Chapter Text
Onyx sat on the coral bed in his cell. Cell may have been too harsh of a word. It was more like a scaled down guest room, but he wasn’t allowed to leave. Although, he also had very minimum security. It had the comfortable bed, as well as a single window. The window was latched closed, and he hadn’t even tried to open it, sure that there was some sort of alarm on it. He would have liked some fresh salt water, some circulation, into the room that wasn’t artificial, but he also didn’t want to be moved to an actual cell. The dungeons were rumored to be deep underneath the palace, so deep in the rock that the water was almost boiling and no light could be seen even from the dungeon entrance. He figured that wasn’t true, but he didn’t want to find out either.
The Mand’alor had been kind enough to provide him with books, art supplies, and stationary, if he desired. He hadn’t touched any of it. His mind was too overwhelmed, and even escapism didn’t hold any appeal to him. He had tried after a few hours. He had been too anxious that he would get in trouble if he did, and then when he did try, his brain blanked. He couldn’t think of anything to sketch or write. His mind didn’t process any of the words he was reading. His eyes just mindlessly skimmed over the words, going back and forth, and up to the top of the page again. Over and over.
He sighed, dragging his eyes away from the untouched corner of the room, and instead, he looked out the window. Mermen and mermaids were swimming around the market, smiles on their faces and laughter ringing up to his ears. It was a market day, one of his favorite days of the month, as it usually meant a bit of freedom from his home life. He and Indra would swim around, just looking at the things they couldn’t buy but dreamed they could. They always made plans and what ifs on those days.
Tears filled his eyes as he wondered if it would all be worth it in the end. He wasn’t even sure if Fox, Cody, Obi-wan, Quinlan, or Indra were okay. He let the tears slip from his eyes, and they mixed with the already salty water around him. He just watched as the world around him blurred until it was just a kaleidoscope of colors. His shoulders shook from his suppressed sobs, as everything finally crashed down on him.
He quickly wiped them away as the door whooshed to the side, opening for whoever was on the other side. He turned around to see four guards come through, and dread and fear roiled in his stomach. He fought against the instantaneous nausea as his mind flicked through all the worst reasons that guards could be coming into his room. Torture. Execution. Beatings. Taking him to dungeons.
Trose followed the guards into the room, and he had a small smile on his face. He was the most… carefree of the Mand’alor’e that the mermaids had had in a while. Onyx relaxed a bit upon seeing him, as he was not known for his cruelty, unlike others in the past. Trose approached Onyx, while the guards hung back by the door.
“Sorry, just standard protocol for me to brings guards wherever I go,” he said, floating down to sit next to Onyx on the bed. “How are you?”
“I’m okay, A’lor,” Onyx whispered, not meeting the merman’s eyes.
“Great,” Trose said, “Well I have good news for you. We won’t be sending you to trial. You’re being let go.”
Onyx blinked. “You can do that?”
“I’m the Mand’alor. I can do anything,” Trose said. “But in all seriousness, yes, I can. With approval from my council. You won’t be put on trial. However, due to some with concerns, none of which I hold, you will be under a form of house arrest, with Jango and Jaster.”
“Oh, how long?” Onyx asked.
“A year, and then we will reevaluate,” said Trose. “Of course, if you were to try to betray us or break house arrest, you would be brought back here and then stand trial.”
Onyx nodded. “I understand.”
Trose clapped his hands, smiling, and then he floated up until he was in an upright position. “Alright, let’s get going then.”
Onyx pushed off the bed, following him. Trose led him down the hall, and the guards followed, but none of them appeared to be concerned about any danger that Onyx could pose to the Manda’lor. He glanced at them, recognizing them as some of Fox’s men. That would make sense, he guessed, as he had met some of them before. He was a bit surprised, figuring that Fox’s distrust of him would translate over to his men. Either that wasn’t how that worked or he hadn’t told them yet, he couldn’t say.
Upon reaching the entrance hall, Onyx was immediately tackled into a hug by… Jango. The older merman wrapped his arms tightly around Onyx, his chin resting on top of Onyx’s. He froze, unused to the contact and very confused on why the older merman wasn’t enraged at him, like everyone else was. He looked down, well not everyone. Trose seemed okay with him, and the guards were just there for protocol. They weren’t even sending covert glares! The only one who expressed true anger at him had been Fox.
He leaned into the hug, wondering how this was going to work since Fox wanted nothing to do wit him, but he decided not to push it yet. He didn’t want to go to trial, and he didn’t want to be locked in the dungeons. He wanted things to go back to normal, even if that meant he was still under the threat of his uncle. That was selfish, he knew. Indra was safe now, and that made him happy, but a small part wished that none of this had ever happened, so Fox would still be his friend.
“Alright, let’s get going, On’ika,” Jaster said, ruffling his hair. “It’s almost dinner time.”
The trio headed out after Jaster talked quickly to Trose. Jaster and Jango both spoke to Onyx, asking him how he was and what he wanted to eat, or if he had already eaten. Onyx, at most, shrugged and kept his distance. He didn’t want to cause problems within the family, and he was still unsure about what he was and wasn’t allowed to do or say, both legally and with Fox. Until he knew that Fox was okay with him, he was not going to do anything that could potentially anger him, including talking to his buir and ba’buir.
Indra was waiting for him outside the Fett-Mereel house, and Onyx was once again tackled into a hug. He hugged Indra back, tears springing to his eyes as he held his vod’ika again. Jango and Jaster smiled at the two, glad to see that Onyx wasn’t completely closing off. Jango slipped inside to start dinner and to gather everyone around to eat. Jaster stayed outside to watch the two, as Indra refused to let go and was chattering about all the nice things that the family had done for him recently. Later tonight, there would be the ceremony to reunite the fairies and mermaids, and he hoped that they could smooth everything over by then.