Chapter Text
Jay knows he’s not alone.
The chamber he’s being held in reeks of sweat and fish, the former sticking to his skin and clothes uncomfortably. His senses are overtaken by the smell of blood, additionally, as a wound in his side burns numbly with pain. His throbbing skull and stinging wrists also beg for his attention, but at the moment he’s focused on the tingling sense of something (or someone) watching him.
The whole room is almost pitch black, the only light coming from the sliver of brightness emanating from outside a large wooden door that seals him in. This brightness catches on the surface of something, however, a something that glistens with condensation in the low light. Jay can almost swear that it looks like skin.
Jay has been captured by pirates. That’s not to say he isn’t familiar with capture or pirates at all—in fact, he likes to boast that he’s one of the fiercest pirates out there himself. This time his bravado just must’ve been uncalled for. Or maybe, he’s not much of a pirate after all.
The truth is, Jay is quite new to life on the seas. Before he met his lovers, he was a kid of the simple kind, living portside and working for whomever would pay coin to the boy with a large imagination, and an even larger mouth.
The truth is, Jay isn’t the fiercest pirate when a rival crew challenges his ship to a battle. He’d managed to get himself captured. Gagged and tied up too, because he stabbed some of his captors with a broken bottle. He’ll admit, that made him feel pretty smug at the time, but he still feels ultimately inexperienced, deep down.
Now, because he messed up, he’s locked and restrained in a dark room near the bowels of an enemy ship, away from everything he knows, with a stranger.
He’s pretty sure this stranger isn’t a person, actually. Jay faintly recalls hearing some strange, fierce growling from something as he was thrown in the cell, but he’d been too preoccupied with trying to wriggle out of his bonds to pay too much attention. He’d tried to scoot as far into the corner of the room as he could, though, just in case there was some rabid dog or something in there with him.
He sits up against the wall (as best as he can with his arms bound) as he tries not to jostle the wound in his side, and he tries to ignore the feeling of being watched.
After a few more minutes (hours? He can’t really tell at this point, he’s hot, in pain, and tired now that all the adrenaline has left him), he thinks he hears a strange noise.
Jay wakes himself up from whatever half-asleep state he’s in when he hears a strange clinking sound, something that reminds him faintly of the sound of Kai’s bracelets on his wrists as he walks (FSM, he wishes Kai was there to help him).
Then, he hears someone speak.
It sounds like gibberish to him, and he wonders if he’s finally going crazy. The voice sounds sharp and almost worried, he thinks. Just as quickly as this person starts speaking, they stop. Then something starts to glow, a faint light cutting through the near darkness, the light growing until Jay sees a figure.
He backs up further into the corner at the sight, his yelp of surprise muffled by the gag.
The source of the glowing is an arm, like fingertips dipped in molten metal. The owner of the glowing appendage has long hair the color of ink and a tattoo on their upper neck, but the most baffling thing becomes apparent when Jay looks down and discovers that his cellmate is a Mer.
Now, the existence of magical creatures is nothing new to Jay. In fact, Kai and Zane have told him about the Mer before. He knows a few words of their language, and he distinctly remembers his lovers saying that if Jay was with Kai, encountering Mer would be no problem at all.
But Kai is not with him at the moment. Which means that there might be a problem.
At this point Jay has pressed himself as close to the wall as he can, scared out of his mind as he plasters on his best glare. Try me, bitch, he tries to say, even as he’s bound and gagged and cowering in the corner of an unfamiliar room.
The Mer (person? Dude? Man? He’s pretty sure that’s a guy) seems unfazed by his reaction. It stares down at its glowing arms for half a second, struggling a bit in its own bonds before it stretches a bit and just… breaks the rope tied around its middle with a loud snap. It rubs at its wrists a little, stretching out the muscles before it nods, seemingly satisfied.
Jay sucks in a breath at the sight of such a blatant display of strength, stomach filled with a sudden sinking feeling. He is so dead.
As the Mer turns its gaze towards him, he catches sight of a smooth gray tail, dotted with faint stripes and the occasional small fin jutting out of the skin. Jay also sees a wicked scar running up the Mer’s belly, long and tapered like a claw mark.
By the time Jay has taken it all in, the Mer has scooted closer to him. Jay’s false bravado has completely disappeared, replaced with a look of shock and then one of fear.
He tries to struggle against his own bonds again, wincing as the movement jostles his side. He attempts to shout curses at the creature but his voice continues to be muffled by the gag.
To his surprise, the Mer flinches back when he sees Jay struggle. His brows knit into an expression akin to anger (or is that worry?). He says something again, but this time his voice sounds impossibly soft and quiet, and then his arms slowly reach behind Jay’s head for the gag.
Jay coughs as the sweaty fabric falls from around his mouth, and he realizes that the dude runs hot. He can practically feel the heat emitting from the Mer’s arms, and from how close he is to Jay now the soft light feels almost comforting in its warmth.
It starts to make him drowsy, just enough that he almost doesn’t register his arms being untied as well, the rope falling easily from around his arms.
He looks up when he hears a sharp intake of breath. The Mer looks at Jay, and then looks down at his side.
“What?” Jay finally says, his voice dry and scratchy from misuse. He looks down and sees the blood, glinting in the low light.
It takes his brain a second to catch up. “Oh, yeah. That.” The gash in his side.
He suddenly feels a flash of pain as a hand is placed on his waist.
“woah woah woah-hey!” He practically shouts, batting the warm arms away. “No touching, asshole.”
Despite the language barrier, the other easily catches onto the intent behind Jay’s outburst. The Mer’s nose scrunches up as he glares at Jay in frustration, and the look is so similar to the one Zane makes when Jay does something reckless. The expression would probably make him laugh under different circumstances, but at the moment it just serves to make him more annoyed.
The Mer responds with a curt and vitriolic answer, pointedly gesturing to his wound as he does so.
“Listen here—Sharky? I’m gonna call you Sharky—I don’t fucking know you, so hands off.”
Sharky crosses his glowing arms with a dark mutter and a huff.
“…thanks for untying me though. I owe you for that,” Jay begrudgingly responds as he tries to tie the fabric of the gag around his wound as an impromptu bandage.
“…You’re Welcome,” the other responds in his tounge, and Jay recognizes it as one of the only Mer phrases he was taught by Kai.
Ok. So, that didn’t go so badly after all, he thinks as he blinks at the Mer in surprise.
-
Cole is astonished by the gall of these pirates.
It’s not his first time being captured by the humans, and he knows that it for sure won’t be his last. He just wasn’t expecting one of their own to be thrown in the cell with him, wounded and bound like an animal. Like him.
He supposes the human might not be of their pack, and he guesses (based off the sounds from outside earlier) that this one is a prisoner of a turf battle of some sort (do humans have those too? It certainly sounded like a battle had been going on earlier).
Internally he’s glad he hadn’t tried to escape at the time, but so far his attempts at helping the wounded human have been met with an almost desperate sort of aggression. He’s pretty sure that the thing has called him a bad name or two already.
He acts like a pufferfish, or an eel, Cole thinks to himself as he watches the human try to bandage the cut in his side. The human also has some strange spots on his face, dusted over his cheeks like fading ink. Curious.
Had the other humans not extended an offer to heal this human’s wound? It registers that maybe the guy had been left in the cell to die of an infection caused by the gash in his side. The thought only serves to make Cole angrier at the other pirates.
Additionally, Cole notes that another problem seems to be the language barrier between them. He’d been met with even more aggression when he had tried to help heal the human’s wound himself, and when he’d tried to explain his intentions he’d gotten frustration and what he guesses is confusion in return. He’d caught the flash of recognition in the other’s eyes at something he had said, but he’s pretty sure the human doesn’t know enough in Mer tounge to hold a conversation with him. Their communication is limited to body language and expressive cues only.
Cole keeps this in mind as he tries to think of an escape plan, hoping that the human will allow the Mer to help heal his wound after they’ve made it to safety.
He’s not sure how to get out of the chamber they’re being held in, though.
The Mer scoots his body towards the door as best as he can using his arms, wincing slightly at the sensation of brittle wood against his tail. He hears the human say something to him as he does this, but he ignores the former in favor of continuing his examination of the strange knob sticking out of the wooden door. The metal is cool to the touch as he cautiously pulls on it.
Nothing.
He tries to twist it one way, and then the other, both movements obstructed, an odd clicking sound coming from what he assumes is a metal latch. An odd pulling sensation accompanies his efforts.
The human says something to him again, this time louder.
Cole turns, a frustrated feeling building in his stomach, “What?”
The human is hunched over, glaring at him from where he sits in the corner, one hand holding his side. He continues to speak, gesturing with his free hand at the door.
“I can’t understand you, Spots,” he barely holds back a growl.
Despite his protests, Spots continues to speak, still gesturing wildly with his hand. His voice gets louder as he goes on, until Cole realizes the human is talking to himself more than he’s trying to speak to Cole.
Cole turns away from him with a huff, looking back at the door. He spends a few more seconds fiddling with the strange knob until he feels a faint vibration, getting closer.
Someone’s coming.
“Fuck-Spots!!” He can’t help but let out a little growl as he turns towards the human yet again. Spots gets spooked by his sudden outburst, the human’s mouth closing and his eyes going wide.
“Someone’s coming.” Cole whispers, desperately hoping he gets his message across as he points at the door.
Confusion, and then realization hits the human’s face, as the sound of footsteps comes closer. Suddenly Spots motions for Cole to come towards him, the guesture only getting more vigorous as the latter stares at him in confusion.
Cole pushes himself off the ground slightly with his arms, rolling twoards the human as gently and quietly as he can manage. He doesn’t get much of a warning when Spots pulls him further into the corner by his necklace, whisper-shouting and guesturing at his arms next.
“Oh,” Cole whispers, and he quickly dismisses the light emanating from his forearms. Just in time too, because the door makes an off-putting clicking sound, creaking open not a second later.
A Mer and a human hide in the corner of a dark room, the former feeling the latter’s rapid heartbeat from where he’s pushed up flush against the other’s side. Both creatures dare not move.
Another human Cole briefly recognizes from his capture steps into the room, their gaze traveling around the area lit by the light from the open doorway. Their brows soon furrow with confusion, their searching becoming more frantic and their grip tightening on a weapon at their side.
They say something that Cole ignores, as an idea starts to form in his mind. He realizes that he has the element of surprise on his side.
He decides to try something crazy.
He pushes off the wall with as much silence as he can muster, slowly starting to scoot away from his hiding place, closer to the other human.
He can practically feel Spots staring at him like he’s grown another appendage, but he concentrates on slowly pushing himself closer to the other human, up off the floor as he brings his tail back and-
Smack!
He quickly strikes his tail against the back of the human’s legs, sending them swiftly crashing to the floor. Afterward Cole wastes no time in knocking them out using an even quicker jab of a fist. In seconds the human is mainly unharmed and unconscious, and the room is silent once more.
Spots whispers something that sounds suspiciously like a swear.
Cole exhales in relief, and he can’t help but send the human a small cheeky grin as he looks up, surprised when the other laughs and returns the smile.
-
Jay is pretty sure he’s on the Mer’s good side, and he thanks every god there is out there for that.
He laughs in disbelief as Sharky grins cheekily at him, thinking about how a locked door could befuddle the Mer to no end but knocking a guy unconscious could just take him a matter of seconds. His tail is surely made of pure muscle, and the way he’d lifted himself off the ground with his arms like that…
He’s snapped out of…whatever thoughts he’s having as he hears Sharky say something. The Mer holds up the unconscious pirate’s sword, presumably offering it to Jay.
“…are you sure-oh fuck it, never mind,” Jay mutters, wincing as he stands, his side wound flaring at the movement. He kneels and takes the sword from Sharky with shaky hands, giving the weapon a quick once-over before he deems it useable and shoves it onto his belt.
Jay might not be the best swordsman, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t take a weapon when he surely needs one.
He gets back up, taking slow, silent steps towards the doorway. He pokes his head out with trepidation, his gaze met with a dimly-lit hallway, a small flight of wooden stairs going up at the end of the passage.
A sliver of the night air breezes its way past him. Most of the enemy crew must be asleep. Jay hopes that the guy Sharky had knocked out was one of the only pirates awake at this hour.
Jay turns back towards his new companion, leaning against the doorframe as he does so. They’re going to have to be sneaky, and he has no doubts now that Sharky can slither his way across the deck with little to no problems. In fact, the only problem seems to be the small flight of stairs between them and what he assumes is the main deck of the ship.
Assuming Sharky can pull himself up the stairs…where would they escape to next? It suddenly hits him that he’s on a ship, presumably sailing in the middle of the ocean, headed to who knows where. His chances of surviving an escape look grim, especially with a gash in his side.
He immediately pushes that thought out of his mind. One step at a time. Besides, he’s not sure he has much of a choice anymore other than just…jumping into the sea. Great.
A light smack of a tail pulls him out of his thoughts. Sharky is glaring at him again (with that look so similar to Zane’s), and the Mer says something unintelligible, with an almost…scolding tone. The Mer scoots his way around the unconscious pirate and towards Jay.
“You know I probably can’t carry you up those stairs, right?” Jay whispers, “no offense but like— you’re kinda big.”
Sharky doesn’t respond, only sparing him a small glance as he pushes past Jay, using the doorframe as leverage. Jay sighs and slowly follows him, noting the ever-growing sound of the waves and the slight creaking of the ship as it rocks.
They’re definitely in the middle of the ocean. Jay tries not to let this discourage him.
As they both reach the end of the hallway, Jay watches as the Mer stares at the wooden stairway before them, judging the distance between them and the upper deck like a gambler judges a particularly complicated hand of cards. After some deliberation, he reaches for the third step up, grabbing onto the wood and just. Pulling himself up. The small resulting feat of strength looks more uncomfortable than it does useful.
Jay winces. “There’s gotta be a better way to do that,” he mutters.
He decides to change his mind, and not shy away from a chance to try and make himself less troublesome (and return the favor of being untied earlier). He gingerly makes his way over the struggling Mer so that he stands on the step above him.
Sharky says something quietly as Jay squats down in front of him, but the human ignores him determinatley. He hooks one arm under the Mer’s armpits, slowly lifting him up from under the tail with the other arm.
His tail is slick and cool to the touch, but as Jay carefully picks him up he’s hit with a wave of warmth again, somehow emanating from the Mer’s body.
Sharky makes a strange clicking noise, and Jay can feel it reverberating from where he carries him. The Mer starts whisper-shouting at him with that scolding tone again, and this time Jay finds himself shushing the other quietly.
“It’s fine,” he whispers as he takes the first step up—FSM, the guy is hard to carry— “it’s just a—oof—a couple steps, shush. I wanna help you.”
And Jay still doesn’t really know why he’s helping a Mer just yet. Probably because he just wants to return that favor for being freed, but some other part of Jay is trying to tell him that there’s another reason.
Sharky himself doesn’t seem to know why either, if what sounds like a whispered stream of panicked insults is anything to go by.
When they finally reach the last step, Jay focuses on gingerly setting his companion down, gathering his bearings before he attempts to take in his surroundings.
He pants a little from the workout, wincing again as both his head and wounded side smart something dreadful. Everything tilts, his world blurring for half a second before he quickly pushes the pain aside, focusing on the sight of the main deck.
When his eyes clear, he finds himself staring down the barrel of an old flintlock gun.
Jay barely keeps himself still as the owner of the gun—a young pirate with ashy eyes—glares at him, his heart suddenly beating faster than he thinks it ever has before. He cautiously looks down to see Sharky at his feet. A small dagger, held in the pirate’s other hand, is pointing straight at the Mer’s face.
“Now just what do y’two prisoners think you’re doin’?” The pirate says, voice dangerously low and barely above a whisper.
Sharky starts to growl in return.
Jay makes a sound that probably sounds like a scared, high-pitched whine before he decides to throw his better judgment out the window once more. He quickly ducks down, headbutting his assailant in the stomach as he hears the gun fire.
Jay almost trips once before just running for his life, Mer companion and side wound be damned. He gets as far as about ten feet when his vision blurs again, the pain in his side throbbing in warning. This time he does trip, wooden planks coming up to meet his face in a mess of teeth, skin, and blood. He yelps as he falls.
In his state of pain, he distantly registers the sound of continued gunfire and shouting. He lies face-down on the deck, breath ragged, for who knows how long until a hand roughly grabs at his shirt, yanking his head up slightly by the fabric. As soon as the hand grabs him, however, it lets go.
A voice starts saying things to him, but he can’t understand. He groans weakly in frustration and pain.
Then he feels warmth. Briefly, he feels like he’s floating, in an almost comforting way. The heat gently pricks and tickles at his skin, and as the pain fades, he finally lets himself sink into the darkness.