat?” asked the figure, grip still firm on Branzy’s wrist. Branzy snaps out of it.

“HOLYSHIT-” Branzy pulls back, almost falling again onto the sand. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE- DON’T DO THAT!” Gasped out Branzy, his heart almost beating out of his chest.

The figure sits up, hand going to the back of his head. “Owch…” he mutters, getting up and brushing the sand off of his clothes. Branzy is lying in the sand, catching his breath so he doesn’t die right there. The figure looms over him. “...what were you trying to do?” they ask, cocking their head slightly.

“I WAS-” Branzy huffs and puffs, regaining his composure. “I WAS trying to see if you were breathing. Or try to, yanno? If you weren’t.” Branzy sits up and the figure snatches the hat off his head, placing it over his own short black hair.

“Try to…?” The figure realizes, and blushes slightly under the mask where Branzy can’t see. “Oh.” Branzy swears he sees pink on the cheeks of the mask, but blinks, and its gone.

“Where am I exactly?” asks the figure, looking around. Branzy gets up. “Uh, welcome to the Island, creative name I know, I’m Branzy! That's. A more creative name-” Branzy grins and holds out his hand for the figure to shake. They hesitate a second, then shake it.

“You can call me Pierce.” Pierce then cocks his head, this time in the other direction. “Cool tats.” Branzy looks down at his arm, where the lines are thankfully still, but in the shape of…hearts? “Uhhh Thanks!” He says, voice cracking slightly. Pierce giggles.

“So…is it just you and me here or?” Asked Pierce. “No actually! There's a whole little town just past that arch, I can take you!” Branzy realizes. “Oh shit. Uh, I should warn you though, the people here are a bit…different.” Pierce cocks his head again and Branzy internally slaps himself for thinking that it's cute. “Different how?” He asks.

They are interrupted by a squawk from the treeline, followed by a cyan blur landing nearby to them, the breeze of the impact jingling the bells on Pierce’s hat. “Hi Branzy! Who friend?” said Parrot, getting close to the taller Pierce’s face, wings playfully flared out. He was still getting used to human customs and the concept of personal space. “...This kind-” squeaked out Branzy, internally facepalming and bracing for Pierce to do something hasty. However, Pierce seemed…strangely unphased by this. Branzy spoke. “Uh, Pierce, this is Parrot, Parrot, this is Pierce! Pierce here washed up on the beach and I was just gonna bring him to Heartbreak.” Branzy could tell Pierce was raising an eyebrow, even under the mask, feeling that the design moved ever so slightly to have a black line over the eye. Branzy blinked and it seemed to be a trick of the light. “Heartbreak is the name of the town! It was the name of our ship that landed here but we stayed.” Why was the name of the town the thing that weirded him out the most of this conversation… wondered Branzy. Parrot grinned widely, still getting used to not having a beak. “Ok! Go tell home? Tell Rek?” Parrot was bouncing slightly with excitement. “Oh! Sure! Might as well tell the others, we haven't had a visitor in months…” said Branzy. “Ok ok!” said Parrot with a little salute, as he ran on the beach, picking up speed and then flapping away in the direction of town. Branzy just stood there, unsure of what to say next to explain.

“So, that way right?” asked Pierce, beginning to walk in the direction of town.

Branzy runs up behind him. “Wait! Hold on! We are not glazing over that!”

“Hm?” says Pierce, looking back at Branzy. “Glaze over what?”

“A dude has wings and you don’t even flinch?!” asked Branzy. “The hell kind of people have you hung around for you not to freak out at least a little bit?”

Pierce hums. “You go around the seas for long enough, you meet all kinds of folks Branzy. All types of people, but some see themselves over others…” One of his fists clenches. “I always tried to understand though. Heh, the people like us tend to be the bigger monster in most cases anyways.”

“Like us…” Branzy mutters under his breath, subconsciously holding one hand over his tattoos, not sure if in the scheme of things that he counted as Human anymore now that he thought of it. Pierce walks in the direction of town, Branzy catching up close behind.

Chapter Text

Parrot had worked FAST. And by fast, he had sat his feathery butt on the top mast of the Heartbreak and crowed “NEW FRIEND! NEW FRIEND!” until the whole island yelled at him that they heard him. Rek emerged from the Heartbreaker on the top deck, wearing the former captain’s hat decorated in blue and yellow to look presentable for this new guest. Parrot swooped down to tell the specifics to Rek. “Pretty hat!” he cawed. Rek smiled. “Thanks, figured I needed something fancier if more folks are gonna show up. Now, what exactly are we dealing with here?” Parrot thought hard, trying to think of the words. It was getting easier with Spoke helping him, but it was hard to not blurt “Pants!” in every conversation instead of actual thoughts. “With Branzy!” He pointed an arm towards the arch, his wing subconsciously opening to point as well. “Red. Black. Tall. Mask!”

Below the beached hull of the Heartbreaker was the center of town, a firepit with makeshift chairs all around it, some chests of supplies, and a makeshift table with papers and inks where Jaron sat, drawing up a welcome sign for the new person. On one side, Planet was doodling on the sign as well, adding color to Jaron’s lines. Both had various colors over their arms and hands, clearly having a lot of fun with this. A small doodled Detective was helping from the other side of the page, straightening and changing lines with his little drawn hands. Sitting to Jaron’s other side was Bacon, fiddling with his sword. His piggy ears perked up at Parrot’s loud description of this person. He got up from the table to investigate, climbing the ladder up the side of the ship, the other two too engrossed in their art project to notice. “Repeat what you just said?” He asked Parrot, kneeling down slightly to look him in his beady birdlike eyes. “Mask! This!” He held his hand over his face, peeking out from between his fingers. Bacon snorts a small laugh. “Yeah, I know what a mask is, what did it look like though?” Parrot smiles widely and points to his face. “This!” Bacon’s eyes widen, grip growing tighter on his sword’s hilt. “Rek, a word if you don’t mind?” he quietly asks, trying to push him back into the former captain’s quarters of the Heartbreaker. “Uh, ok! Ok ok, don’t shove-”

Rek had made the captain’s quarters a sort of bedroom, moving his bunk from the underbelly of the ship to against the wall. The old dark wooden desk sported maps Jaron and Planet had made charting surrounding islands. A few of the more “normal” islanders like Branzy and Rek made trips to them for supplies on the small boat Bacon, Jaron, and Planet had come in on, a small vessel they dubbed the Starchaser. Instead of the three living out of the boat that was deemed too small, they made a sort of wooden house for the three to live in instead. The trips were funded by the treasure troves of the Heartbreaker and the S. S. Swag. Most of the captain’s old stuff was thrown out, but Rek had kept his hat as a sort of trophy. He took it off, hanging it on a hook on the wall as he entered the room again. “Now, what’s the problem?” asked Rek, sitting in ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶p̶t̶a̶i̶n̶'̶s̶ his chair and spinning slightly. Bacon looked wary and tense but sat down in the almost comically small chair, knees almost to his chin.

“Look, I don’t want to panic anybody, but if the guy Parrot described really is the one I'm thinking of, we are in for a hell of a lot of trouble.” Rek leaned in, eyes slightly glowing blue. “Go on.”

Bacon explains. “There were stories I heard when I was in the Navy, ghost stories really, of a guy single-handedly sinking small Navy ships.” Rek’s eyebrow raises. Bacon continues. “We all thought it was tall tales, drunken sots seeing visions as their ships burned, but I swear on the Heart I saw him. Once.” On the mention of the Heart, Rek’s eyes flared brighter blue and then dim again. Bacon continues, hand nervously fidgeting with the length of rope hanging off his sword. “It was storming like Poseidon himself wanted to skewer our asses with his trident, lightning and thunder. Jaron was below deck, sick. This was a few weeks before we landed here.”

“I was up top, helping with the sails when there were reports of somebody to the side of us. I ran to the side and looked at a small boat with a singular figure standing on the deck. Lightning flashed, and I got a good look.” He shudders.

“This was no ordinary pirate. He fit every description I had heard whispers of in the galleys and halls, and every word Parrot said to a T.”

“Red and black clothes. Tall and lanky, but with a hidden ferocity. A grinning mask.”

Bacon is pulled from his memories by a murmur outside, both him and Rek getting up, Bacon throwing open the door and Rek putting on the hat. Rek stayed on the deck, trying to see who it was from a distance. Both heard the unmistakable voice of Branzy, bright and peppy, but there was another voice, low and even. Bacon felt the pink hairs on his neck rise, something was off. He jumped off the ship, landing in the sand, sending a cloud of it in the air. He was gripping his sword tightly as he turned to look at the new person.

Bacon felt a name leave his lips, not believing that he was right.

“Clownpierce.”

Chapter Text

The walk back was supposed to be uneventful but was interrupted by Branzy not paying attention to where he was going and tripping on something half-buried in the sand. Something with a dark metal blade. Pierce gasps with a mixture of delight and surprise and picks up the scythe, dropped by a panicking Branzy in the sand and half-buried by Parrot’s takeoff. “GRACE!!! I thought I lost you!” The man somehow quietly yells, holding the scythe in an awkward hug. Branzy gets up from the sand for approximately the third time today, bewildered. “It-”

”She.” Pierce interjects, checking over his beloved weapon.

“She has a name?”

Pierce smiles under the mask, and Branzy swears he can see the corners of the smile painted on the mask curl up as well. “Grace! A gift from an old friend of mine, my favorite weapon.” Pierce holds the blade close to the mask, inspecting it thoroughly. “Pure Netherite. She sure can take a beating.” Branzy internally wipes off his brow that he hadn’t managed to scratch it on the rocks, then has a shock to his system processing what Pierce just said. “Wait, timeout, How the hell did you get your hands on Netherite? And that much of it?” Netherite was rare this side of the Nether, a land of magic only accessible through portals only openable by higher-ups like the King for trading or resource gathering. They say that people sometimes don’t come back. Some can’t.

Pierce gets a look in his eyes that Branzy can’t see, but rather, he feels it.

Piercing.

“You do enough high-profile jobs, climb the ladder, and the toys get more exciting.” Pierce runs a gloved finger over the blade, Branzy feeling a chill down his spine in tandem. Branzy begins to sweat. “J…jobs?”

Oh, Branzy can TELL that Pierce is grinning, absentmindedly making lines in the sand with the sharp end of Grace. The VERY sharp end.

“Well, you see, a guy going by Rat had a counterfeit Netherite problem. Gold bars covered in Fae glamour kept turning up, and somebody kept lining their pockets.” Pierce stops doodling, a crude stick figure drawn in the sand. “Rat found the rat and well,” Pierce suddenly takes the scythe and slashes the neck of the stick figure, a deep cut left in the sand. “She was a thank you present, alongside a few handfuls of diamonds.” Branzy gulps, feeling himself shaking. “W…well,” he begins, voice shaky, not even sure what to say.

Pierce snaps out of it, not sure why he gave this random stranger that stole his hat any piece of info about himself. “Uh,” he says awkwardly, “If it makes you feel better, he. Lived?” Pierce bites his tongue, turning away. An easily seen though white lie. Why did he care so much about saving face? Fear was what molded him and gave him respect. Protected him.

Why did he want Branzy to not be afraid of him like all the others?

Pierce swallows. “I uh, didn’t mean to scare you…” he says it quietly, not wanting anybody else to hear. Not like there was anybody, but who knew if there were more Parrots in the trees? He awkwardly wipes out his murdered stickman drawing with his boot. He half expects to look up to see Branzy gone, having run away when he had a chance. Instead, he looks over to a still admittedly tense Branzy.

Branzy laughs nervously. “That’s uh. That’s fine,” his voice cracking on the last word. Meanwhile, Branzy’s thoughts were only the phrase “Everybody comes to the island for a reason. Rek said so.” over and over again. Perhaps this was one of those “Turning over a new leaf” type deals where he Won’t kill anybody. Branzy prayed to the Heart that this was the case. Even though he was scared out of his gourd, a nagging feeling was connected to that low, even voice. Something that he couldn’t place.

The two walked past the arch, closer to town. Pierce had rested Grace over his shoulder, a small pad of black leather Branzy hadn’t noticed acting as a sort of padding. He looked like some sort of mad grim reaper, all smiles, and death. Branzy has a realization. “Are you sure it's smart to be carrying her like that in the open? Heartbreak is a bit. Odd. But to be honest, you are one intimidating guy.” They had just passed a bit of treeline, spotting the beached boats and halfway huts of Heartbreak.

“Are you sure that they won’t think you’re a-” Branzy’s eyes fall on Bacon, snorting and holding his sword. “Threat?” Branzy squeaks out the last word as Pierce pushes him behind him, holding Grace like a protective shield.

“Clownpierce.”

Oh Shit.

Pierce sighs. “To think I’d get away with nobody knowing me here…” Pierce glances over the oversize golden sword in the hand, no, hoove, of this angry pig…man that is currently pointed in his direction, cocking his head again. “Navy? Since when is the Navy hiring NonHumans?”

“EX Navy.” The pig nods his head at a table of people nearby, wordlessly telling them to run. They do, one of them holding on to his hat, clutching art supplies under his arm, and running into the jungle, the other flapping his wings and flying high into the trees to watch. Branzy wasn’t kidding, these folks are an odd bunch. A long bit of colorful paper flies in the breeze off the table they were sitting at, saying WELCOME in big letters. Ah, what a welcoming this is. Exactly the kind Pierce had gotten used to.

“Going off your reaction, I assume my fame precedes me?” Pierce asks.

“Clownpierce. Sinker of ships. Hitman. Murderer.” He is getting closer, a step at every point. Pierce follows suit, closing in in the middle of the sand, the tides close by in the humid early afternoon sun.

“The Jester who laughs at Death herself.”

Pierce laughs at that one. “That’s new. Did you all come up with that around the campfire or did you get it off a poster somewhere?”

Bacon’s grip tightens on his sword, ready to fight. Pierce does the same with Grace, staring down Bacon. The two lunge at each other to cross weapons, but there is a flash of blue light as somebody runs between them, holding out his arms.

“STOP!”

Chapter Text

The cutting edges of a sword and a scythe meet just above the head of the figure that ran between the two, hitting with a powerful clang! The two try to pull apart to strike again but are held firm in the hands of Rek, him having grabbed the snath of the scythe (no really, it's called that!) and part of the blade of the sword. Rek throws them both to the ground, one hand bleeding slightly from getting grazed by the sharp golden blade. “THAT’S ENOUGH.” He stares down the two, eyes blazing blue in a way nobody on the island had seen before, voice echoing slightly with a strange power. “NONE OF THAT.” Both combatants back up slightly, surprised. The light quickly blinks out of Rek’s eyes as he calms down. Calm. Deep breath in. Out.

“That's no way to greet a new guest, Bacon.” Rek smiles, nonchalant. Bacon stutters out an “Uh. Uh.”, fumbling backward in the sand before grabbing his sword off the ground and standing back, gesturing wildly with it at Pierce. “YOU HEARD WHAT I SAID! THAT'S THE GUY! HE SANK SHIPS BY HIMSELF!”

“Myself?” asked Pierce, head tilting again, also putting out an aura of calm. “I may be an excellent fighter, but no sane man works alone. My crew is.” The realization sets in. Pierce turns to Branzy, asking with what he hopes is no noticeable panic in his voice, “Branzy, did you see anybody else wash up here? My…my crew…” Pierce clenches a fist. “They can’t be…”

Under his breath, an unheard whisper, “Not again…”

Bacon’s face and stance soften only slightly, himself knowing what it's like to not know if your friends are going to be ok. Rek’s head snaps to Parrot and Planet, both watching from the trees like a captive audience. “You two. Sweep the shore.” both nod and go in opposite directions. "As for you," says Rek, looking at Pierce with a warm expression, the smallest trace of the heart in his eyes. "Come step into my office."

Before anybody could move, a loud growl cuts through the air, making Bacon jump. "...Perhaps after breakfast would work better then, huh? That's fine." Asks Rek, looking at Pierce. "That wasn't me." Says Pierce. Both turn to look at Branzy. "What? I haven't had breakfast yet." Pierce lets out a small giggle, Branzy blushing.

…

The meal is. Awkward to say the least. Pierce was sneaking bits of bread under his mask, quick movements so as to not reveal what was underneath. He had produced a small metal straw from a pocket inside his coat, sipping the occasional bit of water. Branzy could tell that it was uncomfortable to eat in front of others for him, yet he sat down next to Branzy without a second thought. Branzy muses that it’s only because he’s the only one he “knows” here, but as their knees accidentally touch under the table, Pierce doesn’t correct it, he merely lets it sit, a single point of warm contact. Branzy allows it but still isn’t quite sure why. Bacon, however, is a different story, moving his chair far far away, but still keeping a stink eye aimed squarely at Pierce. Pierce half expects him to get up and fetch a spyglass to see him in full detail, but instead, he simply eats at a makeshift table with that other guy with the hat, who is ranting on and on about some story he’s writing, Bacon half-listening, occasionally missing his mouth with his spoon due to concentration.

Rek, sitting across from Branzy and Pierce, breaks the ice. “So, how did you get here?”

“Washed up apparently, woke up in the sand looking up at this one.” Pierce emphasizes the end of his statement by moving his knee away and lightly tapping them together on the “This one.” Branzy feels his scars moving around the area on his own leg like the surface of the water after a thrown stone, a slight tickle. He turns away to hide his slight blush.

Rek, taking a bite of his own bread, asks nonchalantly, “What’s with the scythe?” Branzy almost chokes on his food, but Pierce, cool as a coconut, simply replies “Protection.” Rek lets out a “Hmm.” of neutral acknowledgment and simply. Keeps eating. Branzy is confused but then remembers a very important fact.

If Pierce was a threat, Rek would have let him and Bacon fight.

Rek is still calm.

Pierce is safe.

Branzy lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he glances over to the other table, Bacon still staring daggers. Eh, he’ll realize it soon enough. If not, he’ll pull him aside later to explain and hope it gets through his piggy head.

Splashing on the shore heralded the arrival of Ash and Red to the main town, swimming up from the sea with a netful of fish, dragging them onto the shore. Predictably, they were wrapped up in a playful argument, Red with a raw (very dead) fish in his mouth like how one would hold a rose during a romantic tango.

Red, shifting the large net to one hand, Ash holding the other side, uses his free hand to gesture with the fish he pulled out of his mouth. “So, I CAN eat them raw now, right? So….”

Ash, grunting with the sudden increase in weight, “I had to eat them for quite a while man, can NOT recommend them.”

“But I can try?”

“...sure.”

Red has the front end of the small fish in his mouth, about to bite down, before he notices the new person at the table and unceremoniously spits it out on the sand.

“Hey! New person! You must be the one Parrot was squawking about.” Red, after helping Ash get the net of fish in a storage/cooking area, wanders over to the table. He holds out a hand, leaning on the table and seemingly oblivious to the fact that he still smells like the underside of a whale. “Name’s Red!”

Pierce takes the hand in his, unflinching. “Pierce.”

“And I'm Ash.” says Ash, wandering over, still a bit winded.

“Pleasure to meet you two. Is that…everyone here or?” Asked Pierce to nobody in particular.

Branzy begins, “Well no actually, you still have to meet-”

Branzy feels a familiar hand yank at his ankle again.

“sPOKE-” yelps Branzy, getting unceremoniously pushed back in his seat, his back gracing the sand for the third? Fourth? Time that day.

Spoke seems to glide over to another larger shadow from under the table and emerges from it, shaking off his shadow form for his more “human” look and laughing his ass off.

The patrols of Planet and Parrot came back from their sweep empty-handed, and Pierce was downtrodden. Rek simply gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, confident that they’d show up eventually, a twinkle of the Heart in his eyes. In the meantime, Pierce was set up in Red’s former area in the Heartbreaker which had sat empty since he moved in with Ash. That night at the campfire, after introducing himself to everyone there, Pierce told (highly censored) stories of some adventures, Bacon keeping Planet and Jaron away from the fire that night, just in case. Just in case. Branzy could only stare at the forming and reforming hearts on his arm in the flickering firelight in confusion until they pointed their ends to the mysterious man next to him in sync.

Branzy merely brushes them away and goes back to watching Pierce tell his stories with a strange warmth growing in himself that comes from no flame or worldly heat.

Away from the excited talking by the blazing fire, a figure quietly pulls away from the group and heads deep into the jungle, using the light of the moon to guide his way through.

…

Rek had gotten close to The Heart during his time on the island. After Ash filled him in on what exactly the Heart is, he devoted himself to helping it help others. This of course was to return the favor of helping his friends and giving him his Gift. Every day he would wake up from his bunk in the beached Heartbreaker and make the trek to the temple shortly after breakfast to give thanks. Others, if they were awake, often made the trek alongside him. Small offerings, like a few gold coins or some food, were also brought along. Some sort of worship, the kind the Temple hadn’t seen for thousands of years. It did bring up some questions though. How did a relic this powerful survive this long without falling into the wrong hands? And why is the island deserted? And why…him? Well, he was the first one to touch it in…however long besides Ash, who seemed like a better fit since he, yanno, actually knew of the Heart before him. Is it because of his gift specifically? Well, the only way to really tell was to ask.

Everybody knew the Heart was alive in some sort of magical way. How else would it lovingly dole out personalized gifts to whoever graced the shores of the island? But nobody but Rek knew they talked. well, not exactly TALKED, moreso knew how to communicate. It wasn’t something Rek readily understood, but with a simple touch of the Heart, he alone could see visions of whatever the Heart wanted him to see, or, if he asked a question, the Heart would provide an answer.

It was clear cloudless midnight when Rek approached the altar, the moon high above illuminating the scene. His hands hovered over both sides of the Heart, his eyes glowing with matching power. Taking a deep, calm breath, he asks a simple question.

“Why were you abandoned?”

He places his hands on both sides of the Heart without a trace of fear.

A warmth, starting from the back of his head and ending behind his eyes. He opens them to a curtain that parts to some sort of moving picture show, not unlike one of Jaron’s cartoons. The art style is old, bold, and stylized, the littlest details shifting and moving on a whim.

The show begins with a calm sea and a starry sky. A hand made of water reaches up, a second hand made of stars and the Universe itself reaches down. They hold each other, a tender swipe of the thumb over the other.

A little island rises from the sea to the side, houses emerging on the shore. The Sea tentatively lets go of the Universe and looks to the shore. A small human child walks to the shore, the Sea going over to investigate and then play with the child. Amused, the Sea gives the child a gift, a set of gills so she no longer has to fear the ocean's depths. Thrilled, the child ran back to the town, yelling all the while. Curious, more and more people emerged from the houses to head to the shore, all except for the village elder who stayed behind. He was concerned for his people but too cowardly to see for himself, in turn forbidding his son to go, no matter how he begged.

One by one, they all came back to the village, rabbit ears and parrot wings and willing flowers into bloom. All had received gifts related to their passions, and a few even had problems fixed, such as lame limbs.

The elder reacted with surprise, wanting something for himself once he realized there was no danger. Determined, he and his servants headed to the shore. They found the Sea, herself having taken the form of a blue humanoid creature with shells and coral in her long red hair, the hem of her dress melting into the water, and small fish circling the edge.

"Lady of the Sea," he callously demanded, standing decked out in the finest gold, servants fanning him as he spoke, "I would like a Gift."

The Sea laughed and held out her hands, the servants around the elder warping and changing into new fantastical forms, while others merely changed the color of their eyes and hair.

However, the elder had stayed the same.

Confused, the elder asked, "Where is my Gift?"

The Sea smiled with too-sharp teeth the color of seashells, voice like crashing waves. "One dreamed to leap and bound, so I gave her the legs to do so. One dreamed of the skies, so I gave him flight. One dreamed of the sea, so I gave her the ability to stay under my waves for as long as she wishes. You dream of power and nothing more. It jangles around your wrists, blows through your grand hallways, trickles down your fanned brow."

"You have had your Gift for as long as you can remember, and yet you ask for more."

The Lady of the Sea then simply turned to return to the waves but was stabbed from behind by a golden sword. Right through her pearlescent Heart. With a cry, she sank to the seafoam, leaving her Heart, a ball of light-blue energy, skewered on the end of the golden sword, dripping blue blood into the waves.

Enraged, the townspeople drove the elder and his clan, alongside the smattering few who feared the magic of the Heart off the island to other shores. The Heart was retrieved before it was fully broken. The townspeople, forever grateful to the Sea, built the temple to further worship her, even after her demise, the ceiling painted with the stars of her lover.

After a long time, a gilded ship returned to the shores, the son of the elder back to declare a jealous war, slaying many who would not yield to the crown. The Heart, seeing that it was a losing battle, drove her people off the island on boats to all corners of the world. After her people were safe, she made a large fog around the island, not allowing anybody to return.

Rek watches the temple break and crack apart, moonlight sneaking in through holes in the ceiling, a hand of moonlight and stars gently caressing the Heart, their love everlasting.

Rek took his hands away from the Heart, left with more questions than answers in the end, but left due to the strange that the Heart was “tired”, "sad" and "needed some time alone.", his eyes still glowing in the dark all the way back home.

He really had to talk to Planet when he had a chance.

Chapter Text

Pierce lets out a heavy sigh, getting used to his sleeping quarters. He had sat there, on the bed, the only light in the room coming from the full moon, until he was sure everyone was asleep. He takes off his long black gloves, feeling the cool night air on his skin and scratching at an itch on his arm, still covered in the thick jacket. Probably just a bit of sand in there is all. He taps his fingers against the wood of his bedframe, wondering if it would be safe enough to sleep without the mask. Slowly, tentatively, he reaches thin fingers to touch the double and triple-knotted tie holding his grinning mask to his face. He stops, hands falling to his sides. No, not here. Just in case. He sleeps in the clothes he came in on, arm draped over his masked face. He dreams of warmth.

He awakens the next day to the smell of cooking food, the sun high in the sky. “Shit, did I sleep in?” he mutters to himself, already feeling himself baking in his thick jacket. Oh, why did he have to commit to the aesthetic? He slams open the door to his room, walking out of the ship to the rest of the island bustling with activity. Pierce saunters up to a fire where that guy with the brown hat (Jaron was it?) is busy frying up some eggs over a small fire. He croaks out a “Morning.” before plonking down on a nearby chair dragged into the sand. A half-groggy Pierce decides in the haze to make an ill-advised quip.“Is your friend not around or was he the first on the menu?” Jaron begins to say “Well he-” before he realizes and wheezes out a laugh. “Oh, that’s horrible! Good, but horrible-” Pierce grins under the mask, noticing the other’s strange pie-cut eyes flick up to his and back to his breakfast. “How do you like yours?” Pierce is…confused, cocking his head. “Your friend was just yesterday keeping you away from me with the determination of a mother hen and you’re asking me how I like my eggs?” Jaron moves his egg around a bit, poking it onto a plate. Over easy. “Rek said you’re ok!” says Jaron through a mouthful of egg. Pierce cocks his head the other way. “You trust one man that much? Over what I assume is your closest friend?” Jaron laughs, “Oh, believe me, when you meet him properly, you will too.” Pierce ponders this. “Sunny side up.” Jaron cracks another egg into the pan.

Pierce hadn’t the pleasure of getting a formal intro of how stuff goes in Heartbreak, given the novelty of being a new person after so long, so he met with Rek on the ship after breakfast. “So, Mr. Pierce. A pleasure to have ya on the Island.” Rek states, sitting in his chair, morning sunlight filtering in the windows. “Now, there is One Big Thing you should know about the Island. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, but uh. It’s..strange.” Pierce raises an eyebrow under the mask. “I could already gather that this was some sort of refuge for nonhumans if that’s what you’re going to say next.” Rek averts his eyes. “You see, that’s the thing. We were human. Once.”

Pierce’s eyebrow raises higher. “Cursed then?” Rek winces at the mention of the word “curse”. “Quite the opposite actually. Everyone turns up here for a reason. To heal, to find purpose, or to find love.” Rek in turn quirks an eyebrow of his own, staring Pierce in the eye(hole)s.

“You know which one you’re here for?”

Pierce almost reaches for his mask, but stops himself. Just in case. He mumbles out a “Not yet…” and Rek hmms in acknowledgment. “Well, you’ll find it eventually.” Pierce remembers something. “Any luck finding my crewmates? They were on the ship with me when we crashed-” Rek gets a solemn look on his face. “No, not yet. We’re looking high and low though, the island can’t be THAT big. Any noticeable features of them or the ship? I mean, I assume we’d guess that anybody new on the island would be them but just so we know what to look for.” Pierce smiles at the memories under the mask. “There weren’t many of us, just us three. Me, Rasplin, and Ivory. Rasplin has a mask like mine but with horns and a line of red down one of the eyes, wild black hair. He’s a bit of a goof, but great on the cannons. Then there’s Ivory. I STILL do not know how she keeps her damn white clothes so clean. She’s tough though, one of the best fighters I know. A white heart-shaped eyepatch on one of her eyes has a rose embroidered on it. Our ship, the End Crystal, was dark red and purple.” Rek nods at all of this. “I’ll tell the patrols.” Pierce smiles under the mask. “Thanks, Rek. and uh. Thanks for. Not letting Bacon fight me-” Rek perks up. “Of course! He just was full of stories is all.” Some of which are no doubt partly true, thinks Pierce.

“Oh, and by the way!” says Rek to Pierce as he heads out of the ship. “I like the mask, very mysterious. Say, how is it doing that?” Pierce stops in the doorway, turns on his heel, and shuts the door again. “Do…what?” Rek’s eyes slightly glow blue in the darkened room. “The moving! It’s very cool.” Rek lets a knowing smirk leak onto his face. Pierce gawks. “...What in the below and above are you on about?” Rek looks surprised. “Well, ever since you got here, that mask has been showing your emotions underneath! Like, eyebrow raises or blushing. It’s cool as fuck!” Pierce hears a droning ringing of panic in his ears as Rek talks. What the fuck? HOW the fuck? Blushing? B. Branzy. He saw- The magic… Pierce snaps out of it. “The island…” The island is what’s affecting these people. Rek, his suspicion confirmed says “Noted… Just know, if more stuff happens, you are safe here.” Pierce gulps and leaves the ship.

“Pierce!” a familiar voice calls. Branzy. Oh, fuck he knows- “Pierce!” Now it’s going to be weird and- “Pierce?” a gentle hand on Pierce’s shoulder makes him jump a little, a jolt seemingly going through his body. “Whoa! Sorry, Didn’t mean to scare you.” Pierce looks away. The genuine concern on Branzy’s face makes his heart swim. “Something wrong?”

“No,” he lies through his teeth. “Just was weird waking up on dry land is all.”

Close enough to touch, and yet. Don’t get attached. The islanders know who you are, they’ll try to stab you in your sleep sooner or later. Even him.

Branzy, oblivious as ever, says a chipper “Oh! Ok! Do you want a tour around? I can show you almost everything on the Island.” Pierce, still looking away, simply nods and hopes his blush will go away. Pierce is shown the two boat houses, the small shack Bacon made for him Jaron, and Planet (He cracks a joke about big bad wolves, and Branzy almost buts a gut. Pierce smiles, but forces himself to look away.) and the area where the animals are kept. Chickens, cows, a few pigs…on a tropical island? “How did these even get here?” asks Pierce, petting the head of a cow. Branzy shrugs. “Ask Rek. He’ll figure it out. I’m just glad we have milk and eggs. Pigs churn out a good fertilizer for the plants.” Pierce processes this. “You don’t eat them?” He swears the cow glares at him before resuming grazing. Branzy rambles. “No way! We don’t have nearly enough for that. Yet. I mean, If one got old and… yanno. Maybe? But yeah. We get that type of stuff on the mainland. These are pets.” Pierce nods.

Branzy gets up, holding and petting a chicken. “That’s basically it! The Jungle is more of Rek’s territory to be honest, don’t want to make the trek without him. I’d show you the other side of the beach but uh. I feel you are INTIMATELY familiar-” Branzy sheepishly adds. Pierce lets out a small chuckle, looking away but darting his eyes back to Branzy. Was he- No. Certainly not. Trick of the light.

The rest of the night was as uneventful, and Pierce returns to his bedroom. He squirms, the itch from the previous night had moved to his shoulder. He eventually falls asleep and dreams of a small flame, growing.

Days turn to a week, no sign of his crew. Rek thinks they must have crashed somewhere else, Pierce somehow floating to the island. Pierce wishes he could remember what happened, but all he can remember is his fall into the water. Over the week however, he got closer to Branzy, no matter how hard he tried to half-heartedly resist. Those purple eyes like lavender, that warm smile. How, at every moment he could run, he stayed. There was just. Something there. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

That night, he dreams of burning.

The orphanage held him and other discarded boys and girls. Not many knew his name, given the fact that most didn’t get close. He was simply known as a creepy kid nobody wanted. But, there was one thing that kept him from running away altogether. Another boy, with brown hair and brown eyes. Pierce thought he was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He was too shy to speak to him, but made and found little presents. A folded paper flower here, a stolen cookie there. It made him smile to see him happy, even if he never spoke to him directly.

To this day, nobody knows what started the blaze. The idea of lightning was thrown around, but it was a clear night. Others are convinced it was arson by some scum. Some even suspected him. The only detail that matters is that Pierce pulled that boy, even as they both burned, from the rubble. He got as far as two steps into the street, dragging the boy behind him, before he collapsed. He awoke to bandages covering his arm and face. The doctors couldn’t do much about Pierce, but the boy was much worse off. The last he heard about him, there were a lot of weird doctors crowding around him that Pierce didn’t trust in the slightest. He bounced around from home to home after that, nobody wanted a burned kid with a temper running around. When he aged out and became a man, he set out on the sea to run from himself, a grinning mask on his face hiding a broken heart.

He wakes up shaking, tears under the mask. He curls into a ball and falls back into a fitful sleep.

Later, a knock on the door.

“Pierce?” Branzy. “You missed breakfast and nobody has seen you all day, are you ok?” Ah, caring Branzy. A muffled “go away.” is all he gets. Branzy frowns and sighs. “Well, if you’re hungry,” a sound of clattering dishes. “I brought some steak Jaron cooked up! I remember you being sad that we don’t eat the animals here, and the mainland is only two hours away and we were doing a supply run, so I got it for you fresh. Feel better soon.” Footsteps, walking away.

Pierce carefully pulls open the door, taking the plate and glass of stream water. Sighing, and a bit hungry, he double and triple checks the door to see that it’s locked and draws the curtain tight. He thinks of lighting a candle, but winces away from the matchbox. He unties the knot holding his mask on, placing it gently on the nightstand. He’s grateful that there is no mirror in the room. He eats, thankful for Branzy. He’s halfway through the steak before he realizes something. Pierce may have made friends along the way, like everyone on the island, but there was an outlier. Branzy seeks him out. Of course, he is welcome on the island, but Branzy makes sure he is included. He’s the one who actively cares about him being here. He smiles, the upturned mask on his nightstand copying it. He almost drops his fork. Ah, right. Pierce picks up the mask, and gets an idea the old him would think is the stupidest thing he’s ever done.

Night falls on the island, and Pierce emerges from the ship. Everything seems to be in order, but a strange sound flickers on the breeze. An argument.

“-don’t come running to me when he k-”

“-won’t do anyt-”

Bacon and Branzy. Pierce sneaks closer, hiding on the edge of the jungle.

Branzy is clearly tired of this conversation, Bacon practically squealing his side of the story.

“Look Bacon. He isn’t a threat. Rek has never been wrong-”
“This could be the one time! That's all he needs!”
“Bacon.”
“I’m surprised that we haven’t found your body with a scythe sticking out of its back by now.”
“...You take that back.”
“What? A warning that you’re in danger?”
“HE’S NOT DANGEROUS.”
“HE’S KILLED PEOPLE!”

“I TRUST HIM!”

The last line leaves Branzy a mess, tears starting to trickle out of his eyes. “Even before I took him to Rek, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me or anyone here. If you can’t trust our friggin Captain, can you trust Pierce’s closest friend?”

Pierce slinks further into the bushes, heart pounding. He slinks back to the ship, quietly shutting the door behind him. He composes himself as he waits.

“Pierce?” Ah, there he is. “Come in.”

Branzy opens the door, having wiped off most of the tears. “Hey, you ok?” Pierce smiles, fully letting the mask do its magic. Branzy returns the smile. Pierce pats the bed, saying “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.” Branzy gulps, slightly nervous, but still sits down. “What about?”

Pierce sighs. “Now, I don’t do this for everybody but. Even though we haven’t known each other for long, it feels like you. Filled a gap I didn’t know I had. So, I’m gonna trust you with this. You tell a single soul, your neck meets Grace. Got it?” Branzy nods. He first takes off his gloves, then his coat, rolling up the long sleeves to reveal a long nasty burn scar up his arm.

Pierce winds his hands to the back of his mask.

He unties it, facing away from a gasping Branzy.

He faces Branzy, expecting a disgusted look, or at least one of pity. Instead, he finds one of. Concern?

“What happened to you? If you uh. Don’t mind me asking- It’s ok to not say if it's. Yeah-”

Pierce smiles, running his hand over his burned face. “Fire. It’s a story not one many get to hear… I was just a kid. The whole damn place was coming down, and I… I saved somebody I cared about at least. It was worth it in the end.”

Branzy chuckles. “Same with me. My arm got stuck and burned. Somebody pulled me out though, never got to know who it was.” Pierce slowly turns to Branzy as he continues. “It was a big deal, I was gonna lose it, but they pulled some doctors from the city and well. New potions, new side effects.” Branzy ruffles his hair. “White hair, purple eyes. I prefer this over the boring brown though, to be honest.”

Pierce’s world stops, mouth agape.

“I… You…”

Branzy, oblivious as ever, stares back at Pierce and cocks his head in confusion.

“The orphanage. You’re. You. I saved you…”

Branzy’s violet eyes widened. “No way. No way NO WAY! IT’S YOU! YOU SAVED ME!” he begins to cackle. Pierce simply begins grinning like an idiot, staring at the floor, a blush forming on his unburned cheek and on the face of the mask. “I’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for you! I mean, I never thought I’d see the day-”

Pierce looks up at Branzy, joy in his heart for the first time in a long while. He holds out his scarred arm’s hand to have Branzy shake it. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Pierce.”

Branzy laughs, holding out his tattooed arm for Pierce to shake, like the saving pull of oh so long ago. “And I’m Branzy.”

The lines on Branzy’s arm all twitched in unison. Suddenly, they all rushed over Branzy’s knuckles to Pierce’s arm, swimming like untold schools of fish, sliding like snakes in the grass. He was burning. He was burning again. Crying out, he falls to his knees, hands to his face. His face. It…it tickles? Confused, he takes his hands off his face, staring at Branzy, arm pale and strange without lines, who is currently apologizing like crazy. “I DIDN’T KNOW I COULD-” Branzy stops dead in his words, staring. “Your arm..”

Like caterpillars eating the edge of a leaf, Pierce watches the strange lines on his arm eat away at his large scars, taking the numbness and tension with it. They leave a few patches here and there, shaped like…hearts. They have sensations, feeling, merely colored skin like that of a tattoo. Clown scrambles up from the floor, to look at Branzy, gently crying, the same strange tingling sensation going across his face. The same raw red angry patch on the left side of his face was slowly, surely, receding, the hungry lines replacing warped scars with skin. Fingertips touch soft, pale flesh that was filling in a sunken cheek. The lines dance over his nose, wiping away the pain, and leaving a cheeky circle of red on the tip of his nose. More pale skin is revealed, leaving only a red patch of patterned skin around his eye in the shape of a heart. Pierce runs his hands over his face, over and over again.

“I…” Clown remembers Rek’s words. "Everyone turns up here for a reason.”

Pierce looks up at Branzy, and understands.

“It’s you.”

“W- What’s me?” asks a still-shaken Branzy.

The two join hands once more, a red line staying behind to make half a heart on Pierce’s hand by his thumb, a black one doing the same on Branzy.

Two halves of a heart joined again.

They kiss by the candlelight, neither having lit the candles.

Chapter Text

It was on a supply run when Rek felt The Pull again. But it felt…different. Urgent. “Rek?” asked Branzy, holding a basket full of food to take home. Rek seemed to ignore him, instead winding his way down alleys and sideroads to…somewhere. “Rek!” said Branzy, running behind with the goods. “Rek, what the h-'' Rek turned back, eyes blazing blue, and with a serious look on his face. Branzy gulped. “Ah, Heart business. Noted.” The two then silently trekked through the city, further into its underbelly, to the outside of something familiar to the two.

“An orphanage? Really?” Branzy said, before getting pulled with an oomph into the shadows. Rek quietly held a finger to his lips, a silent “shh!” that Branzy obliged. They poked their heads out from a corner to see a group of young kids milling around and playing. However, there was a different scene playing out on the stoop of the orphanage, a group of boys grouped around one another. A smaller, weaker boy was getting bullied by larger ones, one wrenching a book from his arms and throwing it to the ground.

"Stop being such a baby!" Said a larger boy. “Your shit stories are FAKE.” The smaller boy gets up to run to pick up the book, but another boy stomps and kicks it backward with his foot, ripping the pages on the cobblestones. The boy cries out but is quickly pushed to sit back down by the first boy. The book slides into the shadows where Rek and Branzy are hiding, Rek picking it up to see what the fuss was about. “What is it?” Branzy asks. Before he can fully comprehend, a shout has Rek slam the book shut and look back to the action. “THEY ARE TRUE!” the boy croaks out through sobs. The other boy scoffs. “They’ve been bouncing you all around the city because they think you’re crazy! When will you see that nobody wants a crazy anywhere, especially in a home.” The little boy resumes crying. “You do want a home, don’t ya?” The smaller boy simply nods. “Then grow up.”

“But that kid’s like…seven!” Whisper-yells Branzy to a shhing Rek.

The smaller boy simply nods again, and the group disperses. The little boy begins to walk towards the dark alley to collect his book, sniffling slightly and wiping tears out of his eyes. Rek and Branzy take this opportunity to emerge from the shadows, frightening the poor kid. Rek smiles widely, squatting down to get to the small boy’s level and to be less intimidating. “Looking for this?” he asks warmly, holding out the book. The boy curtly nods, yanking the tattered book out of his hands to flip it open and begin smoothing the pages. Branzy spots a page that got torn free in the scuffle, running with an “Oop- I’ll get it!” Branzy eventually catches the loose page fluttering in the breeze. Curious, he flips it over and is greeted by a picture of…of…

Rek is eye to eye with the kid, who is intently fixing the book and wiping dirt off of the cover like it was a precious jewel instead of a simple journal. Rek cocks his head. “So, whatcha got there?” The boy snaps it shut and defensively pulls it close to his chest. “It’s nothing mister, but thanks for saving it though…” Rek simply smiles. “No problem kiddo.” Both are interrupted by Branzy walk-running over, panting and clutching a crumpled page.

“You uh. Might wanna look at this-” Rek stands and peers at the page in Branzy’s hands, the kid staring at their faces, the wheels turning in his head. The drawing is a little crude, but carefully and lovingly sketched. It depicts a pirate ship sailing the seas. The figures on the deck are that of a boy with black hair, smiling, with a cyan parrot on his shoulder. Rek lifts his thumb off of the body of the ship, revealing the name drawn on the side.

“The Heartbreaker…” Rek’s eyes begin to glow slightly blue and the kid gasps and backs away slightly. “How… What?” He looks up at the kid, whose eyes are wide. “Kid?” The kid takes another step back. “Wait! We just. Want to talk.” Rek says, calm as ever. The kid stops, eyes staring into Rek’s in wonder. “Y…Yes, Mister?” Rek sits on the cobbled street, Branzy following suit. “We’d like to hear your story.” The kid perks up. “R…really?” Rek nods. “Mhm! Those kids were really mean earlier, and my friend and I would really like to hear what the fuss is about.” The kid brightens, sitting back on the stoop. He eagerly opens his book to a page near the beginning and begins to read. “There was once a guy who loved money. A whole lot of it! An’ he put it ina boat, cuz he got it from a lotta places. See?” The kid turns the book around, showing another ship, this time with a cross-section revealing a ton of gold coins inside. Rek and Branzy look at each other, eyebrows raised. “An he wanted a big treasure so he went to-”

“An island?” Rek cuts in. The kid lights up. “Where he saw-”

Both say it at the same time. “The Heart.”

“...Who are you?” asks the child, a strange hope to his words. “I’m Rekrap. This is Branzy. Who are you?” The child lets out a small cry and runs to Rek, knocking him onto his back in a hug. “Spepticle. Spep for short. An’ I know you.” Rek, bewildered, hugs back on instinct. “...How. How do you know this? How do you know us?”

The kid releases Rek from the death grip, getting up. “She told me you’d come.” Branzy asks “She?” and Spepticle opens his book hurriedly to the first page. On it is a picture of a woman with blue skin and long red hair. “The Lady! She told me stories to help me sleep… And! And! She said you would take me home!!!” Rek’s eyes are blazing blue. “...Why didn’t she tell us? We would have come sooner if we knew, I swear it.” Spepticle blushes. “I tried to find you myself. Went a lotta places. Nobody was you… She tried to tell you where but every time she thought to send ya to come to get me, I was somewhere else.” Spepticle smiles a sort of relieved smile, like the weight of the world was off his little shoulders at last. “I shoulda known from tha eyes…” Rek is confused, then realizes. “Oh, my eyes.” He smiles. “It’s a part of my Gift. Flares up when Heart stuff happens.” Spep nods wildly. “I know I know!!!! An, Branzy has the lines that fix people an’ Red an’ Ash are fish an’ they kiss a lot!!!” Branzy snorts out a laugh. “Yeah, thet’s them in a nutshell- Er. Seashell. Uh. You get what I mean-” Spep giggles. “An’ you kiss the Clown!” Branzy blushes as it’s Rek’s turn to chuckle. “I mean yeah but-”

Spep realizes. “Oh. Um. I get to…to go Home now right?” Rek’s heart swells. “Yeah kiddo. Of course!” He rustles the smaller boy’s red hair as he tries his damnedest not to cry and gods he is Losing- He feels a tear trickle down his cheek. Ah. Spep runs to the door of the Orphanage and beckons the two to join him, Rek wiping his eyes. Spep takes them inside to a table where an old birdlike woman with grey hair that smelled of powerful scented candles sat reading a paper. Spep looks extremely nervous, taking a deep shaky breath. “Excuse me? Mrs-”

“What is it now.” she crows, not looking up from her paper.

“Well uh-”

She peers over her paper. “If it's those fairytales again I sw- Oh. hello.”

Rek smiles and Branzy weakly waves. The woman forces a smile that looks almost painful. “What can I do for you boys?”

Spep puts his hands proudly on my hips. “They finally came for me.”

“Who th- From your book? Don’t be silly Spepticle, these are probably con artists.” The smile drops instantly. “Get out before I call the royal guard on you for trespassing.”
Branzy pales but Rek stands firm. He knows EXACTLY how these types of Orphanage workers work, and exactly what to say. “Look, I know this is weird but, even if you don’t believe him, we want to take him off your hands. What say you about one less mouth to feed eh?” His eyes are glowing blue at the edges, perhaps to convince her to suspend her disbelief for even a moment.

The woman rolls her eyes, having gone back to reading her paper. “I’d say get out. You two look like you can’t even rub two coins together. ” Rek’s face falls. “We…we have the money. 250? 500? 750?”

The woman puts her paper down. “I’m listening.”

Bingo.

“750 then yes?” asks Rek, trying to not have the desperation leak into his voice.

The woman looks left and right in the empty room, as if she’s being sneaky.

“You obviously want the damn kid, so deal. You do some shady stuff, he never existed. Got it?”

Rek holds out his hand. “Deal.”

Spep cries out in joy, pulling Rek and Branzy into a quick hug, running to his room to grab whatever belongings he had. He emerges seconds later with everything crammed into a pillowcase, beaming like the sun itself.

Rek smiles, ruffling his hair.

“Let’s go home.”