Chapter Text
It was a beautiful night sky out in the beach. The moon and stars shining down at the waves, giving them a pearl like glow. A boy—staying up past curfew—had sat by the beach to watch the beautiful waves clashing with the shore, giving a moment of solitude in the world he lived in. He knew that he shouldn’t be here, he knew that his life was at risk because he had no one to protect him if something went wrong, but he didn’t care. The beach was a safe space to him, where at night the shore was void of life and the only life there was is the sea and its waves. He took a deep breath of the salty air and softly smiled, feeling relaxed and off guard. He didn’t realize there was a pair of glowing eyes staring at him in the waves, before he could double check, the glow was gone. The boy tensed and looked around the beach, confused on where that glow came from. After a few minutes had passed, the boy got up from the sandy shore and was about to head back home till…he heard a soft voice from a distance. He turned back towards the beach in curiosity, looking around and seeing nothing. He huffed in slight frustration as he slowly started following the voice towards the right of the shore, he heard the voice get louder and louder till he was able to properly hear who the beautiful and hypnotizing voice belongs to. Seeing a beautiful teal colored merman in the water, reaching from the waves to reach towards the moon as if longing for something.
The boy quickly hid behind a rock and watched silently as to what the beautiful creature was doing,
“I never walk about…after dark. It’s my point of view.”
The mermaid had retracted their clawed and webbed hand from the sky as their voice grew more distant and longing,
“‘Cause someone could break your neck…coming up behind you, always coming and you’d never have a clue..”
The merman let out a soft noise as if it was crying. It seemed to hold itself as it continued singing towards the moon,
“I never look behind, all the time..I will wait forever…Always looking straight! Thinking, counting all the hours you wait..”
The mermaid had released itself as both their webbed hands reach towards the sky, their shoulders shaking as the boy could only assume because of its intense sobbing. But somehow the creature never strayed or wavered in singing towards the moon. Calling towards it in one final desperate attempt,
“See you on a dark night..”
He watched memorized, feeling as if he was completely hypnotized by the voice, he slowly walked out of his hiding spot to go closer to the creature as if it was completely out of his control. Before he could get close, he had accidentally pushed a glass bottle towards a rock with his foot. Making the bottle collide with the rock in a loud clank noise. The mermaid had quickly turned towards the boy, fear and shock in its face. Before the boy could study the merman’s features on its face, they had dived into the water and causing the boy to make a sudden noise as he quickly ran towards the edge of the water,
“H-hey wait!! Don’t go I didn’t mean to scare you!”
After a moment of silence, the boy sighed. Feeling disappointed in himself for scaring off the merman on accident, he was about to walk back home until he felt a pair of eyes on him. He slowly turned towards the water and saw the mermaid staring at him, merely poking its head out from the water to just observe him. They both stared at each other for what seemed like hours, till the boy smiled at the creature. Sitting on the wet sand, not caring if his pants get soaked or not.
“Hello! Sorry if I scared you before…I didn’t mean to..I was just really amazed by how beautifully you sang!”
The creature didn’t move an inch, but their fin like ears seem to twitch and slowly flap. As if it was flustered to know that someone what listening to them,
“What’s your name?”
The boy tilts his head toward the creature, waiting for a reply from it. After a minute of staring, the creature lifted its head from the water and replied with his name,
“[Floyd].”
The boy hummed, repeating the name against his tongue as if trying to get a feel of how it sounds on his mouth. He smiled at [Floyd] and looked at him, studying his face features. Noticing that [Floyd] looked nothing like the fairytale mermaids or mermen he was told about whenever the servants back home would tell him bedtime stories. [Floyd] had beautiful patterns and colors on his face, ranging from dark teal to teal to white. [Floyd]’s eyes where two different colors, on his left was a grayish brown that reminded the boy of some of the expensive fabrics some of his siblings would wear as they happily greet him in the morning. But on the mermaid’s right eye seemed to overshadow his left eye as it was softly glowing in the moonlight, giving his face a soft yellow hue. The glow complimented the mermaid’s face so wonderfully that the boy could stare at her for all eternity. [Floyd] had sunken back down into the water after the boy hadn’t said anything, causing him to shake out of his daze and smiles apologetically,
“Sorry for staring…uhm. Introductions..okay!”
He took a deep breath, causing [Floyd] to perk up from the water,
“My name is [Kalim Al-Asim]! It’s nice to meet you, [Floyd]! Hope we can be friends!”
[Floyd] had blinked at the idea the boy had. After a moment of staring and an awkward look from [Kalim], the mermaid had slowly begun to swim closer to the shore and in a blink of an eye, tackled [Kalim] and stared down at the surprised look on his face. It was silent between the two as they both observed one another, curiosity running through each other’s veins. [Kalim] felt a sudden urge to feel and touch the mermaid’s fins and different anatomy from the fairytale merfolk but due to his wrists being pinned against the sandy shore because of the merman on top of him, he couldn’t. He stared up at the mermaid who looked to be growing frustrated as she leaned forward to [Kalim]’s face and huffed.
“Scared.”
The boy looked at the merman in confusion,
“Are…you asking if I’m scared?”
The mermaid nodded and that made [Kalim] stare at her with a blank expression as he started to ponder for a moment. Scared? Why should he be scared? Everyday he continues to live, is just another example of how he continues to dance with death. The meals he is served, drip with his blood and ooze out black gunk as he gambles the chance of possible poison in his dish, the daylight not providing any sort of protection against the big target on his back as it awaits for someone to make a bullseye upon it. The tight space in the dusty and unkept room, providing barely to no light to sink in as his wrists and ankles are bound by the burning sensation of rope. Why should he fear this beautiful siren on top of him when he’s been through so much? [Kalim] had merely smiled at the mermaid and shook his head. [Floyd] stared at him. A unreadable expression against her face. [Kalim] winced at the sudden feeling of her claws digging into his wrists in what seemed to be a frustrated action at his honesty,
“Weird.”
She spoke after a brief silence before leaning against his cheek to softly bite against it, [Kalim]’s breath hitched at the feeling of dozens of sharp teeth against his cheek but merely giggled realizing the merman wasn’t applying anymore pressure onto the bite. This ended up blooming into a strange sort of friendship between the boy and the mermaid, the boy would come to visit whenever he could in the midnight hours at the beach. Hoping to see his new pretty friend, and nine out of ten times, the mermaid was always there in the water. Waiting for him, making the boy swell with happiness as he talked to her about all sorts of things. [Floyd] seemed to be a very good listener despite looking like she wanted to say something or reply with his own feedback but held back for some reason. [Kalim] didn’t seem to mind but did once in a while try to let the other speak. [Kalim] noted how she would speak in one word or speak with a short sentence, but he still did learn a lot about [Floyd] throughout their talks. Like how she is a type of eel mermaid, how she had a twin and another friend that was a cute chubby octopus, and how he calls [Kalim] “sea-otter” because—in her words—he reminded her of a cute little sea otter. At the time, [Kalim] didn’t realize it was her sort of strange way of flirting with him but he merely laughed and agreed how he did kinda look like a sea otter at times. It was a beautiful time between the two and at rare occasions, they would play in the water whenever the boy had enough time to be with the merman. It always left a smile on his lips whenever he had to head back home, thinking about the next time he would hang out with the beautiful sea creature. But, this story has a tragic ending, for one faithful night. One of [Kalim]’s servants who he considered a friend had caught him in the act of sneaking out, the servant had lectured him about how he shouldn’t do that and how it’s incredibly dangerous to even be out this late. But before the servant could lecture the poor boy more, [Kalim] had asked why he even came in his room in the first place. Making the other remember why he came in. With a sigh, he crossed his arms and broke the news to [Kalim],
“I was accepted at a college, and I’ll be leaving to live at the college in a week or so. Which means I want you to behave while you’re being handed to another servant to work for you.”
It ended up turning into another lecture but [Kalim] wasn’t listening to him for most of it, this news made him come to the realization that he was growing up and he was about to lose his one and loyal friend since childhood. While he did have [Floyd], it wouldn’t be the same. She couldn’t walk or stay on land for too long without needing any water for his gills, she was able to stay on land for only about 5 minutes before he asked to get back into the water. He thought about having him live with him in his home but immediately disregarded the idea from his brain. It was too cruel! It’s one thing if they were an animal it’s another if they were a living creature! [Floyd] had mentioned how she had a family and friends in the ocean. He didn’t want to take that away from her all because of his selfish behavior. [Kalim] felt like he had a rope around his neck again as the person behind him continued to tighten it to block out his intake of oxygen. This feeling felt horrible. Why did his childhood friend have to leave him here? While he loves every one of the servants and treats them like family, it wouldn’t be the same. He couldn’t talk about his most deepest issues and feelings like he could with his friend or play games with his friend. [Kalim] hadn’t noticed that his friend had left the room to make him sit and think. He hated thinking about the reality of his life. The young teen took a deep breath to calm himself of the water works and quickly sneaked out of his window, being extra cautious about his noise level and quickly heading towards the beach to meet up with his friend. He felt like he was about to fall the more he ran to the beach, his breath quick and unsteady as he felt the tears burning against his eyes. After he smelled the salty air on the roof of his mouth, that’s when he started to slow down to eventually come to a halt. He rested his hands on his knees as he took in deep gulps of salty air. [Floyd] had glanced up from her spot on the slightly shallow waters where she lay at to look at the young teen in confusion. His ear fins perking up in surprise as she watched [Kalim] sit in the water where half his body was submerged. She stared for a moment before slowly moving to lay herself on his lap as he looked up at the sadden expression on [Kalim]’s face,
“…..what’s wrong, sea otter.?”
[Kalim] forced out a giggle as he wiped his eyes from the on coming tears trying to make their way out of his eyes. Taking a few more deep breaths, he slowly looked down to [Floyd] and started petting against his head earning a hum from her and a nuzzle of wet slick against his hand. He didn’t mind all that much because it’s what makes [floyd]…[floyd]. But he let out a sigh as he just let the tears fall down his cheek, feeling mentally exhausted to try and fight back,
“My best friend….you know..”
[floyd] gave an expression that even to this day, he still couldn’t decipher what emotion it was when he first mentioned his friend to her,
“…Sea snake. Right?”
He nodded as she let out a sigh and hugged one of his legs and waited for him to continue,
“…he…is going away for a long while….i know…it’s…not that big of a deal and he’ll come back during certain times but….it won’t feel the same…”
[Floyd] stared at him and pushed himself up to look straight at him. She smiled widely as she brought a webbed hand towards his shirt to play with it,
“But you’ll have me! Right, Sea otter?”
[Kalim] just watched her play with his shirt, seeming to hesitate before slowly speaking up,
“Y..yeah but….you….can’t…be by my side….and even if you could, it..w-wouldn’t be the same…”
The mermaid paused his tugging as she stared at [Kalim],
“…and? It’s okay if it isn’t the same. Maybe it’ll be an even better experience!”
[Floyd] giggled as she softly bit into his left cheek, [Kalim] hummed as he thought long and hard until he came to a conclusion,
“I know! Maybe I’ll see if I can go to the college he’s going to! Then maybe we can be together again!”
[Floyd] glared at [Kalim] after shouting out his idea, a sort of…familiar glint in her eyes. Before [Kalim] could register it, he was suddenly pinned back on the shore, the water splashing and wetting his clothes even more. [Kalim] winced at the cold water lapping at his body. Looking up at [Floyd], he had to pause suddenly remembering this scene all those years ago when he first met the mermaid, but somehow this felt…different than before. [Floyd] wasn’t looking at him with curiosity or a smile, she had a angry expression as he stared down at [Kalim],
“Who cares about sea snake? If he’s leaving you then obviously he doesn’t deserve someone like you!”
[Floyd] had nuzzled against [Kalim]’s neck, slowly letting go of his wrists as she started lifting his shirt a bit to reveal his stomach, she then wrapped his arms around [Kalim]’s torso and stayed like that, her face against his neck and her arms around him. Before [Kalim] could reply, his blood ran cold at the next sentence that came out of the mermaid’s mouth,
“Besides. You belong to me. No one else sea otter.”
Pain burned in his veins like a rapidly growing forest fire as he let out a blood curling scream, [Kalim]’s hands quickly shot up towards [Floyd]’s shoulders in a weak attempt to move [Floyd] off of him,
“[F-Floyd]! Please I..it hurts!! What are you doing.?!?”
Everything felt like it was on fire, he kicked and scratched at [Floyd] trying his best to get him off of himself until he felt a stinging and burning sensation all over, he looked at [Floyd] through tears in his eyes and saw how her lips and chin where dripping with crimson red from his blood, a chunk of his skin between her teeth. He stared at him in horror and disbelief that his friend would do that, [Floyd] hummed at the sight of the young teen looking at her the way he is. She smiled with the piece of flesh in her mouth as he leaned forward to press her blood stained lips against [Kalim]’s own lips in a very rough and passionate kiss, her tongue pushing the piece of flesh into his mouth as he whined and sobbed. Feeling the way her abnormal tongue continued to push the flesh into his mouth and down his throat as if making him eat it. He sobbed louder as he felt her claws dig into his stomach the more the merman kissed him, he felt his head light and felt the point where his neck and shoulder connect were going numb, his eyes feeling heavy as blood continued to bleed out of the large wound. [Floyd] pulled away from the kiss, a string of saliva and blood connecting their tongues as [Floyd] giggled. [Kalim] had unintentionally swallowed his own flesh but by this point he didn’t care, all he thought about was if this is where the final dance with death ends? He felt the merman softly lick and lap at his wound as she continued to giggle and laugh, chanting on how he never kissed anyone like that before. [Kalim] let out a weak sob, trying to reach up towards the moon’s light that was surrounded by dark purple clouds only for his arm to fall back to the side and splash into the water. [Floyd] made a soft tune as she carefully lifted [Kalim] up into his arms, slowly shuffling towards the endless dark sea that didn’t shine anymore,
“All the words I couldn’t say to you..”
He turned towards the sand to were he was originally laying at before [Kalim] had came over and started to dig through the murky sand as she continued to sing,
“A ready army in my throat..”
[Kalim] weakly gripped onto [Floyd]’s shoulder, remembering the times when she would sing songs to him that he never heard of. He thought the songs he sang were beautiful, how lovely her singing voice is and how comforting it was to just listen to her sing…but now, he felt a sense of dread the more his beautiful voice invaded his ear drums. [Floyd] glanced down at [Kalim] and smiled happily as she went back to digging into the sand with his free hand,
“I taste blood, I’m sick of swallowing stones…”
[Floyd] had pulled out a small vial of a glowing orange liquid from the sand, she placed the vial under the waves to clean it of any remaining sand that stuck to it,
“So I’ll wave the flag, tell the boys to go home..”
Her teeth bit onto the cork on the vial and pulled at it to quickly open it. After spitting the cork out to the side, he looked at [Kalim] and slowly pushed a clawed thumb into his mouth to force it open,
“Send me anywhere..take me out.”
[Floyd] had tipped the vial towards [Kalim]’s open mouth and forced him to drink the whole thing. After finishing it, [Kalim] tried to cough up the liquid until he felt [Floyd] softly kissing him. Her lips feeling as if they slotted perfectly against his own lips as he held the kiss for a minute longer before pulling away, smiling happily at [Kalim], her yellow eye glowing brighter then ever before,
“I’m the well they’re going to drag you dowwwnnn~”
[Kalim] was suddenly submerged in the salty water as [Floyd] continued to hold onto him tightly, his eyes slowly closing as he didn’t struggle out of the siren’s grasp and let her take him into the depths of the sea to whatever fate awaited him.