Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mercury struggled against his captor’s harsh hands, thrashing his arms as hard as possible. It was useless, however, as their grips only tightened, sending starbursts of pain up each of his arms as he dragged in a hissed breath, the humidity making his hair stick to his forehead; the sensation only made him more annoyed. “Let me go,” he bit out, teeth gritted. “I don’t have anything useful for you!”

“No, but you are a useful bargaining chip,” one of them replied, a cruel laugh following. “After all, you are one of Sol’s favorites. Taking you will certainly send a message and give us the upper hand we need.” The grip on his arm tightened more, his captor’s nails digging in.

Mercury knit his brows. He tried to dig his feet into the ground, to slow their progress, but it only resulted in him being dragged harder, his bag thumping against the back of his knees with the movement. “I literally just help deliver messages for him! I’m not anyone special.” He was lying through his teeth, of course - he was one of the few in this country that Sol would turn to for advice, and one of the few he listened to. But it wasn’t like he was going to say that to people who seemingly intended to kidnap him for use against Sol!

“That’s not what the rumor mill says, kid,” The other replied, and Mercury’s jaw dropped, his brow furrowing.

“I’m not a kid, you-you-idiots! I’m literally just short!” Mercury snapped after another moment, annoyance rising. He was used to digs about his height - Earth just loved randomly reminding him how short he was every couple of days - but to be called a kid? He was over twenty-five years old!

“Maybe you shouldn’t be insulting the people who have you captured, kid,” was the only response, and Mercury narrowed his eyes, twisting in their grip to see where they were going. They were within sight of a small dock, a boat with a wide, billowing sail waiting in the distance, and Mercury’s heart skipped a beat. If they managed to get him on that boat - sure, he could try and jump off, but where would that lead him? Floating out in the open ocean, waiting for any manner of sea creatures to get him?

He thrashed again, ignoring the slight bursts of pain from his captors tightening their grips, digging his feet harder into the rough, dirt path leading up to the dock, silently hoping that someone saw him get snatched - maybe Erebus or Jupiter would suddenly appear, or Sol would somehow show up in all of his blazing glory (despite the fact that he was hours away in the capital right now)? Of course, then he’d have to deal with Sol’s snappy remarks about how he needed to be safer, to stay in town, stop going so far - and he really did not feel like hearing that more. So, saving himself it was. Again, he tried speaking to his captors.

“Seriously, I’m a glorified carrier pigeon, I literally just take messages for Sol. You’re not going to get anything useful out of me. Just let me go, and we can just forget all of this-” He let out a grunt, all of his air leaving him at once as the one holding his left arm turned, throwing a fist directly into his chest.

“Shut up, you little-”

“Hey! Just get him to the boat, you can rough him up once we’re out of here.”

Mercury widened his eyes. That did not sound good. He thrashed again, but he was held tight in their grips, and as they finally hit the docks, the sound of their heavy footsteps changed. Mercury bit his lip - it was now or never. If he didn’t get away now, would he ever? He took a harsh breath, preparing to throw all of his strength into one last- and his thought was interrupted as a mesmerizing sound filled the air. Like all of his dreams weaved into a beautiful song, like everything he’d ever wished for compacted into one sound. But after a second of listening, it was easy to ignore, and Mercury finally poured all of his strength into one final thrash.

“What-” He heard the one holding his left arm say before he was let go without any preamble, crashing to the ground with a harsh grunt, all of the air rushing out of him for the second time in minutes; his bag landed beneath him, and he was briefly glad he’d managed to actually deliver everything before getting kidnapped this time.

His ears rung from the harsh fall, drowning out the sound - but he could see out of the corner of his eyes as his two captors both rushed to the side of the dock and jumped in, like they’d just completely forgotten their original intentions. Taking in another heaving breath, Mercury crept to the side of the dock, ears still ringing - and was met with the sight of two narrowed, burning orange eyes staring directly into his. Startled, Mercury froze.

The ringing calmed down, fading away in slow waves. Mercury just breathed through it, staring at the eyes beneath the dock the whole time. Finally, it was silent, the only sound his trembling breath. “H-hello?” He finally said, voice low. “Are you the one who-”

The figure dived beneath the waves, and Mercury found himself leaning forward unintentionally - his hand slipped on a wet patch of the wood, and Mercury tumbled down with a shriek. He slid beneath the waves easily, his clothes soaking and dragging him down as he flailed within the water; his eyes squeezed closed as they burned from the salty water. His hand caught in the strap of his bag, and Mercury flailed harder until it came off of him, struggling. His chest burned as he resisted the urge to take a breath, knowing it would be the end of him - and then he felt arms beneath his shoulders and knees, and his head was out of the water, and he was able to breathe. He sucked in a sharp breath, the air like a balm to his burning lungs as he followed it with a harsh cough.

“Humans,” he heard a rough voice hiss in his ear, and Mercury looked to the side. His eyes widened as he met the same burning orange eyes he’d seen earlier, annoyance clear in them. “Always getting into trouble.”

“Hey!” Mercury protested before he could stop himself. “This wasn’t my fault! It’s not like I planned getting kidnapped.”

The figure looked closer at him, eyes narrowing, before one of his eyebrows arched. “Still fell into the water of your own volition, human.” Mercury pressed his lips together. Okay, maybe falling into the water was his own fault - but he still hadn’t planned it!

“Who are you, anyway? Was that sound - was that you?”

The figure bared sharp teeth in a menacing grin, and Mercury was suddenly aware of the fact that he was still floating, caged within his arms. He let out a nervous laugh, attempting to squirm out, but the grip on him only tightened. “I let you go here, and the waves will get you again, human. I mean, I can-” and the figure’s grip loosened just slightly, so that Mercury dipped further into the water again, his gaze briefly catching sight of what looked like a - tail? - waving in the water beneath them, connecting to the figure still holding him.

Aware of what would happen if he fell into the ocean again, Mercury yelped and flung a hand around the figure’s back, face burning as he finally realized he was pressing against bare skin. “Nope, I’m fine. You can put me back on the shore, please,” he laughed nervously, glancing over to the shore, too far for him to reach alone (how had he gotten so far out when he’d only fallen from the dock?). “Please?”

Another menacing grin, and Mercury swallowed hard - but then he realized they were moving, and he breathed out a quick sigh of relief. After only a couple of seconds of movement, Mercury realized they were somehow almost to shore, and he glanced at the figure again, taking in his regal features, the orange-and-yellow hair cascading down his back (somehow completely dry despite the fact that he’d just been underwater), the fin-looking appendages on the sides of his face, his annoyed expression - and then he let out a strangled squeak when the figure’s eyes cut to him, narrowing slightly.

He was let go suddenly, his back pressing into the wet sand. Mercury blinked once, twice, three times, watching the figure turn around and leave without another glance backwards - and then he scrambled to his feet, calling out “Wait! Who are you? What’s your name?” without an answer in response, barely managing to call out a final rushed “Thank you!” before the figure disappeared beneath the waves.

Then - “Wait! My bag?!” Mercury yelled, spinning around with his hands against his head. He could get a new one, but he’d liked that bag! Mercury groaned, closing his eyes before he heard a sudden splash, and something slapped against his chest. He whipped his eyes opened and looked down, surprised to see that it was his bag - soaking wet and darker in color, but still his bag. He looked out to the ocean again, but only saw the distant rippling of water. “Thank you?” He called again as he pulled the strap over his shoulder, voice hesitant now.

Then he stared for a few moments longer, his arms rising to wrap around his chest as he shivered. The combination of his soaking wet clothes and the wet humidity of the air made him groan in discomfort, and Mercury threw a glance at the boat still waiting at the end of the dock, before turning around and starting the walk back to town, already regretting leaving earlier that morning.

A horribly wet and uncomfortable walk back to town later, Mercury trudged into the inn, the bell above the door dinging his entrance as Luna and Earth looked up at him from the front desk. “Mercury!” Luna called - and then his eyes narrowed as he noticed Mercury’s current state, scrambling over from the desk. “What happened to you?”

“I almost got kidnapped…. again,” Mercury grumbled, pressing his arms tighter around himself. “Seriously, why is it always me?” Luna pressed his lips together before turning around and leaving the room.

“’Cause you’re the shortest and easiest to grab,” Earth responded lazily from the desk - he hadn’t moved an inch, one eyebrow arched as he watched. “You should know this by now, why do you keep leaving the safe areas of town?”

“Because those ‘safe areas’ are too small for me to act in,” Mercury answered, drawing air quotes as Luna finally came back in the room, holding a towel. “How am I supposed to deliver messages if I can’t deliver them where they’re supposed to be? Besides, I only have to follow that rule when Sol’s in town, and you know it.” Mercury grabbed the towel from Luna and rubbed it harshly against his hair, noticing now that he’d dripped a puddle onto the floor of the inn.

“Take someone with you? Stop delivering?” Earth offered, apparently ignoring his second sentence.

“You and Luna are supposed to stay here, who am I supposed to take? And I’m not going to stop delivering, it’s the only way I can leave this place,” Mercury frowned as he drew the towel tight over his shoulders, aware that he couldn’t fully dry off until he changed clothes. He shivered again, freezing even with the towel; it was always colder in the inn’s lobby than it was outside, since Earth didn’t deal well with extreme heat or extreme cold.

Earth just stared at him quizzically, hands thrown up at his sides. “Erebus? Jupiter? Those two are always willing to help, heaven knows. Well, Jupiter, at least. Erebus maybe not so much now that I’m thinking,” he huffed a short laugh, as if imagining Mercury actually asking Erebus to help him.

“Those two have their own jobs, what am I supposed to say to them?”

“Hey,” Earth suddenly said, his voice high and annoying, as he clasped his hands in front of him and made a pouting expression. “I keep getting kidnapped, can you follow me on all of my jobs today?”

“I do not sound like that! Or look like that!”

“Guys!” Luna finally interrupted, mouth ticked in a frown. “Could you stop for one second? Mercury, really, what happened to you? You’re soaking wet, how far away from town did you go?”

Mercury sighed, his shoulders falling as he pulled the towel a little tighter. “Can I get changed first? I’m still dripping water here, remember?” He was aware he was acting terser than usual, but he was still a little unsettled from earlier - and still confused about what exactly had happened.

Luna’s eyes drew over him again, his frown deepening. “Alright, go change. But! Then you’re telling us what happened, Mercury. And don’t hide anything!” Mercury turned around and headed towards the stairs before Luna suddenly continued. “Oh, and remember we’ve got those two inn guests, they’re staying in the visitor’s wing!”

His final sentence was almost shouted after Mercury as he flew up the stairs, rolling his eyes slightly. After another second, he distantly heard Luna scolding Earth, and ducked his head with his smile. At least he could always count on those two to make him feel better, even if marginally. When he finally got to his room, Mercury pulled out a change of clothes; his own frown finally pulled across his face as he dried off as much as possible. Now that it was quiet, and he wasn’t worried about being kidnapped again, he could think.

What was it that had saved him? Who was it? He certainly hadn’t seemed human - he had called Mercury human, after all. Brows furrowed, Mercury finally sat down on his bed once he was in new clothes, hands rubbing at his eyes. He shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed before opening them wide. No sense in thinking about it - it wasn’t like he’d see him again - right?

After another couple seconds of breathing and relaxing in silence, Mercury sighed, standing back up and stretching with a groan. Now he had to go back down and explain what had happened to Luna and Earth - and hope they wouldn’t tell Sol about it later. If Sol heard about it… Mercury certainly wouldn’t be leaving town anytime soon.

“Listen, I’m telling you - he wasn’t human!” Mercury threw his hand out, pointing it towards Earth.

“We’ve just got, what- mermaids, hanging out in the ocean over here?” Earth spluttered, mouth open in disbelief as he tilted the drink in his hand, almost spilling it. “Mercury, you are aware of how weird this sounds, right?”

Luna stared at him from Earth’s side, brow furrowed. “Normally I don’t like to agree with Earth-” Earth gave him an affronted look, but Luna seemingly ignored it, continuing, “but Mercury, this does sound a little… unreal. I mean, we know Sol’s not human - but he’s Sol. I’d be surprised if he was human, honestly. It’s a little weirder if we’ve got… mermaids? in the water.”

“What else could it be? You think some random guy is just swimming around in the ocean, looking for kidnapping victims to save?” Mercury rubbed his hand against his chin, ticking his mouth to one side. “I know what I heard, and what I saw. He didn’t look human, either. A little too perfect, just like Sol. You’ll just have to trust me - please?” His brow furrowed as he looked at Luna and Earth, and they both tilted their heads at him in an identical manner, frowns on their faces.

“Alright, Mercury,” Luna finally said, sighing. He grabbed Earth’s drink and took a sip, passing it back to Earth afterwards. “I do trust you. I’ll believe you saw what you saw. But it’s not like it matters, anyway - because you’re not going back out there, right?” He threw an elbow into Earth’s side, and he spluttered into the drink before nodding in agreement.

Looking down, Mercury let his head fall into his hands. “Fine,” he groaned after a second. “But we really do need to do something about these kidnappings. I’ve had to save myself like three times this month.”

“You could always tell Sol - I’m sure he could figure out what to do,” Earth offered, taking a noisy sip from his drink.

“No-” Mercury rushed out, hands moving to press against the table as he stood up slightly. “I am not telling Sol anything, and neither should you.” Earth and Luna both glanced at each other, and then back at Mercury.

“I don’t know about that, Mercury, you know how Sol gets when we don’t tell him things—”

“I’ll tell him later,” Mercury interrupted. “I’m just really not in the mood to be forced to stay in the inn again.” He shuddered as he remembered the absolute boredom of last time. “I’ll deal with the repercussions of hiding this from him, okay? Just don’t tell him, please,” he pleaded, brow furrowed. Again, Earth and Luna looked at each other; finally, they released twin sighs before nodding in agreement.

“Fine, Mercury, but please be careful, okay? Neither Earth nor I want you getting hurt. You should at least tell Jupiter-” and speak of the devil, Luna was interrupted as the door swung open with a chime and Jupiter stepped in, hand pushing his hair back from his face.

“Tell Jupiter what?” Jupiter asked as the door swung shut behind him, one eyebrow arched. “Is something wrong?” The bell rang again as Erebus stepped in behind Jupiter, freezing mid-step as he saw the awkward state of the room.

“Nope,” Mercury rushed out. “Everything’s fine - in fact, I’m feeling a little tired, I’m going to go to bed,” and then he stood up, hurried over to the stairs, and took them two at a time, listening as Jupiter questioned Earth and Luna behind him. As he pushed his door closed behind him, Mercury hoped that Earth and Luna would actually manage to stay quiet for once, and not tell Jupiter literally everything. Then he sighed and slid down the door, exhaustion rushing over him like a wave as he considered everything that had happened that day. “Ugh,” he groaned, putting his head in his hands. “Why me?”

The next Mercury was aware, he woke up sitting in the middle of the ocean on a tall rock. Freezing, he looked around, holding tight to the rock beneath him. How had he gotten here? The last Mercury knew, he’d fallen asleep in his room at the inn - there was no way he’d sleep-walked out here either, judging from the fact that he couldn’t see any land around for as far as his eyes could see.

Mercury swallowed hard, laying down further against the rock. Hopefully this was a dream… because it if wasn’t, he wasn’t entirely sure what he would do. Suddenly, Mercury heard splashing in the distance, and looked up - water was rippling a short distance away, and it was obvious that something had been there a second ago. He furrowed his brow, frowning slightly, apprehension settling over him.

“H-hello?” He finally called out, stumbling over his words slightly. “Is someone there? Where am I?”

There was no answer, just the distant rippling of water.

“Wait, did I get kidnapped again somehow?” Mercury sighed, tilting his head as he leaned back against the rock more. “This is the worst plan ever if so, because you’re certainly not-” and then he jumped, hands scrabbling against the rock as something slid out of the water in front of him, pushing onto the rock. It was the figure again - the one that had saved him from his captors. This time, he was almost fully out of the water, and Mercury felt his face burn slightly as he looked at his full visage. Almost certain it was a dream, Mercury just stared for a few moments, taking in what his mind apparently thought the siren looked like.

Long, orange-yellow hair strayed down his shoulders, resting against a bare chest, which Mercury drew his eyes away from almost immediately (even in a made-up dream it felt wrong to look); further, a shimmering tail the same color as his hair trailed down into the water, the end twisting back and forth, making the water ripple every couple of seconds. Then, he glared, teeth bared in a snarl.

“What are you doing here, human?”

“Doing here?” Mercury yelped, pushing against the rock again. “Is this not a dream?”

“This is a dream. My dream.”

“Uh,” Mercury said, unintelligently. “I thought this was my dream. I thought I just really felt like dreaming about the ocean for some reason… or that I got kidnapped again. Are you part of the dream?”

“You humans always think everything is yours,” The siren frowned deeper, sharp teeth still bared. “This is my dream. It’s always looked like this. I’ll ask again - what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know!” Mercury let go of the rock for a second to throw his hands in the air, confused. “I just woke up here!”

“You just-” The siren suddenly froze, hand grabbing at the smaller rocks beneath him so hard his knuckles turned white. “Don’t tell me.” Then he stood up, tail morphing into human legs before Mercury could even register it; the fins on the sides of his face wavered away, almost like they were mere images, and suddenly he looked like a human - if humans could be that perfect. “You weren’t effected by my siren song earlier, either.”

Mercury looked away from the siren, grimacing in confusion. There was still nothing around but water in any direction, so finally he glanced back at the siren, who was a lot closer, staring up at Mercury on the rock like he was about to fight him. His eyes were still burning, intense in a way that made Mercury want to jump into the water just to get away. “Don’t tell you what?” he finally responded, eyes jumping around, unable to keep eye contact.

 Then there was movement out of the corner of his eye, and Mercury squeaked, pushing further up the rock as he realized the siren was climbing up to him - and was completely naked. Mercury immediately let go of the rock, covering his eyes with another yelp. “Whoa!”

“Humans,” There was a snicker, the amusement obvious in the siren’s tone. “So modest.”

“Could you - please put some clothes on? This is a dream, right? It should be easy,” Mercury squeaked out, his hands still pressed tightly over his eyes. “Please put some clothes on.”

There was an annoyed groan, and then a short, muffled sound; Mercury took his hands off of his eyes and realized the siren now wore a funny sort of outfit - a sheet of white drawn over one shoulder, draped easily over the rest of him. Breathing a sigh of relief, Mercury placed his hands back on the rock. “Thank you.”

“Hmmm,” the siren replied, still glaring up at him. “I didn’t do it for you.” Mercury tilted his head to the side, a little confused, but let it go. No sense in fighting with him. He swallowed hard when the siren continued climbing a second later, pushing himself up the rock as much as possible. The closer the siren got, the easier it became to see just how much bigger than Mercury it was - and he let out another nervous laugh.

“What are you doing?” He finally choked out, pressing harder against the rock behind him. “I don’t think-”

“I’m coming up there to look at you, human!” The siren snapped, eyes narrowed up at him. “After all, if you’re what I think you are-” and he bared his teeth again, this time in a smirk that made Mercury look away, almost concerned for himself. A moment later, his vision darkened as a shadow fell over him, and Mercury shrank back just the slightest, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Could you not lurk over me? That’s kind of creeeeepy…” Mercury’s last word stretched out as he finally looked up, meeting the siren’s eyes, intense and dark. “Uh.”

“Interesting,” another smirk, teeth bared; and suddenly Mercury was being picked up, and air was rushing by - and then he hit the surface of the water with a huge splash, a startled sound slipping out of his lips at the freezing cold - and he slipped under the water, staring up as the siren jumped after him - and then-

Mercury shot up in his bed, breath heaving. “What?” He choked out, staring down at his hands. He was still fully dry, so that was definitely a dream - but why was he dreaming about that? Already, the memories of the dream were slipping through his fingers like trying to grab steam, and he let out a loud groan, falling back against the pillow.

He had to go back to the ocean.

There were two men sitting at the table, eating breakfast - Mercury arched an eyebrow slightly as he looked over before Luna’s words came to him in a flash - “Oh, and remember we’ve got those two inn guests, they’re staying in the visitor’s wing!” - and he relaxed again. Stepping over to the front desk, Mercury knocked on the wood; Earth’s head popped up, his eyes wild until he saw Mercury and they softened. “Oh, Mercury, you surprised me,” he said, following it with a laugh. “What’s up?”

“I’m just heading out. Who made breakfast this morning?”

“Oh, Erebus did. I know-” Earth shot him a look in reply to his confused face. “I didn’t expect it either. Apparently, Jupiter’s been trying to teach him! I mean, he apparently did pretty well. The guests liked it, at least. I haven’t tried it.” He smiled sheepishly. “Luna ate earlier, but he’s back in the room now. Sol sent us some information he wanted us to look over.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mercury said, tugging at the strap of his bag. “Did you guys need me to help you later?”

“No, I think we’ve got it, now.” Earth shrugged. “We’ve been here for long enough now that it’s just part of the routine now.”

“How long have you been here?” Mercury tried to jog his own memory, but the only thing that popped into his head was the burning orange eyes of the siren - so he pushed it away and met Earth’s eyes again. “The days kind of run together recently.”

“I mean-” Earth’s mouth ticked to the side as his eyes turned considering. “Probably a year or so now.” Mercury hummed in response, finally taking a step back.

“Well, I should probably get going-” he let out a slight nervous laugh, pointing both hands towards Earth. “But I’ll see you later.”

“Don’t get kidnapped again,” Earth replied, smirking up at him. Mercury sent him a deadpan look, turning around without saying anything; he got all the way to the front door before Luna slid in front of him, hands held out with an annoyed expression clear on his face. Mercury let out a short sound of shock, surprised Luna had gotten out of the room that quickly.

“Hey!” Luna protested. “Where are you going? You better not be going back out to the ocean again.”

Mercury’s eyes widened just the slightest as he tugged at his bag again. “No,” he said, weakly. “I’m not.” Luna’s eyes narrowed more, the disbelief in them obvious.

“I believe that so much, Mercury. Seriously, you’re going to get yourself hurt!” Luna crossed his arms over his chest, eyes angry now. Mercury just stared at him for a couple moments, aware that Luna was just worried about him. He didn’t want to straight up lie to Luna… but Mercury also wanted answers.

“Listen, Luna, I promise I won’t go out there again.” Mercury finally steeled himself and stared deep into Luna’s gray eyes, hoping against all hopes he wouldn’t hear the lie in his voice. He drew his bag tighter against him, the change of clothes in it making the bag the slightest bit heavier than usual. “I’m just going to deliver some messages for Sol. He asked me to, remember?” Mercury hoped Luna wouldn’t also remember that he’d already delivered them a couple of days ago.

Luna’s eyes narrowed, and he frowned, but his arms dropped as a short sigh left his mouth. “Fine, but be safe, alright? You know Earth and I can’t leave the inn without getting in trouble. If you get caught again-”

“I’m on my own. I know. I’ve been fine every time before.”

“I don’t understand why you keep leaving town, even with all of the dangers out there. Everyone wants to get a chance at having a bargaining chip against Sol.” Luna frowned deeper, one hand drawing up to press against his forehead. “I don’t understand how it’s gotten so much worse in the past few months. We were never in this much danger before. Soon enough, he might stop you from leaving the inn, too.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly in worry, and Mercury pressed one hand onto his shoulder until he looked back up at him.

“It’ll be fine, Luna. Jupiter and Erebus will both make sure that everything is in top shape, and if it’s something bad, we can tell Sol whenever he comes back in the next week or two.” Luna nodded, and Mercury sent him a short smile before turning around, throwing a short wave backwards. “I’ll be back to the inn before you know it. Don’t worry.”

Chapter Text

The walk to the ocean was much, much easier than the walk from the ocean - Mercury wasn’t soaking wet to the bone, and while he did still keep a careful eye out for anyone who looked a little too closely at him, he wasn’t worried too much about another kidnapping. After one attempt, it usually took a while for the next one to happen. Mercury bit back a short laugh as he realized that wasn’t really a normal thought people tended to have, too aware that his association with Sol had irrevocably changed how he thought about things.

Earth and Luna had both dealt with the same issue before their confinement to the inn, but now apparently the preferred target had shifted to Mercury. He wasn’t looking forward to any of the others finding out.

Things had changed after Earth had almost been killed in one attempt - on his worst days, Luna wouldn’t let Earth out of his sight, reminded too easily of his almost-dead appearance. Mercury had been lucky so far… but they’d need to tell Sol at some point, especially since he’d be coming back from the capitol sometime soon. Shuddering, Mercury grasped the strap of his bag just a bit tighter as the slightest grimace passed over his face.

Mercury was even luckier that somehow Jupiter and Erebus hadn’t realized just often he’d been almost kidnapped in the past few months since Sol had left - those two would definitely report it to Sol immediately, while Earth and Luna were a lot more… sympathetic thanks to the consequences they had dealt with. Judging on how angry Sol had been with Earth’s almost-death, the revelation that Mercury had almost died too (and alone) would not end well for his freedom. So, for now… Mercury was going to take any chance he could get to take leave from the inn, whether that be delivering messages for Sol and the others, or just going into town for random day trips.

Plus, now - Mercury felt a grin pass his face as he crested the hill that looked over the ocean, the water shimmering blue against the sunlight - he had something to figure out. Which meant he couldn’t risk confinement.

Another dozen or so minutes of walking later, Mercury finally happened on the dock he’d been dragged to the other day - the boat was still moored to the end, sail flapping in the wind that soared against it every couple of minutes. Mercury threw it a glance with narrowed eyes, annoyance coursing through his veins again at the reminder of yesterday.

At least the two had definitely drowned - Mercury almost felt a sliver of pity before shoving it away, reminded suddenly of how they had planned to ‘rough him up’ once they were in the boat. His lip curled, and he tracked through the sand to an area of the beach sheltered by hills covered in crawling vines.

Dropping his bag onto the ground, far enough away that it wouldn’t be at risk of any waves, Mercury glanced over the rocks extending into the ocean - there were enough of them that he could get pretty far out without getting wet at all, as long as he stepped right. Mercury sighed and just started walking, carefully placing his feet, arms stretched out to provide a counterweight as he teetered slightly, the rough, wet terrain of the rocks providing absolutely no help.

He got pretty far out - almost three-fourths of the way towards where the rocks led - when suddenly everything got a million times worse. He stepped forward onto a huge rock, confident that it would be stable; only Mercury somehow completely missed a strip of seaweed that had been blown onto the rock, and his foot slipped on it suddenly.

His stance already messed up, with his last bit of control, Mercury flung himself to the side so he would fall into the ocean rather than cracking his skull on the rocks he’d already passed by. He plunged into the cold water with gritted teeth, eyes pressed closed. The weight of his clothes was already dragging him down, and for a moment Mercury wondered if the Siren could be watching - and might save him again - but then he shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut tighter as he flung his arms and legs out, swimming up with all his strength.

He couldn’t rely on someone else to save him all the time - so with his chest burning, Mercury swam up and up with all of his strength until he finally grasped onto the edge of a rock with his fingertips, a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye sending a shiver through his frame. Mercury just grasped onto the rock desperately, pulling and kicking until he was able to pull up the rock onto his stomach - and then he was fully collapsed against it, dripping water and freezing despite the heat of the air around him.

It took a couple seconds of desperate breathing, but finally Mercury gained back his sense of control as he shivered against the rock, too aware of the fact that his clothes were soaked again. A second later, the Siren popped up in the water in front of him, a smirk outlined on his face. “Did you think I was going to save you again?” he said, voice rough and lower than Mercury had expected.

“Of course not,” Mercury gasped out, heaving in another deep breath after leaning over and coughing out some water, still trembling a little bit. The ocean was not at all forgiving.  Then he blinked, looking at the Siren again. “Maybe just a little bit…”

“Humans,” the Siren said again, rolling his eyes. “You’re all…” He trailed off, apparently not sure how to finish that sentence; Mercury finally sat up, closing his arms tight around his knees, irritated by how tightly his wet clothes clung to his body.

“All what?” He blinked at the siren. “I haven’t done anything to you, you know,” he finally pointed out. The siren arched one eyebrow, leaning against the rock Mercury laid on, head resting on his arms.

“You just expected me to save you again,” The Siren finally said, the phrase said so low it was almost a grumble. “I’d count that as something.”

“For one - I just saved myself! And for two - I just wanted to see you again! Is it a crime?” Mercury threw his hands in the air, eyes glued to the Siren’s face as his eyebrow arched higher and he pushed further up onto the rock. Then he swallowed hard, a sudden question coming to mind. Better to ask the Siren now, than mull over it for days. “Also… was that real, last night?”

“When you stole into my dream?” The Siren gave him a sinister smile. “Yes.”

“Oh,” Mercury said, wetting his lips, hands pressing down on the rock as he scooted just slightly up it, further from the water; he pointedly resisted the urge boiling deep inside, the one that told him to move downward, closer to the Siren. “I thought…”

“What? I don’t know if I should be flattered or annoyed that you apparently thought I’d just appear in your dreams after saving you once.” The Siren’s head tilted to the side, and he pulled himself up further, so that he was almost halfway up to Mercury, his mesmerizing tail trailing off into the water behind him, causing ripples to spread out every couple of seconds. “My eyes are here, human,” Mercury suddenly heard, and he felt a flare of warmth across his face as his gaze jumped back to the Siren, now staring directly into his orange eyes again.

“Sorry,” Mercury squeezed out, a sheepish grin spreading over his face. He found himself thinking again just how weird it was that he was in this scenario - sitting on a rock far from the shore, his clothes soaking wet, a mysterious siren/mermaid/whatever it was sitting in front of him, eyes burning into his form. “So, uh,” Mercury stumbled, unsure what he was trying to say - and then the Siren sent him another wicked grin, and Mercury’s mouth closed shut with an audible click as he suddenly took in just how sharp his teeth were.

“Scared?” The Siren teased, grin widening, an almost malicious glee lighting up in his orange eyes; Mercury blinked, hand coming up to slick back the small hairs that had separated from the rest of his soaked hair.

“No,” he said, swallowing hard, but determined. He wasn’t going to respond how he assumed the Siren wanted him to - with deference. “I’m not scared.”

The Siren’s smirk took on a different sort of edge, his eyes boiling over with an emotion Mercury couldn’t name. Then he started sliding further up the rock and Mercury was suddenly reminded of his dream, the way the Siren had bent over him, and a strangled noise slipped out of his lips before he could stop it; he ducked his head as a blush spread further over his cheeks.

“Wait! Can you at least tell me your name?” He suddenly blurted out, looking up through his lashes, searching for any sort of distraction.

“We’re on a name-sharing basis, now?” The Siren’s grin became shark-like, but he stopped moving forward, and Mercury bit back a sigh of relief. “Why would I do that when I still don’t know yours, human?”

“Mercury,” he offered, blinking, his eyes suddenly catching how the sunlight made the Siren’s hair gleam, the yellow tones peeking perfectly through the orange. “My name’s Mercury.” With narrowed eyes, the Siren gave him a considering look, another unreadable emotion in his eyes. “C’mon!” Mercury pleaded. “There’s gotta be some reason to share your name with me. You did save me that first time, after all! And we can apparently share dreams now.”

“And I’m regretting it already.”

Mercury stayed silent, blinking slowly at the figure, until finally he released an annoyed sigh. “Venus. That’s my name. And that’s all you’re getting today, pipsqueak.”

Mercury narrowed his eyes, scrunching his nose. “Pipsqueak? I just told you my name’s Mercury!”

“You’re short. It fits you,” Venus smirked again, his teeth bared - and Mercury noticed again how sharp his teeth were, a thrill running through him as he leaned forward slightly.

“I’m a perfectly normal height!” He furrowed his brow, hand suddenly pressing down on the rock as if he was going to stand up - but then Venus’s eyes narrowed, his gaze burning straight into Mercury’s, and he stopped moving like he’d been glued in place, swallowing down a sudden gasped breath. “How-” He started, not even sure what he was trying to say. “How did you appear in my dreams last night?” He finally threw out, his body suddenly feeling even colder as Venus drew back into the water until only his head was above the waterline.

“That’s… complicated.” Venus finally said, the words sounding strange, like he had to force them out. “No need to tell you now.”

“If it involves me, I deserve to know!” Mercury knit his brow, crawling down the rock, settling onto his lower legs and peering into the water at Venus despite the fact that if he wasn’t careful, being so close meant it was entirely possible he could slip right into the ocean again. He didn’t care anymore, his clothes were already soaked. “Please,” he pleaded. “I hate not knowing things.”

“No,” Venus said, his tone short and irritated. “I’m not telling you.”

Mercury groaned, letting his head fall so that his chin rested against his chest. His hair fell with it, so that when he lifted his head there was hair in his eyes, water dripping down his face. Venus was still looking at him, but his eyes were blank, free even of the irritation that had been obvious seconds ago. “Fine,” Mercury finally bit out. “But if I see you in my dreams again tonight—”

“You will,” Venus interrupted him, a self-satisfied smirk lighting up his face, voice dripping with a weird sort of amusement. “I can promise that.” Mercury pressed his lips together, shoving his hair back again, another short thrill running through his chest.

“Okay,” he said, face feeling warm. He threw a glance back at his back, far on the ocean shore, the sight reminding him of something. He turned back to Venus, who was still looking at him - Did he ever look away? - but had swum a lot closer, his eyes dark as he looked up at Mercury. “Thanks for throwing me my bag, by the way. Yesterday. I appreciated it.”

“Don’t want human things polluting the ocean,” was the only reply, Venus’s tail flicking in the water below him, a slight glow in the water that Mercury could barely see. “But you’re welcome, Mercury.”

Another weird smirk, and then Venus disappeared beneath the water, gone in seconds, leaving Mercury gaping at the still ocean, his eyes wide. He blew out a harsh sigh after another moment, his head dropping as he leaned onto his arms before standing up. His gaze drifted into the distance as Mercury tried to figure out a path back to the shore that didn’t involve jumping into water again.

“Great,” he muttered. “I did this to myself. Should’ve just stayed on shore,” and then he stepped onto the closest rock, teetering with his arms out to steady him.

Thirty minutes and a couple of close calls later, Mercury finally stepped onto the sand, falling to his knees with a grateful intake of breath. “Thank you, universe,” he quietly mumbled. “I did not need to fall in the water again. Twice is plenty enough for me.”

Immensely aware that he’d have to dry off and change clothes before heading back to the inn lest Luna become even more suspicious than before, Mercury stood up and brushed as much sand off his clothes as possible before striding over to his bag, tossing a glance at the still ocean behind him with his lips pressed together, before closing his eyes with another heavy sigh, an awareness pressing in that he still had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Once his hair had fully dried and he was sure nobody would figure out he’d been down to the ocean, Mercury walked back to the inn, mind still churning with the distant memories of the dream he’d had - combining now with the memories of speaking to Venus again. Already, he wanted to go back to the ocean and get Venus to talk to him again, tell him what he was, why he’d saved Mercury… there were a lot of questions whirling in his head, and very few answers.

Mercury was suddenly reminded of what Venus had said when Mercury had mentioned the dreams - the self-satisfied smirk that had spread over his face, the amusement clear in his voice - and his heart skipped a beat, the sensation weird enough that Mercury almost tripped straight into the dirt. He coughed, grasping the strap of his bag tight before looking into the distance with wide eyes, pushing the memories away.

“No need to think about that now, Mercury,” he reminded himself under his breath, speeding up just a little as he recognized the streets closest to the inn. “You’re just going to give yourself a heart attack or something.” Ignoring the fact that he was now talking to himself, Mercury paused in front of window and checked to make sure he actually was fully dry and just ended staring at his reflection with a sigh before turning away.

The moment he passed through the door of the inn, the bell ringing sharp above him, Mercury felt his body relax, the tension he hadn’t realized he was holding melting away like ice. “Mercury!” he heard, and his eyes jumped towards the tables, where Jupiter was sitting with a bunch of paper.

“Jupiter,” he smiled back, genuinely happy to see him. “I haven’t seen you since yesterday.”

“Luna told me you had some papers to deliver. Everything work out well?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, everything’s fine,” Mercury waved one hand in the air, the other clutching at his bag tighter. “Delivered everything great! Hey, where’s Luna and Earth?”

Jupiter arched one eyebrow, amusement sliding into his expression. “They’re in their rooms. You’re acting a little weird, Mercury, is everything good?”

“Everything’s fine!” Mercury squeaked, sliding closer to the stairs. If he wasn’t careful, Jupiter would tell be able to get him to spill about… well, basically everything. “I’m just going to go relax in my room for a bit, it’s super-hot out there!”

“I thought you didn’t mind the heat?” Jupiter called up after him - Mercury just answered with a long hum of agreement, taking the stairs two at a time. He almost ran directly into Erebus, skidding to a stop just before him as he put his hands in the air and let out a surprised sound.

“Watch out, Mercury!” Erebus stepped past him, his brow furrowed. “Why are you running, anyway? Nobody’s out to get you.”

“No reason,” Mercury choked out, sliding into his room and closing the door before Erebus could ask anything else. His shoulders dropped, his head following, and Mercury finally let out a groan. “Ughh,” he whined, throwing his bag onto the floor. “Could you be any more obvious, Mercury?”

Jupiter wasn’t at the table anymore when Mercury finally came back down, ravenously hungry since he hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch. The lobby of the inn was meticulously clean - and Earth and Luna still weren’t at the desk, which made Mercury tip his head in confusion. Then he shrugged - they must be doing something in their rooms. “Jupiter?” He finally called out, hesitantly.

A second later, Jupiter’s head popped out of the kitchen door, a smile on his face. “Oh, Mercury. I’m just here with Erebus. What did you need?”

“I just wanted to ask about dinner…” Mercury trailed off as his stomach growled, a blush rising to his face as he clutched his arms tighter around his torso. Jupiter’s smile grew, his head tilting a little more. “I’m a little hungry.”

“I can hear that,” Jupiter responded, dipping his head. “Don’t worry. I’m in here trying to show Erebus how to make a new recipe. You can sit at the counter and chat, if you want! Shouldn’t be long.” He popped back in the door as it clicked closed behind him, and Mercury shrugged, trailing over to the counter and taking a seat at one of the stools. There was a window that looked directly into the kitchen (which was perfect whenever they had guests, since they could just put the food at the counter and let them grab it); Mercury glanced in and saw Erebus was at the stove, feverishly stirring something in a pot while Jupiter watched from behind him.

“Ah, Erebus, you can slow down on the stirring,” Jupiter said after a moment, laying his hand on top of Erebus’s hand, stopping his stirring completely as he looked up at him with a weird look on his face. “It doesn’t need to be that fast.”

“You said fast!” Erebus said, one brow furrowing. “I’m just stirring fast!”

“Okay,” Jupiter said, almost laughing. “But not that fast.”

Mercury just watched the two with a smile on his face, before something occurred to him and he finally spoke up, fingers tapping against the counter. “Hey, Jupiter, where are Earth and Luna? Normally they’re at the desk by now…”

Jupiter looked over at him with his lips pressed together, the amusement leaving his expression quick as anything else. “Luna had an issue, earlier. Earth’s back there trying to make sure he falls asleep.”

“Oh,” Mercury said, blinking. “The- the kidnapping memories, right?”

Jupiter nodded, looking down at the floor briefly before turning back to Erebus, picking something off the counter and handing it to him. “Here, put these in there next. And keep stirring.” Then he turned back to Mercury, coming over to the counter to lean over it, his brows furrowed. “One of the guests accidentally did something that caused the memories to come back for Luna - it was an accident, of course, but still. Luna’s been back in his room since, and Earth followed him. You know those two - attached at the hip.”

Mercury hummed in agreement, worry worming through his chest. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

Jupiter shrugged, but he did offer Mercury a small smile. “Those two are strong, and they always bounce back. They’ll be fine.” Mercury was about to ask something else, a question popping into his head; but then Erebus suddenly said Jupiter’s name in a panicked manner, and they both looked over to him to see the pot was almost boiling over.

“Erebus,” Jupiter said, his eyes widening as he quickly strode over to the pot, turning off the range. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, it just started… doing that,” Erebus looked to the side, his lips pressed together. “I can’t cook, I told you!”

“Hey, Earth told me the guests liked breakfast this morning! I’m sure it’s fine, Erebus,” Mercury offered, wanting to give Erebus some sort of acknowledgment. “It takes practice, and I’m sure Jupiter’s fine helping you out.”

“Mercury’s right, Erebus,” Jupiter said, placing a hand on Erebus’s shoulder as his gaze jumped up to him before he dipped his head - and from his vantage point, Mercury could see the red dusting over his face. “It’ll just take a bit of practice. Trust me!” He clapped his hand against Erebus’s shoulder before turning back to the oven. “Besides, this is almost done. Just a few more touches and it’ll be ready to eat.”

“Oh, good,” Mercury groaned, letting his head fall onto the counter. “I forgot to eat breakfast and lunch, I’m starving.”

“Breakfast and lunch? Mercury, do I need to follow you around and make sure you’re eating?” Jupiter sounded a little irritated, but Mercury just threw one hand in the air, too hungry to really care.

“It was one day, I promise, Jupiter. I normally eat every meal. Just got a little… busy, today.”

“Too busy delivering messages to eat?” Jupiter’s voice was filled with disbelief, and Mercury finally jolted his head up to look at him; he was standing at the stove stirring the pot even as he threw short glances back at Mercury every couple of seconds - Erebus was standing awkwardly in the corner, one eyebrow raised as his eyes jumped between Jupiter and Mercury. “Do I need to tell Sol to give you less work?”

Alarm snuck through Mercury, and he sent a panicked smile towards Jupiter. “No, no! My workload is fine! I just…” he scrambled for an excuse, his eyes widening. “Left a little too much work for one day. Procrastinated. Yeah! I procrastinated.” He crossed his fingers under the table, hoping against all hopes that Jupiter would accept the excuse for some reason. Jupiter turned to look at him, smile dropping as he raised both eyebrows.

“Mercury, there’s no need to lie to me. We’re all here to help each other,” Jupiter’s stance was disapproving, the emotion obvious in every line of his body. Behind him, Erebus shrugged at Mercury, his expression a little amused.

“I’m not lying!” Mercury said, looking away from Jupiter. “It was… listen, can I just eat, please?”

Jupiter narrowed his eyes, but finally his face relaxed and he sighed. “Fine, Mercury, but please trust that you don’t have to hide anything from me, okay?” He looked at Mercury for another couple of seconds as if searching for something in his eyes before turning around, focused on Erebus again. “Alright, it’s all done,” he pressed his hand onto Erebus’s shoulder again, and Mercury wondered why he was being so tactile with him, one eyebrow raising.

“Feel free to put any leftovers in the fridge, okay? I need to get some letters written - which you’ll have to deliver later, Mercury - and sent to Sol.” He sent Erebus a fond smile before his eyes jumped back to Mercury and his smile took an edge. “If you need to talk to me, Mercury, you know where I am.”

“Yes,” Mercury replied, dipping his head again. “I understand, Jupiter.”

With a final smile, Jupiter left the kitchen and headed towards his room, his footsteps fading as he went up the stairs. Mercury’s eyes locked with Erebus’s as he walked forward, hands in the air. “So, what are you hiding?” He finally asked, eyes narrowed. “There’s no way you think you’re actually managing to keep it a secret. It’s so, so very obvious that you’re hiding something it’s almost funny.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mercury muttered, closing his eyes and letting his head thump onto the counter. “Can I please just eat?”

Erebus sighed, and Mercury heard his footsteps again, the sound much lighter than Jupiter’s. “It should taste good, since Jupiter helped me the whole way through.”

“Not like that time you almost gave us all food poisoning?” Mercury replied, meaning it as a genuine question. Erebus scoffed in answer, and finally Mercury heard the scraping of cutlery before he heard the thump of something placed onto the table before him.

“Will any of you ever forget that? It was one time,” Erebus finally said, and when Mercury opened his eyes and sat up, he saw his arms were crossed over his chest. When Erebus finally noticed Mercury looking, he pointedly rolled his eyes. “No, this food is edible.” He pointed, and Mercury grinned, almost groaning as he finally took a bite.

“Thank you,” he mumbled through a mouth full of food, which made Erebus grimace at him, taking a couple of steps back.

“Chew your food, I don’t want to see that,” he said, whipping around to spoon out another helping onto a plate before he leaned onto the counter in front of Mercury, taking a bite. “Okay… maybe that is good,” he said after another second, blinking hard. “I need to get Jupiter to help me a lot more often.”

“I’m sure you’ll learn how to do it on your own eventually,” Mercury shrugged, taking another bite. “But it’s not like Jupiter minds helping you. Seems that just like Earth and Luna, you two are attached at the hip these days.”

Erebus put his fork down, his jaw dropping slightly as he looked at Mercury before spluttering. “We are not!” he said, red dusting across his cheeks. Mercury studied him for a moment as confusion rose before a dawning realization hit and his lips parted.

“Oh,” he said, and Erebus’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, what?” he responded, leaning forward onto the counter.

“Nothing. Just noticed something.”

“There’s no need to be cryptic, Mercury, what did you notice,” he said flatly, eye twitching.

“Nothing! I’m just here eating my dinner,” Mercury punctuated his reply with another bite of the food. “But, anyway, Erebus, I had a couple questions for you.” Erebus huffed, rolling his eyes, but he finally nodded, saying nothing otherwise. Mercury twisted his lips to the side, tapping the fork against his plate with one hand before looking up at Erebus. “You were the second one Sol… recruited, right?”

“I don’t know if recruited is the right word, but yeah,” Erebus responded, making air quotes when he said ‘recruited’. “Dragged from a cushy life into this.”

Mercury blinked at him, taking in Erebus’s pulled-back hair, the earring he wore to match Jupiter, and just his general appearance before tilting his head. “You seem comfortable here, though.”

“Well, I am now,” Erebus said, rolling his eyes. “I was here for a long time before Sol picked you up. I had time to adjust. What are you getting at?”

“Well, first - when you say “picked us up” you make it sound like he just found us on the side of the road, Erebus,” Mercury bit back a slight laugh. “And second - I just wanted to know if you knew anything else about Sol,” Mercury said quietly, taking another bite after a second. “I’ve been here for years, and I still don’t know that much about him.”

Erebus laughed, shoving his fork into his food before leaning on the counter, hand pressed against his cheek. “He’s mysterious on a good day,” Erebus finally said, shrugging. “I don’t know that much about him either. Jupiter’s the one to ask that. He’s been here the longest, after all.”

“We both know he’s not human, though,” Mercury argued. “He’s too-”

“Perfect? Weird? A little too mysterious at times? Appears to have no actual background in this country despite having gathered a little too much power? Trust me, whatever you can point out, I’ve thought of it.” Erebus stood up again, running his hand through his hair. “All I know is that I like being here for some reason, and I’m not looking for a reason to disrupt that. And neither should you,” he pointed out, giving Mercury an unreadable look. “I know you’re hiding something. I frankly don’t care - but if it comes back to bite us and Sol, it’s your fault.”

Mercury pressed his lips together and stayed silent, taking a final bite of his food before picking up the empty plate. “Thanks for the food, Erebus,” he finally said, quietly - Erebus sighed, but replied with a quiet thanks in kind, watching as Mercury dropped the plate in the sink. Mercury got to the door of the kitchen before Erebus finally spoke up again, his voice unusually somber.

“Seriously, Mercury… I know we’re not the closest,” Mercury glanced back at him and saw Erebus drying his hands on a towel. “But we’re a team here. Stay safe, okay? I know I can be…” He pressed his lips together, as if not sure how to finish his sentence, before his hands dropped down to his side, one still holding the towel tightly. “Just. You can talk to Jupiter or me whenever, okay? That’s all.”

Mercury sent him a slight smile, warmth bubbling in his chest. “Thanks, Erebus,” he finally said, voice a little louder than before. “I know.” And then he pushed through the door, already thinking of going to sleep early.

Chapter Text

Mercury woke up to bright sunlight entering his eyes - he put a hand up in the air, blinking his eyes over and over again as he tried to adjust. He was on his back, laying against something that tickled against his neck, arms, and legs - and a breeze soared through the air, a refreshing coolness that calmed Mercury. “What?” He groaned out, sitting up, hands pressing against what he now recognized as grass. “Where am I?”

This must be a dream - but Mercury didn’t recognize it as the ocean scene he’d met Venus in prior (the one that slipped away irritatingly quickly whenever he tried to grasp for memories) or any other recognizable dream landscape he’d ever thought of. He blinked again, taking in a deep breath as he pushed away the panic edging in. No use falling prey to it now - first, Mercury had to figure out where he was. He stood up fully now, taking in the landscape around him. He was in a field covered in ankle-height grass, nothing in sight except for a couple trees too far away for him to get a good look at. The sky was a deep blue, covered in fluffy white clouds; a breeze hummed through the grass every couple of seconds, and birdsong drifted in the air.

In conclusion… it was an extremely idyllic scene, literally the stuff of dreams.

Mercury reached down and pinched his arm, huffing out a relieved breath of air when there was no pain. So, this definitely was a dream… he looked down and took in his own self, twisting and turning - he was wearing the outfit he’d worn while walking back from visiting Venus, but he had no shoes, and he also had none of the scars he’d grown used to seeing.

Digging his feet into the dirt to remind himself that he was real, Mercury took another glance around. Why was he here? The last dream he’d been in an oceanic scene - and Venus had been there. Suddenly remembering that, Mercury turned in circles, his eyes searching through the grass for a hint of the Siren, a flash of orange, a weird silhouette - but there was nothing. Mercury frowned, a little more worried now. ‘Wake up!’ He thought to himself, pinching his arm again.

When nothing happened, Mercury pressed his lips together and jerked his gaze back to the copse of trees, the leaves practically glowing green in the bright sunlight, shivering as the wind blew through them.

If he couldn’t wake up, he could at least sit somewhere that didn’t feel so weirdly open. Mercury took one step forward, and then another, and then another, finally just running towards the tree, enjoying the breeze in the air and the soft calmness that permeated every inch of his dreamscape. He let out a high laugh, a genuine one - he enjoyed running, the feeling of the air rushing past his face; but he didn’t usually get to do it - whenever he was running in town, he had to be careful or risk accidentally running into one of the townspeople, which never ended well for anyone.

He was suddenly reminded of the one time he’d actually accidentally run into someone, an older man who’d taken the chance to absolutely dress Mercury down until Erebus had seen it and stepped in, the anger obvious in the set of his shoulders. A smile twitched onto Mercury’s lips as he laughed again, the memory of the man’s disgruntled face as Erebus yelled right back at him like a treat to remember. Of course, Erebus had finished the retaliation by threatening to let Sol know exactly what the man had said - and ever since then, whenever Mercury saw the man in town he would immediately slink away.

Mercury finally skidded to a stop in front of the trees, toes digging into the dirt as he grinned widely. “My dreams should be like this more often,” he said aloud, brushing his hands down the sleeves of his shirt, the white fabric tinted an orange yellowish by the sunlight.

“You can’t control your dreams?” A sudden voice said - Mercury jumped almost a foot in the air, hackles raised as he jerked around. Almost immediately, he relaxed, Venus’s perfect visage like a balm to his consciousness.

“No,” Mercury answered easily, taking in where Venus had been. He was sitting perfectly tucked against the tree - he had human legs, and wore the same outfit that he’d donned when Mercury had asked him to put on clothes in the prior dream (and Mercury huffed a short sigh of relief at that, glad he wouldn’t have to tell Venus to put on clothes again). His hair cascaded almost divinely down his shoulders, and sunlight glittered in a pattern across his face due to the trees above. “They tend to just happen.”

“Funny,” Venus replied, his eyes narrowed, the same intense look he always wore pointed directly towards Mercury. “Sirens can always control our dreams.”

“Well, I am a human,” Mercury answered, pressing his lips together against a short laugh. “You’ve pointed that out often enough.”

Venus rolled his eyes in answer to that, finally standing up, the fabric drawn over his shoulder almost falling before he fixed it. Mercury almost squeaked in response to that before pinching himself, instead drawing up, standing straight as possible.

“Where are we?”

“This is your dream now, pipsqueak. You should know.”

“Why aren’t we in your dream? Weren’t we there last time?” Venus tilted his head, and Mercury’s own head tilted back as Venus got closer and closer - and finally Mercury realized just how tall Venus was, swallowing hard as a blush spread over his cheeks. He put a hand out, meaning for Venus to stop moving - but he didn’t, and instead Mercury’s hand just pressed into his bare chest.

“The dreams switch, that’s how this works - why do you look like that?” Venus paused in the middle of his sentence as he looked down at Mercury, one eyebrow arched, apparently completely ignoring that Mercury’s hand was now splayed out against his chest. His lips parted, and Mercury took in the two distinct fangs, a remnant of the sharp teeth his Siren form had - and then he finally stumbled back a couple of steps, wrapping his arms around his torso as his face flooded with warmth, an almost palpable embarrassment filling his chest.

“Like what?” He squeezed out, grimacing.

“You’re so… red,” Venus said, his lip curled, eyebrows arched in what Mercury could tell was genuine confusion. “Are you having a reaction to something?”

‘To something, yeah,’ Mercury thought in response, his gaze drifting over Venus’s entire form before he smiled weakly. “This just happens sometimes! Nothing to worry about, absolutely nothing,” he put his hands in the air, and smiled wider, hoping Venus would just take the excuse as it was. “What were you saying? The dreams switch?”

Venus’s eyes narrowed, and his arms crossed over his chest, but he looked down at Mercury again, stepping closer as Mercury took another step back. The sunlight beamed warm against his back, the grass tickling his feet - but Mercury couldn’t focus at all on the sensations that should be so pleasant to feel, all of his attention focused instead on Venus in front of him.

“It’s a function of the…” Venus trailed off, gaze jerking away from Mercury before he jolted back. “It’s how this works, okay, human? That’s all you need to know.”

“Okay,” Mercury said nervously, not wanting to press. “So next time it’ll be your dream again?”

A jerky nod was the only response, even as Venus continued stepping closer and Mercury continued stepping back, his heart beating faster every second. “Why is this even happening?” He finally asked - Venus paused, freezing mid-step, his arms falling to rest against his side. “You know why, don’t you?”

“You don’t need to know right now, pipsqueak, just let it go.”

“But—”

“Let it go.”

Mercury sighed and rolled his eyes, turning around and looking into the distance. He could still hear Venus’s footsteps behind him, getting closer and closer as the seconds passed - and then there was a warmth at his side. “So is my dream always going to look like this?” he finally asked, looking up at Venus out of the corner of his eyes. “This is… kind of boring.”

“Try and change it, then. You’re in a dream, who knows what you can do,” Venus said, his eyes narrowed down at Mercury. “Use that imagination you humans love so much.”

“How?” Mercury said, taking a step forward and digging his toes into the dirt again, just for something to ground him. “I’ve never done that before.”

“Just think of something you want, pipsqueak.” Venus’s rough voice piped up from behind him, and Mercury clenched his hands tight at his sides, eyes narrowing. Something he wanted… Mercury considered, his lips pressing together. A sudden ache shoved into his heart, an old reminder of something he’d wanted to forget - and the world fogged around him, his vision whirling like someone had spun him around.

“What?” He gasped out, the world suddenly righting itself just as he stumbled into Venus’s chest, hands grasping his arms tight as Venus looked down at him with one eyebrow raised. “Sorry!” Mercury yelped out, taking a step back away from Venus. “Didn’t mean to… just got…” he finally trailed off and sent Venus another weak smile, swallowing hard before turning around and looking into the distance. The scenery had entirely changed - now they were in a forest, the trees tall and foreboding around them, the world unusually silent. Mercury glanced upward at the sky - it was still a welcoming, calming blue with fluffy clouds dotting it - and then looked down, around them, as Venus huffed in annoyance behind him.

“Know where we are now, pipsqueak?”

“No,” Mercury replied, his brow knit. “I didn’t- I didn’t get the chance to even really think before this happened!” They were standing on a well-trodden path, the grass beneath them worn away to reveal dirt. Mercury glanced up and down the path before looking back at Venus and shrugging, another weak smile curling onto his lips. “I guess we just follow the path?” Something lurked in the back of his mind, something telling him that this was familiar, that he remembered this - but Mercury honestly couldn’t place where he was, his mind swirling with confusion.

“Well, lead the way,” Venus said, his eyes lidded with annoyance. “I know just as little about this as you do. Your dream, pipsqueak, remember?” In response, Mercury pressed his lips together and started walking, heedless of Venus’s heavy footsteps behind him.

“This is just as fun for me as it is for you,” he finally said, brow knit as he stared into the distance, following how the path wound and twisted with his eyes. “Can you please be a little nicer?” He threw a glance back at Venus - his eyes were still narrowed, but there was just a little bit of chastisement hidden in his eyes now - then his eyes closed, and he huffed out a sharp breath.

“Fine,” Venus said after a moment, his arms crossing over his chest. “I’m sorry,” he added, his voice low and quiet as if he didn’t want to say it in the first place.

“Apology accepted,” Mercury replied, not letting it go. “Thank you.” He turned around to send Venus a genuine smile and almost tripped on a tree root that had appeared suddenly in his path - Venus shot forward quicker than Mercury could even register, an arm wrapped around his back to keep him from falling as he looked up into his eyes. A blush burned onto his face as he stuttered something unintelligible, shooting back up, away from Venus’s grip.

“Let’s keep walking!” He said, voice high and crackly. “I think that is a g-reat idea! We’ve got to find something here eventually,” and with his face still burning high, Mercury sped up a little more as he continued walking on the path. He pressed his hand over his mouth harshly, a choked squeak leaving his throat as he pressed on, Venus’s footsteps still eerily close behind. How close is he following? Mercury thought, still a little bit too embarrassed to actually look.

His awkward smile dropped the moment he rounded the corner in the path and the forest opened up in front of them, revealing a picturesque house that made something in Mercury’s brain jump to attention. “I feel like I should recognize this house,” he said, only realizing he’d said it out loud when Venus’s voice rang out from behind him.

“This is your memories, pipsqueak, of course you remember the house.”

“So, wait, was that ocean scene your memories too? You just know a place in the ocean with a giant rock in the middle of nowhere?”

“No,” Venus replied, the annoyance in his tone so obvious Mercury just knew he was rolling his eyes. “Dreams can be either memories or just a random made-up scene. You obviously made this from memories - you’re not at all unsure about where you’re going.”

“But-” Mercury furrowed his brow. “I didn’t know where I was going.”

“You followed the path like you were always meant to,” Venus replied, and finally Mercury turned around to face him to see that he was arching one eyebrow. “It’s pretty obvious something about this is buried in your memories.” Then he reached one hand out, pressing it onto Mercury’s shoulder and turning him around, and it was still eerily silent, no animals making noise, no breeze rustling through the trees.

Mercury pressed his lips together as he took a couple of hesitant steps forward, the house sending alarm bells through his brain every couple of seconds. Why did he remember it? What was this from? After a couple of minutes of hesitant walking, Mercury was finally standing right in front of the door; Venus standing behind him, silent.

With a deep breath, Mercury finally lifted his hand up and knocked, four hard hits in a pattern he hadn’t realized he knew. He frowned at his hand, head tilting - and then, someone opened the door, and Mercury’s world fell apart as he stumbled back a few steps, directly into Venus behind him, memories rushing in like a waterfall. This was his old home, this was his memory, and this was… “Vulcan?” Mercury gasped, one hand coming up to press against his mouth, trembling slightly. “Vulcan?” He asked again, his voice shaky. “Is that you?”

“Mercury?” Vulcan finally asked, his familiar voice sending a bolt of happiness through Mercury’s heart. “You’re home early. What’s wrong? Who is… this?” Vulcan’s head tipped to the side, his eyes glaring straight up where Mercury knew Venus was standing right behind him. He could still feel the heat of Venus’s body against his back, and finally he stepped forward, Vulcan’s hands going up as if to hug him before an arm wrapped around Mercury’s chest and yanked him back again. Vulcan’s eyes narrowed again, hands moving to rest on his hips. “Mercury!” He snapped. “What’s going on?”

“This is a dream,” Venus suddenly reminded him, speaking right into his ear - which made Mercury’s face burn, his body relaxing into Venus’s grip. “He’s not real, pipsqueak.”

“I know,” Mercury said, frozen in Venus’s grasp as his eyes drank in the sight of Vulcan again. “But still…”

“I literally let you leave the house for one day, and you come back with some weird-ass giant behind you?” Vulcan threw a hand out, latching it around Mercury’s wrist before he let go immediately like it burned, his eyes still looking up at Venus.

His eyes suddenly softened; his gaze locked with Mercury’s. “Please, Mercury, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, Vulcan,” Mercury finally said, pushing away from Venus’s grasp and pulling Vulcan into a tight hug, the last happy memories he’d had with him flooding back in like they’d never left. “It’s… complicated.” He pulled back and studied his friend - or at least, the version of his friend that his dream had conjured up.

“Well, fine.” Vulcan’s eyes raked over him, one eyebrow arching. “Come inside, alright? Your new… friend can come in too, I guess.” He opened the door wider, motioning for Mercury to come in, and he did just that, taking in the decor of a home he thought he’d never see again. A shaky sigh fell out of his mouth, and Mercury trailed one hand against the wall as he walked along the familiar path towards the living room.

“So, Mercury, what happened? You’ve come home earlier than I thought you would… and with a… friend?” Vulcan’s voice came from behind him - and for a second Mercury stayed silent, just listening to the sound of his voice.

Finally, he swallowed and spoke. “Oh, I just finished everything early and figured I should come home. Don’t mind Venus, he’s friendly, I promise.” There was a grumble from behind him, and Mercury huffed out a short laugh, just knowing that it was Venus. “What have you been doing all day?” He entered the living room, his smile dropping as he took in the room, and something flashed over his vision, making him close his eyes and shake his head.

“Just cleaning,” Vulcan said, as he stepped past Mercury and towards the couch, where he took the spot he always sat in. Mercury followed him, settling into the chair opposite - Vulcan’s brow knit as he looked at where Mercury usually sat before staring back at him, but Mercury just shrugged and pressed his lips together. Venus settled against the wall; arms crossed over his body as he glared into the corner of the room. “Nothing super important, Mercury.”

“Hey,” Mercury suddenly said, almost interrupting Vulcan mid-word. “Do you remember what we did the other day?”

Vulcan arched one eyebrow as he looked at Mercury, suddenly resting his arms against his knees, chin in his hands. “Yeah, we had to go to the market and pick up the food for the week. Jeez, is your memory okay, Mercury? Are you sick or something?” One of his hands moved to press against Mercury’s forehead, and past him he saw Venus’s eyes narrow as his head tilted in anger.

“I’m fine, Vulcan, I promise. Just… thinking, okay?”

There was a sudden noise in the distance, coming from the back of the house. Mercury tilted his head to the side, putting out a hand, motioning for Venus and Vulcan to stay quiet. It was a… crackling sound? Distant, but obviously a crackling sound. A second, quieter sound joined it, a weird popping noise that made Mercury swallow hard against a sudden bolt of apprehension. It suddenly grew louder, sounding closer than before, and another bolt of alarm speared through him.

“Can’t you hear that?” Mercury gasped, standing straight up. Against the wall, Venus’s face jerked towards him, his eyes burning, intense. “Vulcan, you can hear that, right?” Vulcan just stared at him with blank eyes, the familiar happiness that had lined his face gone, replaced with an unnerving blankness. The crackling and popping grew more intense, louder and louder until it felt like something was right next to him, the sound so irritating that Mercury had to close his eyes, crashing to the ground with his hands closed tight over his ears.

“What is that?” Mercury cried out, his face scrunching until warm hands wrapped around his arms, picking him up like he weighed nothing. He was pressed against something even warmer, and there was a rushing sensation - and then there was cool air suddenly, the sensation making Mercury’s eyes pop open, the blue sky above them suddenly seeming more eerie than welcoming.

“What is this dream of, Mercury?” Venus suddenly said, his voice rough - and the realization that Venus had actually said his name snapped Mercury out of his panicked state, his eyes jumping to meet Venus’s.

He drew in a harsh gasp before coughing, jolting against - Mercury blinked, his brain suddenly going completely blank as he realized where he was. He trailed his gaze from his shoulder, up his arm, until he was looking directly at his hand, which was wrapped around the back of Venus’s neck, nails digging in so much he could already tell there’d be marks. He was pressed tightly against Venus’s chest, his arms caged around Mercury’s body, wrapped around his knees and behind his back, a solid weight against his shoulders.

Mercury let out a yelp, suddenly thrashing as Venus groaned, rolling his eyes. “Calm down!” He growled, “Mercury, what is this dream?”

“It’s,” Mercury coughed again, his lungs suddenly hurting, a realization burning brightly in his mind. “It’s the day Sol saved me.”

“Saved you?” Venus sounded confused, and when Mercury looked up at him his brows were drawn, eyes narrowed. “What happened?”

“Put me down. Please,” Mercury pleaded, not answering his question. “Just… I’ll tell you everything, just put me down.” Venus grumbled something Mercury couldn’t properly hear, his lips pressed together, but finally he sent Mercury a short nod, setting him down on his feet. He immediately turned around, eyes locked with the house - and now he could see the telltale sign of smoke rising above it, the acrid scent finally becoming intense, as if his brain was just now realizing he should smell it. Vulcan is in there, his brain screamed at him, save him!

No, Mercury replied inwardly, gritting his teeth, this is a dream. Vulcan is gone.

“What happened, pipsqueak?”

Mercury pressed his lips together, unable to turn away from the house, words suddenly spilling from his lips like he’d been waiting forever for the day to say them. “I- I haven’t always lived where I am right now. I’m from pretty far away, actually. I’ve been an orphan since I was really, really young,” Mercury paused to take a breath, Venus’s hand suddenly latching onto his wrist, a grounding weight that gave Mercury the strength to turn away from the house, instead looking to Venus’s burning eyes. “When I was finally able to leave the orphanage, a friend of mine - Vulcan - and I decided to stay together. It made it a lot easier to live, yeah?” Mercury bit down on his tongue at the first prick of tears in his eyes, dragging the wrist that Venus didn’t have a hold of against his eyes.

“So, we lived together for a couple of years, and everything seemed fine. And then one day… I came home, and we had a normal evening. Read books, ate dinner, talked about our days,” suddenly choked up, Mercury pressed his lips together, blinking his eyes several times in a row.  He hadn’t talked about this in forever, content to let the memories slide away into the ether. He didn’t like bringing up the past on a good day - and seeing Vulcan in-person had brought up every single memory he’d had with him, the good and the bad, the exciting and the mundane. It hurt, a bone-deep emotional ache that he’d never wanted to feel again.

Venus just continued staring down at him, suddenly awkward, as if he had no idea what to do with Mercury now that he was almost crying. His other hand moved to press down against Mercury’s shoulder, and he drew in a shuddering breath, leaning into it. “So, I went to sleep that night, expecting to wake up the next day to my normal life… but I woke up in the middle of the night, and…” Mercury just kept trailing off, his voice near-silent. “There was smoke. It smelled so, so bad. I tried to leave my room, but when I put a hand on the doorknob, it burned. So, I thought I was stuck - and then Vulcan threw the door open, just as panicked as I felt.”

He finally let out a short sob, the memories smashing through every emotional wall he’d ever put up. Venus’s hand tightened on his shoulder, and he was avoiding eye contact, instead looking at the trees around them - and Mercury stepped closer, shoving his head into the fabric on his chest, the embarrassment completely overshadowed by the emotional turmoil shredding his heart. “We managed to get all the way down to the first floor of the house, but the flames had almost completely eaten through, all the way to the front door, so we were stuck. I… Vulcan ran through one of the first-floor doors, trying to search for a window to break through, but…” He drew in a stuttered breath, the tears slipping out easily now, soaking Venus’s clothing, even as one of his hands awkwardly patted at the back of Mercury’s head.

“After that, something broke and the second floor just… fell apart. It completely crushed the room Vulcan had gone into and knocked me down with a burning piece of wood on my leg. So, I just sort of,” Mercury drew his hand over his eyes again, taking in a deep, choked breath. “Accepted death.”

Venus hummed something, displeased, the vibration somehow traveling down to his chest where Mercury pressed against him. “But you’re obviously here. What happened?”

“I-” Mercury drew in another deep breath, stepping back and drawing his hand over his eyes. “I did almost die. I still have burn scars on my legs. But just when I thought it was the end - someone burst through the front door. It was… I don’t know how to describe it. It was literally like seeing an angel, so much I thought I was dead.” His mouth twitched, an almost smile appearing. “It was Sol, of course. Somehow the flames didn’t hurt him at all. He took me out of the house and brought me back to full health, even better than I thought he could. I’ve been with him ever since. But… you know what I’m just now realizing, Venus?” Mercury narrowed his eyes, gaze jumping up to lock with Venus’s. He still looked ever-so-slightly panicked at Mercury’s state, but it was disappearing as the seconds passed on, the tension melting out of his body.

“All of us,” Mercury finally said, swallowing down a bolt of trepidation. “Sol saved all of us from a situation in which someone close to us died and we were injured and unable to escape… and I wonder if we weren’t meant to die after all.” Venus just stared at him, eyebrows raised in surprise, lips slightly parted.

“That’s…” He blinked. “Wow, pipsqueak.”

Mercury huffed a laugh, before his emotional walls finally broke totally and he doubled over, laughing harder than he ever had before. He clenched his chest as he laughed so hard it hurt, struggling to take in enough air that his lungs didn’t burn. “What is my life?” he finally choked out, fingers digging deep into the dirt beneath him. Then he dug his fingers in deeper, digging furrows into the ground almost, amazed more and more at how real it felt. How was this a dream? Wouldn’t it end soon?

With that thought, Mercury’s gaze jumped back up to Venus, who was still standing, hands at his side, eyes wide with a surprised look. If this dream was going to end soon, first he wanted to - Mercury abruptly stood up, brushing the dirt off his fingertips as best as possible. “Venus,” he said - and Venus’s eyes shot towards him, the surprised look leaving them as he just stared, his eyes suddenly clear. “Come here? Please?” His lips twitched upwards, almost as if he was holding back a smile, but Venus walked towards him as Mercury waited, hands flexing at his sides.

When he was finally close enough, Mercury wrapped a hand around Venus’s arm and dragged him downwards, even as Mercury’s face flushed with warmth at his actions - Venus just went with it, nonresistant, but his head tipped to the side, hand twitching as if he wanted to grab something. “Listen,” Mercury started before pausing, wetting his lips and swallowing back the embarrassment that wanted to rise. “I just wanted to… uh, thank you. For sticking by me. You probably didn’t want to have me crying into you about my past… So, thanks,” and then he stood up on his tiptoes and pressed a kiss onto Venus’s cheek, watching with a fond smile as his face flared red, the color climbing up his cheeks and down to his neck.

Mercury let go of his arm and stepped back, but Venus stayed in the partially crouched position, body frozen with his lips slightly parted, eyes wide. Mercury laughed, pressing a hand to his mouth, and Venus finally moved, shaking his head violently. “Pipsqueak, you…” he finally said, nose scrunching as his mouth opened, fangs showing - Mercury just watched, not blinking once. Finally, Venus grumbled something and turned around, taking a few steps away as if trying to calm down, and Mercury bit his lip to hold back another laugh.

“I’m not sorry,” Mercury offered, shrugging, and he could see Venus looking at him out of the corner of his eye, his entire face still flushed, the red crawling down his chest now - Mercury’s eyes immediately shot up to Venus’s face as he realized he’d been looking, and he was sure now that he’d be just as red as Venus. “But I had another question, Venus? I know I’m probably going to wake up soon. We’ve been here for… a while, I think? I don’t know, does time pass the same in dreams? Does it pass at all, actually? Did I just fall asleep, or has it been hours? Hmmm,” suddenly forgetting the question he’d meant to ask, Mercury’s hand came up to his chin as he considered, eyes narrowing.

“Mercury,” he suddenly heard, eyes shooting back towards Venus, who was looking at him with an unimpressed expression, his arms crossed over his chest. The last remnants of his flush still showed on his skin, and Mercury found himself wondering if it’d look the same in his siren form before he let out a nervous laugh and refocused on Venus’s voice. “What was your question?”

“Oh, uh, I wanted to ask again if you could tell me - what the dreams meant? Why you can appear in my dreams, and I can appear in yours. Please.” Mercury took a step closer towards Venus - and in a reverse of what had happened when the dream started, Venus took a sudden step backwards, his eyes darting around. “I deserve to know just as much as you do, Venus,” Mercury said, his brow knitting.

“Fine,” Venus said, his shoulders dropping as he let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell you. Come here,” and he beckoned with one hand, motioning for Mercury to come towards him. Heart suddenly speeding up a million times faster, Mercury felt a nervous smile cross his face as he did just that, taking slow, nervous steps towards Venus. “I’m not going to bite, pipsqueak,” Venus said, opening his mouth and showing off his fangs as he did so - and Mercury let out a nervous sound, internally thinking ‘Maybe you should.’ before shoving a mental blanket over that thought, his face flushed as he finally stopped just in front of Venus.

Venus’s hands settled on his cheeks as he leaned down over Mercury, basically cupping his face as he almost completely enveloped him. Mercury’s heart threw itself into overdrive, his face burning even warmer than ever before - it almost felt like the sun was beaming straight down onto him. “Venus,” he finally whispered, his name falling out almost silently, the barest edge of a gasp in his tone.

“It’s because,” Venus finally said, leaning down even more, his eyes locked straight with Mercury’s to the point that all Mercury could see was the burning orange of his eyes, a yellow ring around his pupil becoming clear to see, breathing his next words out against Mercury’s lips. “We’re soulmates, pipsqueak.”

And then he pressed in and their lips finally met, a feeling like a firework bursting in his chest as Mercury’s mind fell apart, focusing only on the sensations of Venus’s lips against his, the warmth of his body, the ground beneath his feet - and then everything fell apart more, and Mercury jolted up in his bed, hand coming up to press against his lips as he stared into the darkness, heart hammering in his chest.

Chapter Text

The moment he realized he was awake, Mercury laid back down again and squeezed his eyes shut. “Dream, dream, dream, dream,” he chanted in his head over and over again, as if just saying the word would throw him back in the dream. His face felt warm - too warm, and after a couple more seconds he kicked all the blankets off and curled up, knees curled close to his chest. He drew in a few deep breaths and then relaxed as much as possible, clinging onto the small vestiges of sleep that still stuck around - and then he woke up again, and this time sunlight was streaming in through the windows. Mercury groaned and curled up tighter, squeezing his eyes shut even more.

He wanted the dream back. He wanted Venus back. His face felt somehow warmer than the night before - and that warmth spread throughout his whole body, until Mercury felt unbearably uncomfortable, twisting and turning. Even with the sheets totally off, it felt like someone was smothering him in heat.

“Mercury?” He distantly heard a voice and a knock at the door. “Breakfast is ready! Just come down whenever.” He groaned in response, but finally let himself roll off the bed, landing on his knees and hands with a loud thump. The blanket was on the floor beside his bed, and Mercury furrowed his brow.

…When had he done that? His mind was spinning, and every thought he tried to grab onto immediately disappeared, like trying to grab smoke. He groaned again and let his face fall into the blanket before standing up, hand pressed against the bed frame for support. “I’m coming,” he groaned, before realizing that whoever had knocked probably wasn’t there anymore. He looked toward the window and closed his eyes at the bright sunlight, and then stumbled over to his dresser, hands pressing onto whatever he could reach for support so that he wouldn’t fall onto his knees again.

For a second, Mercury contemplated changing into different clothes - and then the room spun again, and he immediately gave up on that prospect. Instead, he just stared into the mirror for a second, watching as he wavered in place, beads of sweat dripping down his face, his eyes blurring and refocusing every couple of seconds. He groaned again and let his head fall. He just needed to eat something… yes, he just needed to eat something. Then he’d be fine.

Slowly making his way to the door, Mercury was suddenly reminded of last night’s dream - and he pressed his lips together, struggling to remember everything that had happened. Combined with the haze over his mind, the memories were frustratingly distant… except for one. Despite how warm he already was, Mercury felt his face warm a tick more as he remembered Venus cupping his face and kissing him, and he swallowed hard.

Then, he shook his head harshly, regretting it immediately as his vision faded and he almost fell to his knees, just barely stopping his descent by lurching forward and wrapping hand around the doorknob, resting his entire weight against the door.

“Ugh,” Mercury groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them again. “You’re fine, Mercury. Just have to eat something.”

He leaned on the door as he opened it and stepped into the hallway - there was nobody around, luckily, so Mercury assumed they were all already down eating. A hand on the wall, Mercury took slow, careful steps down the hall; when he finally got to the stairwell, Mercury just paused and stared down, apprehension writhing in his chest.

Mercury had no idea how long he looked down the stairwell, his vision doubling - it could have been hours, minutes, or even just a couple seconds - but finally he started moving, gripping onto the rail like he’d fall without it (and he probably would, judging by how many steps he almost missed). He could hear laughter, but it was like hearing it through a wall, the sound distant and muffled. When he stepped foot onto the bottom floor, Mercury let himself flag, falling against the wall with another groan.

The laughter stopped - and Mercury heard a chair screech; at the same time, he pushed off the wall and his vision spun again, going black, and his knees buckled. “Mercury!” Hands latched onto his arms, and Earth’s worried face was suddenly close to his, eyes intense and locked onto Mercury. “Jeez, Mercury, you’re sick! Why did you come downstairs?”

“…Sick?” Mercury said after another moment, his voice low and garbled. “I’m not sick.”

He looked away from Earth, only to immediately spot Jupiter’s disapproving face behind Earth. “Jupiter,” Mercury said, accidentally drawing out the syllables. “’m not sick, okay? Just… hungry,” Mercury yawned, and he tried to take a step forward as his knees buckled again and he fell into Earth. “Gotta eat…breakfast.” His eyes slid closed as he leaned his head onto Earth’s shoulder, his body going limp and out of his control.

“He’s definitely sick,” Mercury heard, Earth’s voice loud due to his proximity. “I wonder where he got it?”

Luna suddenly spoke, and Mercury’s head spun - when had Luna gotten there? “I think I have an idea of where.” He sounded annoyed, and when Mercury’s eyes slid open just the slightest, he saw a glimpse of Luna behind Earth, arms crossed over his chest as he stared directly at Mercury with narrowed eyes.

“Listen, we’ll figure out how he got sick later, you two. Earth, take him up to his room. I’ll get Erebus to make him a plate so he can eat something, so you’ll have to come down and grab that. Luna, can you make sure he doesn’t get up again?” Earth nodded against Mercury - he scooped him up easily, Mercury’s limp form non-reactive; Luna huffed, but apparently followed, since Mercury could hear two sets of footsteps on the stairs.

“No,” Mercury groaned, eyes closing tightly again. “I’m not sick, I just need…”

“Mercury, you’re sick,” Luna said, still sounding annoyed. “Just let us get you to your room, you’ll still get to eat.”

“Fine,” Mercury groaned, he pressed his face harder into Earth’s shoulder and just breathed for a couple of moments, nausea suddenly roiling in his gut. “…I’m not hungry anymore.”

“What?” Earth, this time, sounding a combination of amused and annoyed. “Mercury, you just went down the stairs looking like someone shoved you in a centrifuge so you could get some food, and now you’re not hungry?”

“I’ll throw up.” He grimaced. He started to say something else, but nausea pressed in again, followed shortly by another spinning sensation, and Mercury just groaned and leaned in more against Earth as he heard the click of a door opening.

“Oh, jeez, Mercury, you really messed up your room this morning. Luna…”

“I’ve got it, Earth. Just put him on the bed. Besides, you need to tell Jupiter and Erebus not to make that plate. Judging from how Mercury’s acting… if you do have him eat, it’s definitely not going to end well.”

Earth huffed a laugh, and then Mercury felt softness underneath him, and he curled into it, eyes still closed. “I can agree with that, Luna. I’ll be right back, okay?” Mercury just pressed his face further into the bed as a blanket was placed over him - he batted it away, but then it was back on him, so he kicked his legs, pushing it off again.

“Mercury, stop! I know you’re warm, just let me put this over you,” Luna said, his tone filled with annoyance. Mercury groaned again but stopped moving and let Luna place the blanket over him. Something suddenly occurred to Mercury, and he jolted up, heedless of how his head spun; he leaned over and placed both hands on Luna’s shoulders, staring directly into his eyes.

“Do you think we were supposed to die?” he asked, and then all his strength left him at once and he flopped over onto the bed.

“…What?” Luna’s hand found his shoulder. “Mercury, what do you mean? Mercury?”

“I don’t think he’s going to respond, Luna. Here,” Earth’s voice suddenly came from the doorway. “I have to go help clean up downstairs, and then I have to stay at the desk since we have guests… but stay and help Mercury, yeah? I’ll be fine alone.”

“Alright, Earth, just let know if you need anything,” Luna responded, and then there was a cool feeling on his forehead, and Mercury groaned at the relief that coursed through his veins. “Here, Mercury, you’re really out of it.”

Time passed - but Mercury had no idea much or how long he just sat in bed, eyes glued to the ceiling as he tried to grasp for any concrete thoughts. His hand suddenly ghosted over his lips, and Mercury’s heart skipped a beat as he remembered the kiss in the dream - it was the only part of the dream that stood out to him now, the rest a hazy collection of feelings and thoughts.

“Venus,” he whispered, a smile crossing his face - and then Luna appeared over him, brow furrowed. He picked up the now-warm towel on his forehead and frowned at him.

“My name’s not Venus, Mercury. You really are sick.”

“Of course you’re not Venus,” Mercury mumbled, his eyes crossing suddenly. “Venus lives in the ocean… and my dreams,” his smile widened again, and Mercury leaned over, digging his face into the blanket below before flopping backwards, his eyelids fluttering as he struggled to keep them open.

“Oh, don’t tell me,” Luna suddenly groaned. “I am so not letting this go whenever you’re lucid, Mercury, I hope you know that.”

“We’re soulmates,” Mercury added, grasping for any thoughts of Venus that he could find. “Did you… know that, Luna?” He yawned again in the middle of his sentence, and Luna’s only response was to place the cold towel back on his forehead. Mercury shivered in response, hands curling against his chest.

“Yeah, yeah, Mercury, I can’t take anything you’re saying serious right now. Just… rest, okay?” Luna sighed, tucking the blanket tighter around Mercury; he let his eyes slide closed, and finally the saving grace of darkness closed in.

The next time he woke up, Mercury’s mind felt clear, and while his entire body ached, he could at least move without the world spinning around him. He groaned and opened his eyes, sitting up slightly - slumped over in a chair at his side was Luna, his hand clutching a wet hand towel.

“Luna?” Mercury asked, wetting his lips when he realized how chapped they were.

Luna shot up, his eyes wide; he shook his head and gave a huge shiver before looking at Mercury. “Mercury! You’re up! You’ve been in-and-out of consciousness for almost a whole day, Jupiter and Erebus were thinking of taking you down to the clinic,” he frowned. “Do you feel alright?”

“I…” Mercury paused, laying a hand on his forehead. “I feel weak, but fine. What happened?”

“You got sick.”

“Well, I know that,” Mercury said, tilting his head. “But I don’t remember anything other than trying to get breakfast the other day.”

Luna didn’t answer him, just staring for a couple moments longer with his brow furrowed. “You went to the ocean again, didn’t you?” He finally asked - Mercury’s eyes widened before he could stop them, his lips parting.

“No,” he said, weakly, his voice strained. Luna gave him a deadpan look, his shoulders dropping.

“Mercury, I’m not stupid. You went back, didn’t you? After you promised not to.”

Mercury gave up on trying to hide it and grimaced. “Listen, it’s complicated. I… I had to.”

“You didn’t have to do anything, Mercury. You put yourself at risk! You got sick! You were so sick you were barely lucid more than a couple hours the entire day, and…” Luna paused and huffed, blinking his eyes harshly. “Listen, you scared us. I was so close to asking Jupiter to get Sol to come home early.”

“It was that bad?” Mercury tilted his head, brow furrowing.

“Yes, it was that bad.” Luna rolled his eyes, leaning forward and keeping his eyes locked with Mercury’s. Mercury just blinked and watched him, uncertainty roaring through him, and then suddenly - “Who is Venus?” Mercury coughed, choking on his own saliva - Luna patted his back, but continued staring, obviously not planning on letting up. “You kept mentioning his name and talking about him. Something about… soulmates, and sirens?”

Mercury laughed weakly, letting himself fall back onto the bed, wishing that he could envelop himself in the covers and disappear. “Did I?”

“Who is it?”

Mercury sighed, pursing his lips before looking up at the ceiling. “Okay, so, you know how I came back soaking wet a couple days ago, and explained that I’d almost been kidnapped? Except that a mermaid - well, siren - saved me.”

“Yeah. I also remember you promising me that you wouldn’t go back, and…” Luna’s voice trailed off, the annoyance obvious in his tone, and Mercury rolled over so he could look him in the eyes.

“I had a weird dream that night, okay? It was… the siren was in my dream, and it wasn’t like a normal dream where you can’t tell if things are real or not. It felt real, and the Siren obviously wasn’t a figment of my imagination. So I had to go back. I’m sorry I lied to you… but I don’t regret it, Luna.”

Mercury pressed his lips together when he finished speaking, watching as Luna closed his eyes and sighed again. “So, you went back to the ocean after that?”

“Yes.” Mercury bit his lip. “And I saw the siren again - and this time I got his name.”

“Venus,” Luna interrupted. “That’s who you kept mentioning, whenever you were having your fever dreams or… hallucinations or whatever.” Mercury just nodded, his mind already flashing back to Venus as he resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. “And you fell into the water again?”

“I mean, yeah - but this last time I brought a change of clothes and dried off!” Mercury protested.

“Still got sick. Be more careful, please? I already know you’re going to go back no matter what I say.” Mercury let out a short laugh, unable to say anything in reply. He was going back. “But I’d like for my friend to not get so sick he’s delirious in bed for a straight day again.” Then Luna’s head tilted, and he arched one eyebrow. “By the way, why were you going on about soulmates?”

Mercury froze - the memory of the kiss flashed in mind again, and his face flushed with warmth, heart beating faster. “That’s… complicated.” He pressed his lips together and said nothing else, and finally Luna sighed again, standing up.

“I can tell you haven’t said everything, you know. You’re easy to read, Mercury." Again, Mercury stayed silent, hands fidgeting in his lap.

Luna walked over to the door, hand on the doorknob before he looked back at Mercury. "You just woke up, so I’ll let you rest for a little longer. But come downstairs soon, okay? Earth and I’ll be at the desk. Earth already knows about the sirens, anyway, so you don’t have to hide anything. Please?” Luna gave him a plaintive look, and Mercury sighed and let his head drop, nodding after another second - Luna left the room with a final backwards glance, his brow furrowed.

When Luna closed the door behind him, Mercury let his face fall into his hands as he bit back the urge to scream. So, he’d been out for a whole day? Mercury swallowed as wondered what Venus was thinking before he shook his head and stood up. He could think about that later. For now, he needed to consider what he actually wanted to tell Earth and Luna… and how much he was willing to share.

Thirty minutes later, Mercury finally came downstairs; he’d changed clothes and freshened up, and already felt a million times better than he had when he’d woken up. He was a little surprised that the sickness had passed as quickly as it did - but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The fact that he got better so quickly just meant that he’d be able to visit Venus earlier.

When he stepped onto the first floor, the first thing Mercury noticed was two men, sitting at the tables in the corner. His eyes cut to Earth and Luna, who were discussing something in hushed tones behind the desk; when Luna saw him, his face lit up and he gestured for Mercury to join them.

“Mercury! I see you’re feeling much better,” Earth said, grinning wide. “You should’ve seen yourself yesterday. Telling us you ‘weren’t sick’ when you were barely able to walk, and you looked like you’d looked death in the face. Jeez!” Then his face turned serious, and his head tilted downwards. “But seriously, what happened? You looked really bad.”

“Probably just something I caught after falling into the ocean twice?” Mercury arched one eyebrow. “Did Luna tell you what I told him?”

“The gist of it, yeah,” Earth shrugged. “You met a Siren, he saved you, and now you’re obsessed with him. What’s new?”

“I-that’s not- Earth!” Mercury stumbled over his words. “Just… ugh, listen. I don’t know what it is, but I need to go down there again. You won’t tell Jupiter and Erebus, right?”

Earth and Luna exchanged glances and they both shrugged. “I won’t tell them, but if they find out you’re hiding it from them, I’m not protecting you,” Earth finally said. “You and I both know how they and Sol can get. Forget hiding it from Sol, by the way. If he comes back early and asks where you are… I’m not lying. Can’t lie to Sol even if I wanted to.” Earth pursed his lips and met Mercury’s eyes. “But you know that already. This is different from the kidnapping issue, you’re not in as much danger. But still…”

“Well, I’ll take what I can get,” Mercury said, putting a hand on his forehead. “You know I can’t hide a secret worth anything. I’m just lucky that Erebus and Jupiter have been too busy the past few days to ask me anything more than simple questions. I had one talk with them, and Erebus told me he knew I was hiding something, so…”

Earth laughed, a fond smile tugging at his lips. “Trust me, Mercury, I know how bad you are at hiding things.”

Mercury groaned, and it was silent for a couple of seconds - then he turned towards Luna, a memory popping up in his mind. “Oh, Luna, I meant to ask - the other day, Jupiter said you had an issue. Some memories? Are you good now?”

Luna looked away from him as Earth’s smile dropped. “Oh, I’m fine now. Just - one of the guests did something. Nothing important, it’s all fine now. All fine.” He repeated the phrase as if trying to drill it into his own head, and Mercury’s brow furrowed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Mercury, it’s fine,” his tone was a little harsher now, and Mercury pressed his lips together and nodded. Earth just shrugged at him, raising his eyebrows and giving Mercury a look like ‘What can you do?’, as he leaned back in his chair. Luna finally looked back at him and threw one hand in the air. “Why don’t we talk more about your Sirens, or whatever?”

“Did you say Sirens?” A sudden voice came from in front of the desk - all three of them jumped, surprised by the intrusion - and Mercury swept his hair to the side as he looked up, realizing it was one of the men who had been sitting at the table; one of the guests.

Mercury pressed his lips together as alarm bells rung in his head before finally speaking. “…We’re just talking about how interesting the concept of Sirens is.”

“Oh, nice. Sirens are… interesting. Useful.”

Locking eyes with Earth, Mercury noticed the same alarm reflected in his eyes. “I’m sorry, do you know much about them too? I just read about it in a… book.” Mercury’s eyes darted around - he was unable to make eye contact with the man even as his eyes drilled into Mercury’s head, like he could sense the lie beneath his words.

“I’ve had a lifelong interest in Sirens. Trust me, my friend and I know more about them than probably anyone else. What book did you read?”

“Oh, I-” Mercury paused and faked a sudden cough. “I can’t really remember, sorry. I’ve been sick recently, and my memory is all out of sorts as a result.” The man’s eyes narrowed, his head tilting back, but then a smile spread onto his face.

“Understandable. If you do remember, feel free to tell my friend and I-” He jerked a hand back towards the other man sitting at the table. “-which one it was. Even if we have read it before, still worth checking out, right?” Mercury pushed a false smile onto his face and nodded, still unable to meet the man’s eyes.

“Sure! It was nice to meet you…” Mercury paused. He put his hand in the air, and the man immediately shook it with a boisterous laugh.

“Simmons! Nice to meet you fellas as well.” Then he turned around and walked the few steps back to the table, and Mercury pressed his lips together as he stared at his back, more alarm curling in his chest. When he looked back at Earth and Luna, both of them had schooled their faces in a neutral expression, but he could still see the alarm in their eyes.

Mercury leaned over, as close as he could possibly get to the two of them. “Who are they?”

“The guests,” Luna explained, shrugging with a weird expression on his face. “They haven’t been here for long, but all they do is come down, eat breakfast or lunch, and then immediately leave for the day.”

“Why… why are they in town?” Mercury hesitantly asked. Earth and Luna probably wouldn’t know, but it was worth the question.

“I don’t know,” Earth answered, voice a whisper. “Jupiter said they seemed fine - you know he likes to make sure there’s no danger. But…”

“That didn’t feel right,” Mercury continued Earth’s sentence. “It wasn’t just me, right?”

Luna shook his head. “No, I - something about that felt off, you’re right, Mercury.”

“Was he listening in on us?” Mercury lowered his voice even more, throwing a short glance over the table. The men were both speaking in hushed voices to each other, now, but suddenly Simmons glanced over at him, and Mercury shoved another false smile onto his face, waving shortly - and Simmons replied with a nod. “I don’t know. I’ll… should we ask Jupiter?”

“What are we going to say? We spoke to the guy for a minute and felt something was off?” Earth arched an eyebrow, his expression oozing disbelief.

“You know Jupiter would believe us.”

“He’ll believe us, but what would he do? Listen, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just… Luna and I’ll keep an eye out, and you be careful, Mercury, okay? I know you’re probably going to head down to the water again at some point but just make sure you’re watching out for any danger. Please?” Earth placed one hand on Mercury’s shoulder, genuine concern in his eyes. “I don’t want you to get hurt like… I did.”

Luna’s face fell, his brow furrowing, and his eyes jumped to Earth. Mercury sighed and closed his eyes; when he reopened them, Earth was still looking at him. “I promise I’ll be careful, Earth. I’ll stay home today. But tomorrow - I’m going again.”

Earth gave him a tight-lipped smile and clapped one hand on his shoulder. “Thought so. Someone’s obsessed,” he teased, and Mercury scooted back, a blush rising to his face. But he didn’t deny it, just shook his head and stood up.

“I’m going to go rest some more. I’m sure whatever sickness I had still needs to work its way out; just call me down for dinner, yeah?” Luna nodded at him, and Earth shot him a thumbs up, grinning widely; still, he met Earth’s eyes and saw the concern hidden deep.

Mercury turned around and pressed his lips together, ignoring how the alarm bells starting ringing again, a feeling brewing like someone was staring directly at him. Before he fully stepped onto the stairs, Mercury shot a look out of the corner of his eye - and a bolt of trepidation blazed through him when he noticed that Simmons was staring at him, head tilted slightly, his eyes narrowed.

After dinner, Mercury went to bed with a plan in his mind - if he didn’t dream of Venus tonight, he was going to visit him the next day. And of course, last night had been dreamless, yet again - Mercury had tossed and turned, unable to get a lick of good sleep, and he’d woken up feeling like he’d died overnight; but the reminder of his plans had made it a lot easier to get ready to leave for the day.

Luna had told him - with crossed arms and a slightly annoyed tone - that he’d cover for Mercury if it took him longer than normal to return, so he didn’t have to worry about the usual timelines. Luna had also told him that if he let himself get killed, he’d bring him back to life just to kill him again… so Mercury had some incentive to be a little more watchful on his way to the beach the next day.

He kept his bag close, a change of clothes and a towel tucked into it; and he kept his eyes roaming, watching the roads and paths for any sign of someone keeping too close of an eye on him. As he climbed the hill leading to the beach, Mercury grinned, excitement already rushing in to fill his chest.

Then, finally, he crested the hill, and Mercury stared down, hand on his forehead so he didn’t have to squint. The sun beamed down strong, and it reflected off the gentle waves in the distance. It was high tide now, and the water was much deeper than before - Mercury huffed, a thought in his mind that if he fell in again, hopefully Venus would catch him this time so that he wouldn’t have to try and swim in even deeper water.

When he finally got down to the beach, Mercury set his bag down where he’d put it before and then placed his hands on his hips, looking out over the water with a furrowed brow. He could technically go out on the rocks again, but they were situated in deeper water now, and they looked slicker than before, water crashing over them every time a particularly big wave passed through. There was a sudden flash in the corner of his vision, and Mercury blinked and looked over at the water, frowning when he saw nothing.

“…Venus?” He called out, hands cupped over his mouth. The waves crashed again, and Mercury blinked, hands falling to his hips again. “Okay… do I need to fall into the water again for you to show up, because I really don’t want to-” and Mercury was interrupted by a sudden splashing as over by the rocks, a figure popped up. Mercury crept over, stepping slowly as possible - and then he froze, realizing he didn’t recognize whoever had popped up.

“Oh, I knew I saw you! Hi, human!” The figure waved at him, grinning - Mercury blinked as he took in the myriad of tan and blue necklaces he wore, so many that they clinked together with every movement.

“Hi?” Mercury responded, hesitantly.

“Oh… you don’t know who I am! I watch you humans so often I forget we’re like… unreal to you,” the figure leaned over the rocks, grin widening. “You’re here to see Venus, right? I keep asking him who he’s visited, but it’s like trying to get water from a stone.”

“Uh,” Mercury responded, blinking hard, and then he shook his head. “You know Venus?”

“I’ve known Venus for… a while! I have no idea what time, you don’t really keep track of that in the sea,” the Siren shrugged. “Here, I’ll go get him. It was nice to meet you, though! I’m Saturn!” and then the Siren - Saturn - dived below the waves again, disappearing with a single ripple of water. Mercury let out a huff, a ghost of a disbelieving laugh; then he moved further onto the rocks, carefully testing every spot he laid his feet on. He was not falling in this time. He settled onto one close enough to the water that he could dip his feet in, and then he sat back, relaxing and feeling the sun against his face.

Mercury was feeling so relaxed that he almost fell asleep, his breath slowing down as he laid back - and then there was another splash, a hand around his leg, and Mercury jerked upwards, relaxing immediately when he saw Venus staring up at him with a feral grin. “Pipsqueak.”

“Venus,” Mercury replied - he wanted to say something else, his mouth opening and closing before he noticed that two other Sirens had popped up behind Venus again - Saturn had his arms completely wrapped around another siren, who had the same blue and tan necklaces, though a much smaller number - the other Siren stared at him with a deadpan face, as if he didn’t want to be there. “Oh, hello,” Mercury said, smiling and waving at Saturn and the new Siren. Venus whipped around, his hand leaving Mercury’s leg.

“You followed me?!” He sounded annoyed, and Mercury bit back a grin as Saturn just continued smiling, and the other siren’s deadpan expression never left his face.

“Oh, Uranus and I are just interested in who you’ve been talking to! Well, I am - but I brought Uranus along with me!” Saturn cheerily explained, curling his arms tighter around - Uranus? “So who is this?”

“I’m, uh, Mercury,” Mercury interjected. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“Would you leave me alone,” Venus hissed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Seriously, Venus? You know we need to keep looking for clues for wherever Helios went.” Uranus suddenly said, Mercury’s eyes jumping to him immediately. Helios? “You can’t keep leaving without saying what you’re doing.”

“Oh, so you two can leave and watch your humans all the time, but I can’t?” Venus hissed, and Mercury raised one eyebrow. Their humans?

Mercury couldn’t hear what Uranus said next as his gaze suddenly fell to the water beneath Venus and he realized his tail was gleaming in the water below - sunlight from above hit the scales at just the right angle, and Mercury’s mouth fell open as he stared down, tilting his head and blinking as his eyes stayed glued to how Venus’s tail, swishing in the water beneath.

Mercury shook his head after what felt like a solid minute, pinching himself and jerking his head up to look, his hearing suddenly focusing on the sirens again. “… you should see them! We see them all the time, they’ve got a schedule and everything,” Saturn sighed, his head laying against Uranus’s hair, fins sweeping back. “Uranus even has it memorized by now, though he denies it,” and beneath Saturn’s head, Uranus blushed and dipped further into the water, suddenly disappearing altogether as Saturn pouted. Mercury just watched silently, his feet kicking slightly in the water - Venus tossed a glance back at him with narrowed eyes before looking back at Saturn.

“What are you talking about?” Mercury suddenly asked before he could stop himself, biting his lip a second later as Saturn’s gaze darted towards him.

“Oh, you’ve started him at it again, he’ll never shut up now,” Venus muttered, his hand latching onto Mercury’s leg again, a warmth he found it hard to not focus on.

“Just these humans,” Saturn replied, swimming a little closer, rolling onto his back. “Oh, I feel like I’ve watched them forever, I can’t help it! See, they’re usually together for some reason, but sometimes they separate, and I can never choose which one to follow from there - and I can only watch them if they’re close enough to the water, and sometimes they just never come out. Like I said, Uranus memorized a schedule of some sort, but I don’t have a good enough memory for that,” Saturn pouted before he looked at Mercury again. “See, one of them has this long, dark hair and he usually looks annoyed or amused at something - I just want to kiss the look off his face - and the other one has shorter hair, and it’s like creamish-” Mercury’s jaw dropped, and he blinked hard, leaning forward.

“Are you talking about Erebus and Jupiter?” he gasped, his eyes widening. Saturn stopped talking and turned slowly, his eyes equally as wide as Mercury’s.

“You know them?”

“They’re my friends, of course I know them,” Mercury said; then he furrowed his brow and looked harder at Saturn. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Saturn replied, waving one hand in the air even as the fins on the side of his head splayed back against his hair, a wicked smile crossing his face. “Just… curiosity. Anyway, I’ve got to tell Uranus this, I can’t believe it!” and he dived downwards again, disappearing with a single ripple of water. Mercury blinked and huffed a single laugh - Venus looked up at him with an arched eyebrow.

“Now that you’ve told them their names, they’re never going to leave those two alone, you know. You’ve doomed them,” he grinned, voice dripping with sarcasm. Mercury groaned and leaned forward; Venus suddenly moved closer to him, hands alighting on Mercury’s thighs, leaving damp marks on his shorts. With Venus so close to him now, Mercury swallowed hard, his eyes wide as a memory from the dream wiggled in, and his cheeks flared with warmth as he remembered Venus’s lips against his.

As if sensing what Mercury was thinking about, Venus’s head tilted to the side, a smirk crawling across his lips, and his hands transferred from Mercury’s thighs to the rock on either side of him as he hauled himself upwards until his torso was entirely out of the water, and he was leaning above Mercury. Reminded of the first dream he’d had, where Venus had leaned over him just like this, Mercury felt his heartbeat speed up, his eyes darting about as he tried to find something to look at that wasn’t Venus.

His eyes locked with Venus’s finally when Mercury felt a hand on his chest, directly above his heart - and Venus paused, his eyes turning considering, leaving Mercury wondering if he could feel just how fast Mercury’s heart was beating underneath his hand. He let out a nervous sound, nails pressing into his palms as he kept looking up at Venus, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

“You woke up too early,” Venus suddenly said, his voice disgruntled - and then he slid back into the water, pulling Mercury with him; Mercury let out a sudden yelp, his heart thrown into overdrive as he closed his eyes and prepared to go underwater again. But then he stopped, and when he opened his eyes, he realized Venus had just pulled him to the edge of the rock he’d been sitting on, so that now he was practically pinned against it, held up only by Venus’s grip on his arms. Venus was only a couple inches away from him, with a self-satisfied smile on his face, and Mercury narrowed his eyes.

“Do not drop me into the water!” Mercury cried out, holding himself completely still. “I got so sick because I keep falling into the water, if you drop me into it again I will-” and then his eyes slid closed as Venus leaned in, closing the gap between their mouths in a searing kiss. His stomach dropped, and Mercury leaned in more, forgetting the risk of falling entirely; besides, Venus’s grip on his arms was tight, his fingers flexing against his skin - Mercury was certain he wouldn’t let him fall. Mercury felt a giddy feeling bubble up in his chest as he leaned more into the kiss, and this time it didn’t fall apart.

He only pulled away when he finally had to gasp in a sharp breath, his chest heaving as his eyes blinked open wide - Venus just stared at him with his lips parted, eyes intense. Mercury swallowed hard at the look in his eyes, and then he blinked. He wet his lips, eyes still locked onto Venus’s, and then Venus leaned in again, his grip on Mercury readjusting as he captured his lips again, this time in a far slower, languid kiss that left butterflies fluttering in his stomach.

Mercury finally closed his eyes again and went completely limp in Venus’s grip, ignoring the cold water rushing around his legs - something wrapped around his ankle, and his eyes shot open as he pulled back; but then he realized with another nervous sound that it was Venus’s tail - he’d wrapped the end of it around Mercury’s ankle, and it glowed in the water beneath. Looking at Venus again, Mercury huffed a nervous sound as he sent him a tentative smile, wrists flexing in his grip.

“Uh,” Mercury finally said, blinking hard. “Thank you?” And then he immediately dropped his head and groaned. “That’s not what I meant, I-” But Venus didn’t say anything, just rolled his eyes with a tilt of his lips, helping Mercury move up so that he was sitting on the rock again - and then he just stared, eyes intense, head pillowed on his arms just like when they’d met a couple days ago. Mercury just breathed for a while, and then he pressed his fingers to his lips as Venus watched, satisfaction in his eyes.

Finally, he huffed one more breath and drew his legs up onto the rock, sitting cross-legged as he stared down at Venus. “Who’s Helios?” He finally asked. “Uranus said something about how… you guys were looking for him?”

Venus’s neutral expression fell into a frown, his eyes narrowing. “He’s… He was our… patron of sorts. He disappeared. Saturn and Mars keep insisting we look for him - and that’s the only reason we’re here right now.”

Mercury mirrored his expression, frowning. “You think he’s here?”

“I don’t think anything. I think that if Helios cared, he would’ve showed up already,” Venus corrected him. “Saturn thinks there’s something here. I half think he would’ve made us move on already if it weren’t for those humans - what’d you call them?”

“Erebus and Jupiter.”

“If it weren’t for them, we probably would’ve left already. We can’t stay in one place for too long, or…” Venus trailed off.

Mercury’s brows furrowed, an anxious feeling buzzing in his chest. “Or what?”

“Don’t need to talk about that now, pipsqueak.”

“Or what?”

“Humans. Or humans will figure out we’re here and use that to their advantage.”

Mercury bit the inside of his cheek, frustration brewing in his chest. “So, you’ll have to leave eventually?”

Venus stayed silent, staring up at Mercury with a tight expression on his face; finally, Mercury gave up and just huffed a breath out. “You have more to explain to me, you know.” Still, Venus was silent, and eventually Mercury stood up. “It’ll be your dream tonight, right?”

“If you dream at all. You humans don’t dream as much as sirens do.”

Mercury sighed. “Then I’ll see you in my dreams, I guess. I need to go back before they start worrying about me. But hey,” he pulled a smile. “At least I didn’t fall in the water this time!” Venus made a motion as if he was going to grab Mercury’s ankle, and he let out a short yelp and stepped back - but Venus fell off the rock and back into the water with a sharp smirk.

“See ya, pipsqueak.”

Chapter Text

The next few days were a whirlwind - each night, Mercury laid down hoping he’d dream - and each morning, he woke up disappointed, falling back asleep and waking up multiple times in the same hour as if it would give him what he wanted. Luna and Earth could both tell he was getting more annoyed the longer he was kept from leaving - Jupiter kept finding excuses that kept them all within the inn, ostensibly in preparation for Sol’s imminent return.

He kept a close eye on Mercury at all times, and Mercury found himself wondering if Jupiter had somehow figured something out; either that Mercury kept getting almost kidnapped, or that he’d visited Venus multiple times now. Still, the annoyance brewed deep in his chest, flaring to life every time Jupiter offered him more papers, another time-consuming task - he’d even asked him to clean out the closet; the closet none of them ever went into.

It would have been more annoying if it weren’t for the fact that Mercury could tell he wasn’t targeting him specifically; he made Erebus do the same busy tasks, and Earth and Luna just watched from their position at the desk, amusement obvious on their faces (both of them had grown very used to staying at the inn, so they weren’t effected at all by Jupiter’s sudden need to keep them all inside). But still, the inane tasks never ended…

“Seriously, Jupiter, I don’t think Sol is going to care if the baseboards are clean,” Mercury retorted, slinging the washcloth around in his hands as he gestured. “He has literally never paid attention to that.”

“I know,” Jupiter said, his hands fidgeting in uncharacteristic agitation. “Just, please? It shouldn’t take too long.”

Mercury sighed, his eye twitching - but he could tell that Jupiter just needed them to listen to him, so he finally nodded and turned around, sliding to the floor a second later. Jupiter’s footsteps receded into the distance, and Mercury kept his eyes on the baseboards as he drew the washcloth over them.

“He’s got you cleaning the baseboards, now?” Earth’s amused voice rang out from above, and Mercury huffed in annoyance.

“I told him that it’s not like Sol would care, but judging from his current state, he seems to think that he’s going to go over this place with a fine-tooth comb.”

“Do you think Sol sent him a message and told him something we haven’t heard?”

Mercury frowned. He hadn’t considered that possibility yet - twisting, he tilted his head up to look at Earth, who was staring down at him with an amused smirk. “You think something changed?”

“Maybe Sol picked up someone else,” Earth suddenly said, shrugging. “How did he act before he found Luna and I?”

“I… actually don’t remember that.” Mercury blinked, letting the washcloth fall on the floor. “I’m pretty sure he acted just like usual, though. Just… disappeared for a bit and came back with you two like it was normal.” His brow furrowed as he considered his memories, searching for any indication of a change like this; but then he shrugged and looked up at Earth, coming up with nothing.

“Maybe Jupiter’s just dealing with paranoia or something? I don’t know. Maybe he just needs to leave the inn as much as we do,” Mercury offered. “We could ask Erebus to make Jupiter go somewhere with him… Jupiter’s always listened to Erebus a lot more than he does us.”

Earth hummed, his eyes jumping towards Jupiter, standing with Erebus on the other side of the inn. “We could…” Then he grinned wider. “Besides, those two need to stop dancing around each other. It’s getting sort of annoying.”

Mercury blinked, following Earth’s gaze. “I didn’t realize until a couple of days ago… but you’re right. It’s kind of obvious, if you just notice the way they interact with each other.” Then he remembered his visit with Venus a couple of days ago, Saturn’s excitement at learning their names, and how he’d immediately disappeared to tell Uranus. Pursing his lips, Mercury locked eyes with Earth and stood up. “If it gets Jupiter to stop being so agitated, I’ll do anything.”

“Erebus!” Earth yelled, still looking at Mercury with one raised eyebrow. Erebus looked over at them and blinked before he said something to Jupiter, hand patting his arm once before he strode over to Mercury and Earth.

“What did you two need? I swear, if it’s another dumb project - I’m getting enough of them from Jupiter, I don’t need any more.” Erebus’s voice was low, almost a hiss, and he stared at both of them with raised eyebrows.

“No, no,” Earth said, grinning, putting his hands up in the air. “No dumb tasks. We just need you to get Jupiter out of here. He’s… acting weird.” Both Mercury and Earth peeked around Erebus to see Jupiter was standing and staring out the window, arms crossed over his back; Erebus turned and followed their gazes, sighing after a moment.

“Trust me, I know. But what makes you think I can get him out of here anymore than you can?”

Mercury stared at him, his face settling into a deadpan expression. “Seriously, Erebus?”

Erebus’s expression soured, his eyes lidding. “Okay, fine, maybe I’m a little closer to him than the rest of you. But still! I’ve had to deal with his insipid paranoia just as much as you two. He keeps making me check the kitchen stores. I’ve checked them three times now! The number of items in there is not changing by the second.”

“We’re not asking you to do anything crazy, Erebus. Just get him out of the inn for a while! You’ve got to have some ideas rolling around up there, you think about him often enough.” Earth rolled his eyes as Erebus balked, his face dusting red.

Mercury chimed in. “Just follow your usual schedules! Maybe it’ll put him back in the swing of things, get him out of… whatever this is. Just… please, Erebus, I need a break,” Mercury’s eye twitched as he recalled every inane task he’d been asked to do these past two days. “And you probably need one too.”

Erebus’s eyes narrowed as he stared at them - his arms crossed over his chest and then immediately uncrossed, and he tossed a glance back at Jupiter. “…Fine. Tomorrow. I’ll make sure he gets out of here.” Then he whipped around and strode back to Jupiter while Earth and Mercury just looked at each other.

“…I guess I should go back to cleaning these baseboards,” Mercury said, groaning as he settled back down on the floor. Earth’s smirk twitched and he shook his head.

“I’ll be at the desk, trying to look busy so Jupiter doesn’t make me do something like that,” he clapped a hand on Mercury’s shoulder and then quickly slid behind the desk, picking up random papers and studying them like they were the most interesting things in the world suddenly. Mercury rolled his eyes with a smile and went back to cleaning.

The next morning, Mercury found himself standing in front of the stairwell, watching a scene that made him bite back a smile; he’d just finished eating breakfast and still had to change into his day clothes. “No, Jupiter, we’re leaving. You need to get out of here,” Erebus said, one hand wrapped around Jupiter’s arm even as he protested, “You told me last night that you’d come with me today, no going back on your promise!” And then the door finally shut behind them, and Mercury let his actual smile flourish, a laugh falling free.

“You know, Jupiter could totally just not let Erebus drag him. It’s not like Erebus is stronger than him,” Earth suddenly said from behind; Mercury turned around to see him standing on the stair step, a smile on his face. “Which makes it so much funnier, because that means that Jupiter is pretending to protest about leaving.”

“Well, at least he’s left now. So, I can leave, and you and Luna don’t have to do anymore weird tasks,” Mercury shrugged. His thoughts strayed back to the ocean suddenly - and the fact that he wanted to see Venus again. After several days and dreamless nights, it was like an itch under his skin.

Earth frowned, and Mercury refocused on him. “Who says I can’t leave too?”

“The fact that… you haven’t left the inn in months? That Sol told you that you can’t? Besides, someone has to be here at all times.”

Rolling his eyes, Earth whipped around and headed to the desk. “I’m literally going stir crazy here, Mercury, you don’t understand,” and he settled into the chair behind the desk, looking at Mercury with narrowed eyes. “I need to get out of here at least once, before Sol comes back.” Mercury mirrored Earth’s frown, crossing his arms over his chest.

“If Luna hears you saying that-”

“Luna will be fine. We don’t need to be attached at the hip all the time. You get to leave as much as you want, why can’t I?” This time, Mercury let his shoulders drop as he heard the jealousy hidden in Earth’s tone.

“Earth…”

“Nevermind. Everything’s fine. Just go visit your… siren, or whatever. I’ll be here, just like always.” Earth placed his head on the desk, pillowed against his arms; Mercury frowned and almost went to comfort him, before letting out another sigh and heading towards the stairs, worry brewing in his chest. Earth hadn’t expressed anything like this so… obvious… for a while, now. Was it Sol’s return? Once Sol returned, things would become a lot more stringent - Sol had his rules, and while they relaxed while he was gone, whenever he was in town he really didn’t like when his rules were broken. Ostensibly, the rules were for their protection (and the kidnapping attempts did stop whenever Sol was around, especially since almost everyone knew what had happened to the ones who’d almost succeeded in taking Earth and had almost killed him… but still).

Mercury shook his head again, tossing one final look at Earth as he climbed the stairs.

When he finally returned downstairs, a change of clothes and towel in his bag (just in case), Mercury frowned when he saw that Earth wasn’t at the desk anymore; instead, Luna was sitting at the desk reading a book.

“Where’d Earth go?”

“Hmmm?” Luna looked up at Mercury. “Oh, he went back to his room. Don’t think he was feeling well.”

Mercury’s brow furrowed. Was it because of the talk they’d had earlier? “Other than that… did he seem okay?”

“Oh, yeah. He acted just like usual,” Luna frowned. “Why? Did he say something to you earlier?”

Mercury shook his head. “No, I was just wondering.” He was about to turn around, before he bit his lip and looked Luna in the eyes, a sudden apprehension brewing in his chest. “Luna - are you okay with having to stay at the inn all the time?”

“I mean, what else is there? It’s not like I’m needed for anything else out there.” He arched one eyebrow. “Why?”

“No reason,” Mercury said, biting back a frown. “Just wanted to ask. I’ll see you later, yeah? If Jupiter and Erebus get back before I do, just tell them I was delivering messages.”

“Because we’ve gotten so many messages recently?” Luna’s mouth ticked into a grin; Mercury just shrugged and grasped at the strap of his bag before turning around and heading for the door.

He got quite the distance from the inn before he ran into an obstacle… literally.

Mercury let out a small oof as he ran directly into someone; he blinked hard, shaking his head slightly before looking up, a short bolt of alarm blazing through his chest when he realized who he’d run into. “Oh… hello,” he said, after a moment, pushing a false smile onto his lips. “I didn’t expect to see you two here.”

“Didn’t expect to see you here, either!” Simmons clapped a hand on his back, the motion almost too harsh; Mercury bit back a frown and took the slightest step back. “Mercury, right?”

“Yep. Uh,” His eyes jumped to the second guest, who was looking at him with cold eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name the other day.”

“Rosen.”

The urge to leave grew stronger, but Mercury just pushed past the feeling and strengthened his smile. “Well, it’s nice to meet you two again. What are you in town for?”

“Oh, we’re just here on a hunting trip,” Rosen said, a smirk alighting onto his face that sent alarm bells ringing even stronger. “Heard rumors that there was good game around here.”

“I didn’t know there were hunting grounds around here,” Mercury said, furrowing his brow. “I thought I knew this town pretty well. Huh.”

“Oh, it’s recent,” Simmons interjected. “Just popped up around here recently. Figured we’d step in and catch some while we still could.”

Mercury twisted in place, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear as he resisted the urge to turn and run right back to the inn. “What are you hunting, exactly?” he questioned. Something about the way they were speaking threw him. “Like… deer, or rabbits?” This town wasn’t exactly a good spot for hunting. Mercury wasn’t even aware of anyone here who did.

“Something like that,” Simmons said, his smirk mirroring Rosen’s. “It’s a very… lucrative game.”

“Ah, well,” Mercury looked away from them for a moment, hand pulling at the strap of his bag. “Good for you?” He sent them a weak smile after a second, hoping he didn’t look as disgusted as he felt. “Do you know how long you’re staying?”

“Not for much longer, we think. We recently got an excellent tip about how to get what we need. We’re working on it.” Simmons’s eyes locked onto Mercury’s, a hard edge building in them. “Don’t worry, we’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”

“I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay, so far,” Mercury said, taking a step back. “I’ve got to go now, though. Errands to run. It was… nice to see you?” Both Simmons and Rosen nodded at him, and Mercury pushed past them, heart in his throat. What was going on? Maybe he just needed to talk to Earth and Luna about it, see if they’d noticed anything different about the two… or maybe Mercury was just going crazy, and he needed a reality check.

His chest still roiled with apprehension, a troubling emotion Mercury couldn’t help but indulge in. Those guests - Simmons and Rosen - just sent every alarm bell Mercury had ringing, something about them unsettling. And the way they’d spoken about hunting; it almost had Mercury wondering if they weren’t hunting animals.

Stuck in his thoughts as he was, Mercury was surprised as a hand latched around his wrist and he was dragged into an alley. “Seriously,” he yelped. “Are you trying to-”

“Shut up,” whoever had grabbed him hissed, pressing a hand over his mouth and pulling his head back, their other hand holding his wrist in a tight grip, holding his arm so far back he could feel sparks of pain shooting through his shoulder and chest. Mercury rolled his eyes and thrashed, gritting his teeth against the feeling. A whole week without any kidnappings (of course, part of the week he’d been stuck inside or sick, but… still), and he’s out of the inn for less than an hour and someone gets him?

Mercury closed his eyes, wrapped his hand against his attacker’s, and then ripped downwards, pulling their hand at the same time so that while he backed up, head under their arm, they were pulled with him - and Mercury used the momentum to send them crashing to the ground. “Seriously,” he huffed, eyes locking onto a nearby piece of wood. “Is there like an underground ring of you guys? I swear, you’d literally get nothing but a trip to the clinic if you did end up kidnapping me, anyway. Sol’s not one to let this slide. The guys that took Earth still haven’t recovered, you know.”

“Who the fuck is Sol?” The guy hissed, standing back up as Mercury hefted the wood beam in his arms; he furrowed his brow as he fixed his stance. This guy didn’t know who Sol was? Then why was he- Mercury’s thought was cut off as the guy lunged forward again. Reacting immediately, Mercury swung the piece of wood - it thunked directly into the guy’s skull, and he hit the ground as his eyes rolled back.

Mercury let the piece of wood fall and dusted off his hands. “I don’t know why you guys keep trying.”

“Wow, Mercury,” he suddenly heard - Mercury whipped around, his jaw dropping when he saw Earth.

“Earth?” Mercury blinked, unsure if he was seeing things right. “Did you follow me?”

“I wanted to leave the inn… and see this siren you’re so obsessed with,” Earth arched one eyebrow. “So, yeah, I followed you.” He shrugged. “I didn’t expect you to almost get kidnapped.” He eyed the unconscious stranger on the ground. “You deal with this all the time?”

“You’ve been kidnapped before, too,” Mercury snapped, regretting it immediately as Earth’s hand shot up to press at his forehead, remorse flooding his chest. “No, I-sorry, Earth, I’m just a little high-strung. Listen, why did you follow me? You’re putting yourself at risk. If Jupiter and Erebus get back and see you’re not there…”

“I already told you why I followed you, Mercury.” Earth crossed his arms over his chest, eyes lidding in annoyance. “And we’ll be back before Jupiter and Erebus are. Trust me. I told Erebus to make sure they’re out for the entire day.”

“And he didn’t suspect anything?”

“Oh, no. He definitely suspected something.” Earth grinned, shoving his hair back with one hand. “But he wanted to get out of the inn more than he cared about whatever I was planning, so…”

Mercury sighed and stepped over the unconscious man, clutching his bag just a bit closer. “I guess now I have to go back to the inn,” he said, eyeing Earth. “If I actually let you follow me, who knows what’ll happen? We’re both such bad luck individually.”

“Oh, come on, Mercury,” Earth said, draping his arm over Mercury’s shoulders. “Just one day won’t kill us.”

“You’ve definitely just jinxed us,” Mercury said, pressing his lips together. “But I do really want to see Venus…” He stared up at Earth for another second before letting his head drop. “Fine.”

“Yeah, let’s go!” Earth moved away from him and clapped his hands, before pausing and looking back at Mercury. “…Do we have to do anything about that guy?”

“Never have, never will,” Mercury shrugged, walking past Earth. “I usually just leave them behind. If they wanted to kidnap me so bad, they can deal with the consequences.”

“Dang, Mercury,” Earth laughed. “See, this is why I should leave the inn more often. You’re different outside.” Mercury rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide the smile that crept over his face.

With Earth at his side, Mercury almost felt nervous approaching the water this time. A sudden thought occurred to him when he pulled his bag off and laid in on the ground in the usual spot, and he looked at Earth with a furrowed brow. “Did you bring a change of clothes?”

“I’m not going to fall in the water like you did, Mercury.” Earth rolled his eyes good-naturedly with a hand in the air, and Mercury huffed.

“I didn’t think I was going to fall into the water either,” he pointed out, stepping onto the rocks. It was high tide again, so the water lapped at the edges of the rocks, filling the air with a soothing sound. Mercury searched the water with his eyes even as he continued to speak to Earth, almost expecting to see Venus’s orange-and-yellow colors. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Whose boat is that?” Earth suddenly said; Mercury followed his gaze and realized that the boat from a week or so ago was still there.

Frowning, Mercury shrugged, before placing his arms in the air as he teetered on the rocks. “That was the boat those kidnappers had. I’m surprised nobody’s stolen it, it’s been there for like a week now.”

“Does anybody ever come out here, anyway? The path you led us on looked overgrown.”

“I… actually don’t know. Maybe that’s an old dock that isn’t used anymore? I’ve never questioned why people don’t come out here.”

“Well, it worked out for you, didn’t i-”

Earth’s voice suddenly cut off as Mercury heard an unfamiliar voice behind them say “Hello!” and then there was a sudden splash. Mercury whipped around as carefully as possible, crouching on the rocks and crawling to the edge to look down.

“Earth?” He yelled, straight down into the water. “Earth?”

There was a waver underneath the water, like a figure was approaching - and then something broke through the water, and Mercury pushed back from the edge of the rock, not wanting to fall in. Guess Earth was wrong, Mercury suddenly thought, a laugh on the edge of his lips. He did fall in. Refocusing on the image in front of him, Mercury blinked.

Earth was wrapped in the arms of another siren, who had an uncertain, sheepish look on his face. “Ah, sorry, dude,” The siren apologized, staring directly at Earth. “I didn’t mean to scare you, really. Saturn told me about the human that kept visiting Venus and I wanted to see what was going on. You don’t… look like what Saturn told me, though.”

“Ah,” Mercury put his hand up, a nervous sound jumping out. “That’d be me.”

The Siren looked up at him and blinked, then looked back down at Earth. “Oh. Who are you?”

Earth grinned, his eyes suddenly gleaming with an unreadable emotion. Mercury raised his eyebrows as he watched Earth’s reaction - and then his jaw dropped, eyes widening at Earth’s next words.

“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t mind falling in since you caught me,” Earth’s grin somehow widened, and he winked. Mercury let out a nervous laugh as the siren’s grip faltered, his face dusting with red. “What’s your name?”

“Uh,” The Siren blinked several times in a row. “I don’t - dude, what’s your name?”

“Earth,” and Earth’s hand came up, his arm wrapping around the Siren’s shoulders as he leaned in, eyes focusing on his. With a nervous sound of his own, the Siren suddenly dropped Earth in the water and backed away, leaving Earth pouting, easily staying afloat.

“Earth,” Mercury hissed. “Seriously?”

“What!” Earth grinned, grabbing Mercury’s hand when he offered it to pull him closer to the rocks. “He’s cute! I see why you’re so obsessed with your guy.”

“Earth,” Mercury said again, his eye twitching. “Please shut up.”

“So, what is your name?” Earth called out to the Siren, ignoring Mercury now as he hauled himself up onto the rocks, his clothes soaking wet and sticking to his body. “You still haven’t told me.”

“His name is Mars!” Venus’s voice suddenly rang out, and Mercury jerked around with a smile on his face to see the Venus had somehow climbed up onto the rocks and changed into human form without any of them noticing. He was smirking, his face amused as he stared at Earth with his arms crossed over his chest - and then Mercury realized his chest was bare and he closed his eyes and whipped around, a hysterical laugh bubbling up.

“Clothes, Venus!”

“Ugh, I forget how obsessed you humans are with clothes,” Venus said - Mercury reopened his eyes and let out another nervous laugh, his eyes cutting towards Earth and Mars for something else to focus on.

Earth was saying something Mercury couldn’t quite hear; his attention was still focused entirely on Mars as he seemingly ignored his soaked clothes and leaned out over the water - Mars was still a bit of a distance out but getting closer to Earth as the seconds passed.

A hand suddenly laid on his shoulder, and Mercury let out a short yelp as he turned around. Venus grinned at him with one eyebrow arched; Mercury let out a sigh of relief as he noticed that Venus had that weird sort of outfit on (which Mercury realized a couple of days ago was called a chiton, thanks to one of the random books he’d immersed himself in reading to get away from Jupiter’s never-ending tasks).

Pursing his lips, Mercury blinked. “Where’d you get the cl- nevermind, I don’t want to know. Thank you for putting them on,” his attention suddenly jumping to Venus’s hand still on his shoulder, warmth spilling across his face as Venus just continued watching, eyes locked onto him.

“Saturn and Uranus disappeared a while ago,” he suddenly said, grin morphing into a smirk. “I wonder where they could’ve gone.”

“Don’t tell me,” Mercury’s smile dropped. “Jupiter and Erebus are out and about today, you don’t think…”

“Oh, I think,” Venus said, a rough laugh following. “I told you they wouldn't leave alone. But anyway, forget about them.” He suddenly crowded in closer, hand rising to hook on Mercury’s chin.

“Earth is-” Mercury protested; Venus rolled his eyes and pushed Mercury’s chin to make him look to the side, touch surprisingly gentle.

“You think they’re going to look away from each other any time soon?” Mercury found himself agreeing as he looked at Mars and Earth in the distance. They were still talking to each other; Earth was half off the rock as he leaned over it, looking at Mars and gesturing wildly - and while Mars had dipped his face mostly underneath the water, Mercury could still see the obvious blush dotting his face.

“I had a question for you,” Mercury suddenly said, turning back to Venus. “You still haven’t answered me on the whole deal about the- the soulmates thing.”

Venus looked at him for a few moments, eyes narrowed and intense. “When- That first day, you ignored the siren song.”

“Yeah. It sounded nice, but it was easy to ignore. Not that-”

Venus rolled his eyes, but there was the ghost of a smile on his face. “I know what you mean, pipsqueak. I’m saying that nobody can ignore siren song. That’s why the two kidnapping you jumped into the water and drowned.”

“So why I could I?”

Venus gave him an unamused look before tapping him on the forehead. “Soulmates, pipsqueak.”

“Oh,” Mercury breathed out. “So then, the dream sharing is part of it?”

“The dream-sharing is what made me realize what you were.” Venus raised one eyebrow, and Mercury flushed with warmth as he realized his hand was still holding Mercury’s chin. “I hadn’t really… realized before that.”

“So why did you save me that first time, then? If you didn’t know I was your soulmate.” Mercury blinked up at him - and for once, red dusted across Venus’s cheeks.

“I just felt like it.”

“How sweet,” Mercury said, grinning, genuine happiness coursing through his veins.

“Oh, be quiet, pipsqueak,” Venus said, rolling his eyes before he leaned forward and kissed Mercury, hand on his chin keeping him in place.

“So…” Mercury trailed off before his hands started fidgeting in front of him. Earth and he were finally on the path home, trailing through the middle of town. “Mars?”

“I now see why you were so obsessed with Venus,” Earth replied, grinning. Mercury ignored the fact that Earth hadn’t really answered his question and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe if I want to see him again, I’ll have to sneak out,” Earth continued, with a pout. “This is unfair.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” Mercury shrugged. “You always seem to.”

“What were you talking about with Venus? Looked like a pretty… engrossing conversation.”

Mercury looked away as warmth flooded into his face. “You were the exact same with Mars, shut up!”

“I can’t deny that,” Earth said, grinning wider. “I won’t deny that.” He suddenly became serious, freezing in place as his hand latched around Mercury’s wrist and he pulled him behind a tall wood structure leaning against a house. “Do you- Mercury, look!” Earth hissed, his finger pointing in the direction they’d come from. Mercury furrowed his brow but followed the direction - and then his eyes widened as he realized that Rosen and Simmons were behind them, standing on the side of the street and talking to each other with furtive glances. “Were they following us?”

“That’s… creepy,” Mercury said, shrinking further behind the wood. “Did you see them talking to me earlier? They just set off every alarm bell in my head.”

“Me too,” Earth frowned. “And yeah… I did see them talking to you. You looked uncomfortable, to say the least.”

“They said they were in town for hunting, but as far as I know we don’t have any hunting grounds around here. And they wouldn’t tell me what they were hunting.”

Earth’s frown deepened, his eyes darting between Mercury and the two men. “Come on,” he said after a moment, pulling Mercury with him as he followed the wall of the house. “We’ll take a different direction back to the inn. You know your way around, right?”

“Of course,” Mercury replied, studying the area they were in now. After a moment, he recognized it and blinked. “We can go this way. It’ll take a little doubling back, but… they won’t know where we’ve gone if they really are following us.”

Earth nodded at him, his face still serious, body a line of tension - he didn’t relax until they were finally at the door of the inn and his shoulders finally dropped. Mercury searched for something to say, the silence suddenly feeling awkward. “Did you tell Luna you were leaving, by the way?”

“Of course I did, do you think I’m dumb? He would’ve freaked out so badly if I didn’t. I don’t think he expected us to stay out this late, though,” and Earth was proven correct as he opened the door and Luna was standing in front of it, hands on his hips.

“Where have you two been? It’s dark out!” Luna scolded them, and Mercury pressed his lips together, feeling oddly like he was being yelled at by a parent.

“Oh, Luna, everything’s fine, calm down,” Earth said, ruffling Luna’s hair with one hand as the other latched around his shoulders, leading him back to the desk. “We just got a little… caught up.”

“Caught up?” Luna echoed, sounding disbelieving. “That’s all?”

“Yep.” Earth popped the p in yep as he sat down in his chair, sending Luna an innocent smile. “Just got caught up. Look, we’re fine, Luna, everything turned out well. Have Jupiter and Erebus come back, yet?”

“No! That’s why I was getting worried. I’m not used to being the only one here. What if Sol decided to show up early?”

“Uh,” Mercury interrupted. “He’s never done that before, Luna, I don’t think he’ll randomly start doing it now.”

“Who knows?” Luna put his hands on his head, eye twitching. “Everything’s changing lately, you’re all acting weird. Wouldn’t be surprised if Sol joins the trend!”

“Look, we’ll just wait for Jupiter and Erebus to come back, and act like we’ve been here the whole time. It’ll all be fine!” Earth grinned - and then the doorknob turned, and his smile dropped, his eyes jumping to the door. Mercury’s eyes widened as Jupiter walked in absolutely soaked, dripping water onto the floor. His hair was completely messed up, spiky in some areas and flat in others - Mercury blinked and his lips parted in a disbelieving smile as Erebus walked in right behind him, equally as disheveled and equally as soaked.

“What happened to you two?” Earth sounded confused - and then there was a sudden “Oh,” from him, and Mercury realized what he had noticed at the exact same time, amusement flooding his system as he bit back a laugh.

“Jupiter, you have a-” Mercury motioned at his neck, and Jupiter’s eye twitched as his hand flew up, wiping away the paint stain conspicuously placed on his neck. Behind him, Erebus wore a familiar-looking necklace, and Mercury pressed his lips together and then placed his hand against his mouth as he coughed to hide a laugh.

Jupiter’s mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but instead he just let out a sharp breath and then blinked hard. “We’ll be in the back,” he finally choked out, pulling Erebus along with him as he speedily walked to the hallway leading to their rooms. When both of them finally disappeared and the sound of a door slamming erupted from the hallway, Mercury finally broke, doubling over in laughter as both Earth and Luna stared at him in confusion.

“Uh… Mercury, why are you laughing?”

Mercury waved his hand in the air as he continued laughing, finally taking in a harsh inhale and pressing his lips together. “It’s… I’ll explain later, okay?” He took another couple breaths as amusement continued to flood in. “But hey, Jupiter won’t be in the inn as often now… probably. And we didn’t even have to act like we were here the whole time! They probably wouldn’t have noticed if we weren’t home anyway,” he finished with a final laugh. Earth gave him another confused look while Luna just looked up at the ceiling with a long-suffering look on his face.

“You know, Earth, you’re still kind of damp. You’re lucky they didn’t notice that,” Mercury finally said when he felt composed; Earth looked down at his clothes with a groan, as if he’d only just now realized that they were still damp from falling in the water.

“YOU fell in the water?” Luna’s eye twitched. “Earth…”

“I’m going to go change. Good night!” Earth said, awkwardly, ignoring Luna’s annoyed stare. “See ya in the morning, Mercury. Don’t stay up too late, Luna.”

“Bye, Earth,” Mercury said, smiling. “It really was nice to hang out with you. Well, the little bit we did.” Earth tossed him a genuine smile before taking the stairs, leaving Luna and Mercury to stare at each other. “I think I’ll go to bed too,” Mercury finally said, unable to deal with how awkward it suddenly felt. Luna just nodded at him, hand rubbing at his forehead; then he let his head fall against the desk and let out a loud sigh, and Mercury just turned away with a grimace.

Chapter Text

The next morning was…somewhat awkward. Erebus prepared breakfast for them, eerily silent, and Jupiter still hadn’t come out of his room by the time Mercury came downstairs. When Mercury asked about him, all Erebus offered was a - “He’ll come out when he’s ready,” with a shrug as his lips pressed together, pink dusting high on his cheeks. Mercury let it go, not wanting to push too hard on Erebus; he did, however, notice that Erebus was still wearing the tan necklace he’d noticed on him last night.

When Earth joined them, he locked eyes with Mercury and then grinned as he tilted his head at Erebus. “Hey, Erebus, where’d you get that necklace? It looks cool.”

“Oh, uh-” Erebus froze in the middle of the kitchen, a plate in his hands, and when he finally spoke again his voice was snappish. “It’s - a gift? It doesn’t matter to you, anyway.”

“Just asking!” Earth put his hands in the air in a sheepish gesture. “No need to bite my head off, jeez.” He scooted closer to Mercury, leaning in so that they could whisper without Erebus hearing. “So, this is definitely involved with the Sirens, yeah?”

“You’ve only met Mars… and Venus, I guess. How do you know that?” Mercury whispered back. It was involved with the Sirens - that was one of Saturn’s necklaces if he’d ever seen one - but Earth had only really become involved last night.

“I have good hearing,” Earth said, matter-of-factly. “I could hear you and Venus talking. Something about Saturn and Uranus, and then Jupiter and Erebus, and not leaving things alone? Couldn’t piece it together just from that, but when Erebus and Jupiter came back completely soaked it was pretty easy to guess. Plus, Mars mentioned that someone named Saturn had told him about the human - you - visiting, so Saturn had to be a siren.”

Mercury blinked, staring at Earth for a moment. “You’re… right,” he finally said, low and quiet even as Erebus glanced over at them, eyebrow arched in confusion. “How did you…?”

“You get used to piecing stuff together when you’re stuck in one building for half a year,” Earth answered, a deadpan expression crossing his face before his normal smile came back on. “So, basically all of us have met a Siren now? Just Luna left, I guess.” Earth’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Your soulmate or whatever isn’t hiding anymore Sirens, right? I’m never letting Luna leave this building.”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know!” Mercury cried, throwing his hands out. He got a little too loud that time, and finally Erebus strode over with an unamused expression.

“What are you two whispering about over here? Is the food that bad this morning?”

Mercury glanced down at his untouched plate and blinked. “Oh, sorry, Erebus. I’m sure it’s fine. I just… forgot that I had food already.”

Erebus rolled his eyes. “Sure, Mercury, sure,” he said. “Just eat. Oh, and if you leave today, Jupiter said to make sure you have lunch since you keep forgetting to eat it, apparently.” He pointed at the fridge. “It’s in there. Make sure you take it when you leave, yeah? I’m not dealing with Jupiter if you forget it.”

Mercury sent a tight smile to Erebus. “Sure. Uhm, thank you?”

“Are you and Jupiter going out today again?” Earth suddenly butted into the conversation, a wicked smile on his face. Erebus flashed him an annoyed look, his eyes narrowing as if wondering what Earth knew. “Oh, and I was wondering what happened to you two last night. You came home soaked.”

“Nothing,” Erebus snapped, face burning red. “Nothing happened.” He swept back into the kitchen without another word, and Mercury looked at Earth with a blank expression.

“Seriously? There’s no need to-”

“Oh, come on, Mercury! It’s funny. They don’t know that we know, and I’m taking advantage of that. I rarely get to have fun around here, just let me.”

In response to that, Mercury just rolled his eyes and took a bite of his food. Halfway through a second bite, Mercury was suddenly hit by a thought, and he paused and put the fork down. “Earth?” Earth looked at him with a smile and tilted head.

“What’dya need, Mercury?”

“Did you have a dream last night? Not like a normal dream?”

Earth’s smile dropped, his brow furrowing, a questioning look developing in his eyes. “I… yes? How did you know that?”

Mercury took a sharp breath. So, it wasn’t just him. But… he had to make sure. “Was Mars there?”

Earth let out a nervous laugh, leaning forward into Mercury’s personal space. “How did you know that?” Mercury didn’t answer, just took another bite of food as he stared at Earth, who got increasingly more antsy as the seconds passed. “How did you know that, Mercury? Is it like… a Siren thing?”

“I think maybe we should all talk about this,” Mercury finally said. “Obviously things are happening, and if Sol is coming back soon, we should probably talk about it before he gets here. Besides, I have some questions for Jupiter and Erebus.” Earth arched an eyebrow at him, as if wondering where this was coming from, but finally he shrugged.

“I’ll go get Jupiter, I guess.” He leapt up from the table with a whistle as Erebus walked in from the kitchen, plate in hand.

“I finished his food! Did he just decide he’s not hungry or something?”

“Oh, no,” Mercury said, taking another bite. “We just have to talk to you and Jupiter about something. He’ll be right back.”

Erebus frowned at him, head tilting to the side. “Is this about what you’ve been hiding? You finally decided to deign us with your worries?”

“Something like that,” Mercury shrugged. “When Jupiter comes out here, we can talk about it.” He sent Erebus a tight smile - he just narrowed his eyes and set the plate he’d been holding down onto the table before retreating into the kitchen.

“I know about the sirens,” Mercury blurted out almost immediately as Jupiter and Erebus took a seat at the table. Their heads both shot towards him, eyes wide and almost panicked.

“You know about the-”

“Well, I’ve known about them for a while,” Mercury grimaced. “I might’ve… just might’ve…”

“He almost got kidnapped and put on a boat but then a siren showed up and mesmerized the kidnappers into falling into the ocean and then Mercury fell into the water but the Siren caught him and then he kept meeting the Siren after that and now apparently they’re soulmates - and also, I know a Siren too,” Earth interrupted, rushing out the words like it wasn’t more than a week’s worth of events.

“You almost got kidnapped?”

“That’s all you heard?” Earth laughed. “You two haven’t noticed? Mercury here’s been the target of multiple kidnappings in the past few months.” He threw an arm around Mercury’s shoulders, pulling him in as he avoided both Jupiter and Erebus’s eyes.

“The important thing is the sirens,” he finally muttered. “Listen, I know you two met Sirens last night. Saturn and Uranus, right?”

“How did you-”

“I’ve met them before too. It’s a whole thing that would take a lot more explaining than I feel like doing right now,” Mercury waved a hand in the air. “Did you dream about them?” Jupiter’s eyes widened now - his head darted to the side as he looked at Erebus, whose eyes were equally wide.

“How did you-” Erebus repeated - and again, Mercury interrupted him.

“So you are too. That’s… that can’t be a coincidence, right?” He frowned. Something suddenly occurred to him, a thought that had stayed in the back of his mind since the dream where Vulcan had reappeared. “…Have we ever talked about how Sol saved us? I know you were all in near-death situations before he found us. I almost died in a fire before he showed up, but all I know is that you three almost died. What happened?” Mercury hands fidgeted together as he pressed them against the table, his foot jumping. “Maybe we should start with that before we get into the whole Siren thing. I mean, Sol’s already mysterious enough, who knows if he’s where this all started?” Mercury’s brow furrowed - finally he shook his head and looked at Jupiter, who was staring at him.

Jupiter sighed. “I was the first one to meet Sol, around a… decade ago? He showed up out of nowhere when a building collapsed, and I was on the bottom floor with a younger cousin of mine. My cousin died - immediately,” Jupiter paused as he said that, hand flexing. “But I was still alive, albeit… crushed. And then Sol showed up and pulled me out of there like nothing.”

Mercury frowned. “Yeah, same thing that happened to me. Earth? Erebus?” Both of them avoided his eyes - but finally Earth laid his head on the table, pillowed against his arms; when he spoke, his voice was quiet and quick, like he just wanted to get it over with.

“I almost drowned. Well - one of my friends and I, Theia, went out to the lake, and she accidentally went too far out and fell in - and I jumped in after her to try and save her, but she ended up just dragging me with her.” Earth shuddered as if re-living through it, “And I was about to pass out and probably die, but then Sol was there, in the water - and my memory ends there, but when I woke up, I was alive, and Theia was dead. There was nothing tying me to the town where we lived but Luna, and he immediately decided to come with me when I told him I was leaving. He’s an orphan too - but you guys already knew that,” and Earth stopped talking, pressing his head further into his arms.

Finally, Mercury looked at Erebus - he had his lips pressed tightly together, an upset expression on his face; but when Jupiter laid a hand on his arm, his expression softened, and he sighed. “I got stabbed and left for dead. Good ol’ betrayal!” He waved his hands in the air, a mocking expression on his face that shuttered when Jupiter wrapped a hand around his wrist again. “Well, I stabbed them too - and they died, so in the end I won, didn’t I?” A self-satisfied smirk rose on his face, before it immediately wiped away. “Anyway, yeah, I was bleeding out and Sol showed up and healed me back up. So now I’m here. And have been for… eight years.”

“Do you think we were supposed to die?” Mercury finally asked, biting his lip. “If all of us had a near-death scenario where Sol just randomly showed up…”

“Luna told me you said something like that!” Earth cried out, pointing a finger at Mercury. “Jeez, you scared him half to death. If we were supposed to die, how would Sol know? And why would he have saved us?”

“I don’t know!” Mercury exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “I’m just as confused as you guys. All we know is that Sol isn’t human, he can’t be!”

“Well, it’s not like we can get any information until Sol gets back, anyway,” Erebus pointed out, eyebrows raised. “One of us will just have to ask him.” Immediately, Mercury’s eyes jumped to Jupiter - and he could see both Earth and Erebus looking at him as well.

Jupiter’s shoulders dropped, his eyebrows arching as he looked at the three of them. “Seriously?”

“What? You’re the first one he saved,” Earth replied, shrugging. “You’ve known him the longest, so it’s gotta be you.”

“Fine,” Jupiter said after a second, hand rubbing at his forehead. “I’ll ask Sol about it whenever he gets back. But I’m going to be mentioning you three, I’m not just acting like it’s only me who wants to know.”

“Fine by me,” Earth grinned.

“Me too,” Mercury added, standing up with his empty plate in hand. “But…I think we can finish talking about the sirens later - because I had plans for today, so I’m going to go. It feels awkward here, if I’m being honest.”

“Back to your siren,” Earth teased.

“…Yes,” Mercury finally said after a moment of silence, blinking. “I am.”

“I can’t stop you,” Jupiter interjected, his eyes closing as he leaned against the table and sighed. “But stay safe, okay? And be back before dark. Sol’s back in town tomorrow, and I want to make sure everything’s ready.”

“Yes!” Mercury mock-saluted, grinning before he headed off to the kitchen to put his plate in the sink. Excitement already bubbled up in his chest, the urge to just leave already hard to ignore.

“And take your lunch!” Erebus suddenly shouted from the table - Mercury grinned and rolled his eyes, but went for the fridge nonetheless.

Mercury pulled his bag a little closer, the incessant feeling that someone was following him still burning high. He swallowed once and whipped around, darting his eyes over every possible hiding place - the trees, the tall grasses further away, the large rocks scattered over the landscape - but there was nothing, and finally he frowned and turned back around. You’re just being paranoid, Mercury, he told himself, shaking his head. There’s nothing there.

The ocean lay ahead, the shimmering sheet of blue calm as ever, and Mercury let out a sigh as a wave of relaxation rolled in at the sight. Once he was with Venus, everything would feel like normal. Mercury was sure of it. It was probably just some residual feelings from last night, with Earth noticing Rosen and Simmons. And honestly, they probably weren’t even following him and Earth! They’d likely just been in town like normal, and just happened to be on the same street. Just a lot of coincidences. Yeah. Coincidences.

The scraggy cliff provided the only source of shade for Mercury to stand in as he looked out over the ocean - above, the Sun beamed down, heat suffocating like a blanket. Already, drops of sweat trailed down Mercury’s face as he wiped them away and fanned himself. “Looks like summer is almost here,” Mercury said to himself, hand on his forehead as he looked off in the distance and continued fanning himself, a grin forming. “It’s only going to get hotter from here.”

He left his bag on the ground, careful of the food Erebus had prepared - he wasn’t hungry quite yet, but it would need to be eaten soon, since most of it was refrigerated food, including a rather large amount of strawberries (had Erebus prepared the whole lot?). “Venus?” he called, hands cupped over his mouth. This time, he didn’t even approach the rocks, sure that he’d fall into the water if he did. He hadn’t last time - but Earth had, so that meant that every time he’d visited Venus someone had fallen into the water (except for that one time, and he’d still ended up getting his clothes wet…) so he wasn’t going to play with fire. “Venus!”

“You’re loud, pipsqueak,” Mercury distantly heard. His heart skipped a beat as his grin widened - and then he leaned forward, squinting to see Venus in the distance.

Grinning, Mercury waved excitedly. “Come here!” He called, patting the ground next to him, before pausing. “With clothes on, please?” In the distance, Venus’s head tipped to the side, and he disappeared with a ripple of water – but only a couple seconds later, he reappeared a lot closer, stepping onto the sand with slow, sure steps. Mercury just watched, eyes locked onto him. Despite having just left the water, Venus’s hair and clothes were both bone-dry - and suddenly, Mercury found himself wondering if Venus would let him braid his hair, and his fingers twitched.

“I would go out to the water,” Mercury explained, smiling, once Venus was close enough, “but one of my friends made me lunch, and I have to eat it before it goes bad.” Venus just continued staring at him with a blank expression, and finally Mercury patted the ground again. “Sit here! C’mon. I won’t bite,” he added the last part with a wider grin.

Finally, Venus responded, lips pulling up as he showed off his fangs. “I might,” he said, smirking, and Mercury looked down at his food as a blush rolled across his cheeks.

“Please don’t,” he squeaked out, “I would rather not go home with a bite mark.” He followed that up by picking up a random strawberry and shoving it into his mouth just for something to distract him. Venus settled down next to him, an easy warmth that Mercury almost leaned into before catching himself. He pressed a hand over his mouth and swallowed before meeting his eyes again, sure that he was still slightly red. “Do you want to try one?”

“Try one what?” Venus’s head tilted as he looked past Mercury, at the food beside his bag.

“A strawberry! You know, I’ve never actually asked what you eat,” Mercury pressed a finger to his lips, arching one eyebrow with a questioning lilt to his voice. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not,” Venus answered, watching Mercury closely with a tilt to his lips. “But we can eat human food. Just don’t do it often.” Mercury picked up one of the strawberries and held it out to Venus, his hand trembling just the slightest.

Something moved out of the corner of his eye, and Mercury jerked his head over, narrowing his eyes, and then immediately jolted his head back as he felt something warm and wet against his fingers. Venus hadn’t gone for the strawberry with his hand - instead he had leaned over and closed his mouth over Mercury’s fingers to grab the strawberry.

Mercury’s lips parted, face shot with a burning warmth as his heart jumped into overdrive. A strangled noise slipped out of his mouth, and Venus’s eyes shot to his even as he leaned back and chewed the strawberry - and Mercury swallowed hard, blinking several times in a row. “Uh,” He finally said, the words so strangled he wasn’t sure if Venus could even tell what he was saying, “I sort of expected you to grab it out of my hand… _{but this is fine too,}“ His voice went even quieter at the end, to the point that Mercury could barely hear the words - and he was the one saying them.

Venus just grinned - a moment later he swallowed, and Mercury blinked again, another nervous sound falling out. “Oh, but this is so much funner, pipsqueak,” Venus said, reaching over Mercury as he leaned back, hands wavering in mid-air. All Venus did was pick up another strawberry before leaning back with it grasped between two fingers.

“Your turn,” he said after another moment, a smirk lining his face - but his eyes were serious, locked onto Mercury’s. Mercury swallowed hard and blinked rapidly, several seconds passing in silence as Venus just watched him, strawberry in hand.

“You want me to-“ Mercury cut himself off as Venus arched one eyebrow, tilting the strawberry more towards him. Mercury huffed out another nervous laugh, but finally leaned forward and bit into the strawberry before jolting back as juice spilled down his chin; and Venus’s smirk widened as he continued staring - and then he popped the rest of the strawberry into his mouth.

“You’re so easy to tease, Mercury,” he said after a moment of chewing; and the way Venus said his name held such a degree of hidden fondness that Mercury had to duck his head again, heart thudding so fast he could almost feel it in his throat. He drew his hand over his chin and wiped away the juice before grabbing another strawberry; and it continued like that in silence - Mercury grabbed the container and shoved it into his lap so that Venus wouldn’t have to continue leaning over him to grab them (every single time he did, Mercury’s heart went into overdrive and he wondered if at some point he’d have an actual heart attack).

Finally, when all of the strawberries were gone, Mercury moved onto the sandwich - this time, though Venus refused to eat, instead watching Mercury as he blinked and ate slowly, trying to ignore just how awkward it felt eating with Venus just watching. Setting the sandwich down on his knee, Mercury looked at Venus with a raised eyebrow. “You know, you don’t have to sit here and watch me eat. I’m sure it’s boring.”

“Nope,” Venus replied, amusement in his tone. Mercury’s smile dropped and he blinked again, head tipping to one side.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m fine,” Venus finally said, shrugging with one shoulder, leaning back against the other arm. “Is it a crime?” Mercury nervously laughed, scrunching his nose as he picked up his sandwich and took another bite just for the distraction.

“No…” he said after another moment, warmth dusting over his face. “That’s fine.” His voice sounded a little strangled, and finally Mercury just gave up on talking at all, instead focusing entirely on finishing the food so they could do something else. After another couple of silent minutes, Mercury rose, taking quick steps over to the ocean, irrespective of Venus still settled on the ground. He had to wash his hands if he wanted to do anything else - he was not dealing with strawberry all over them. When he returned, Venus was also standing, his hair wild, settled over his shoulders, caught under and over the chiton’s material - Mercury studied him for a couple seconds, a feeling broiling in his chest, warm and affectionate, before finally shaking his head and stepping back over to him.

Venus’s gaze jumped towards him, an unreadable emotion in his eyes before he looked at Mercury with a blank expression, his lips tilted in what was almost a smirk. “Can I braid your hair?” Mercury suddenly found himself saying, still looking up into Venus’s eyes. “It just looks so… soft.”

Venus blinked, his brow furrowing as if he hadn’t expected Mercury to ask him that. “You want to… braid my hair?”

“Yes…? You don’t have to let me if you don’t want to. I just wanted to ask,” Mercury added, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind his ear as Venus continuing staring at him. Then, he shrugged, turning around - but before he was fully facing away, Mercury caught the slightest of smiles tugging at his lips.

“Okay,” he said, turning around and settling back onto the ground. “I don’t care. Feel free.”

Mercury settled down behind him, heart still hammering away; he pulled all of Venus’s hair to the back, his skin comfortingly warm beneath Mercury’s palms. His hair was amazingly soft and silky, and it slid through Mercury’s fingers like silk. Now that he was looking closer at it, Mercury realized just many shades of color were layered within - oranges, reds, and yellows smashed together in a way that Mercury just had to admire, for so long that Venus twisted around to look at him with one arched eyebrow, his expression a little confused.

“Oh, sorry,” Mercury mumbled. “Just got… caught up.” He trailed his fingers through Venus’s hair again, top-to-bottom, scratching at his scalp lightly. As Venus tilted his head up into the touch, Mercury’s lips twitched, a small smile developing. Finally, he separated the hair into three strands, surprised at just how much hair Venus had. “All I can do is a basic braid,” he finally said, “I hope that’s okay.”

Venus waved one hand in the air, a short grunt leaving his mouth in answer. Mercury shrugged and started braiding without waiting another second, a quiet happiness filling his chest as he just sat there and twisted his hands and fingers, careful not to pull too much or twist the hair up. Finally, he paused, hand holding onto the end of the braid, so it didn’t fall apart.

“Uhm, Venus,” he said after a moment. “Do you have a tie for this? I don’t really… braid my hair, so I don’t have one.” Venus didn’t move at all, and for a moment Mercury wondered if he’d heard him. The second he opened his mouth to repeat himself, however, Venus held up a hair-tie, the same color as his chiton. “How did you-” then Mercury paused, grabbing the hair-tie with the hand not holding the braid. “The same way you get the clothes, I guess?”

“Yes,” Venus replied, before going silent again. Mercury twisted the hair-tie around the end of the braid before patting Venus’s shoulder as he stood up.

“Well, there you go, Venus… your braid’s all done!” Mercury smiled again, his head tilting upwards as Venus stood up, and Mercury’s eyes stayed locked on him. “I don’t… really ever plan for anything else to do these days, so… is there anything you wanted to do?”

Venus’s head tilted to the side, and a sudden smirk fell over his face; Mercury narrowed his eyes at the mischief clear in Venus’s eyes. “Oh, I have an idea, actually. Come on,” and Venus wrapped his hand around Mercury’s wrist, dragging him as he walked towards the rocks lining the water.

“Uh,” Mercury said, “Are you taking me to the water?”

“Of course. You always have a change of clothes, anyway,” Venus responded, throwing a short glance back at Mercury, mischievous smirk still lining his face. “Don’t you have one now?”

“I mean, I do,” Mercury answered, suddenly nervous. “But that still doesn’t mean I want to get wet, Venus…”

“Oh, you’ll like this.” Mercury finally just let it go, going with the flow as Venus led him towards the rocks. He jumped in the water straight away, finally letting go of Mercury’s wrist - Mercury kept walking on the rocks, arms out to keep balance.

“So,” Mercury called out to Venus. “What exactly are we doing?”

“You’ll see!” Venus said, voice low, almost inaudible. He dived beneath the water and resurfaced a few feet further away; it continued like that for a while, almost as if he was leading Mercury somewhere.

Soon enough, Mercury was farther onto the rocks than he’d ever been, and they were getting close to the end, where it was only ocean as far as the eye could see. “Venus!” Mercury nervously called out. “I can’t walk too far. Are you seriously going to make me jump in the water?”

“Of course not, pipsqueak,” Venus said as he hauled himself half-up onto the rocks, tail rippling in the water beneath him. His fins lay flat against the sides of his head, and for a moment Mercury wondered what they’d feel like before he shook his head and forced himself to refocus. “Just come closer. Come on,” he continued, grinning, showing off sharp teeth.

Finally, Mercury got to a point where the rocks were slick enough that he had to get down and crawl towards Venus or risk falling down (he did still slip once, almost banging his shoulder against the rocks before managing to catch himself). “So, what are we doing?” Mercury finally questioned, sitting down on his legs as he stared at Venus, hands splayed against the rock to provide some leverage.

“Give me your hand,” Venus answered, putting his out like an offer. “I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you, pipsqueak.”

Mercury pressed his lips together, but finally reached out towards Venus’s hand. I trust you. “You do know I can’t breathe underwater, ri-” his voice cut off as Venus’s hand closed tight around his, fingers intertwined - and then he pulled, and Mercury followed him over the rocks and into the ocean.

The water closed over his head, and Mercury slammed his eyes shut, grip on Venus’s hand tightening. It was both frightening and not - he didn’t want to be in the water, especially knowing how little time he could hold his breath; but with Venus there, Mercury was at least confident that he wouldn’t let him drown.

He finally opened his eyes just a tiny bit - they burned, but it was easy to push past, so he opened his eyes wider and looked at Venus. With his mouth tightly closed, Mercury raised his eyebrows and jerked his head upwards, kicking his legs as he tried to swim up.

Venus let go of his hand and instead grabbed onto his wrist; with that grip, Venus tugged him in closer - and closer, and closer - until Mercury was pressed right up against him, his chest starting to burn. He gave Venus another confused look and tried to jerk upwards again, but Venus shook his head sharply, his other hand grabbing Mercury’s chin and pulling his face closer.

Pressed up against his front, Venus was warm - but the water around them so cold that it was almost like whiplash. Mercury made another face, his chin still in Venus’s grip - and then he sealed their lips together, and Mercury froze. This isn’t really the time for a kiss, Venus, he thought, eyes opening wider.

Venus stared straight forward into his eyes - and Mercury suddenly realized they were glowing, the yellow ring around his pupil shining. Mercury kept his mouth closed, confused; a second later, Venus’s tongue swept out, testing the seam of his lips, and Mercury’s mouth gasped open, surprise jolting through his body. Venus’s eyes shut, and he breathed into Mercury’s mouth, the sudden feeling of being able to breathe making Mercury go limp in his grip.

Another breath, and then Venus pulled back - and Mercury slammed his mouth shut, already concerned. You’re seriously not going to kiss me every time I need to breath, he thought hysterically. Venus’s grip around his wrist dropped, and instead he tapped at Mercury’s throat with a finger, eyebrow arched. “You can breathe now, Mercury.”

“What?” Mercury gasped in a breath and then froze, the realization that he was breathing water like it was air crashing into him like a physical object. “How am I…?”

“Soulmates,” Venus shrugged. “I never pretend to understand it.”

“I’m underwater… I’m breathing water like it’s air,” Mercury said, hands on his head. He turned around - his eyes still burned, but his chest no longer felt like it was being crushed, and he breathed in several times, deep breaths that made his entire body shudder. “Venus!” he finally yelled, whipping around. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do that? I was so worried!”

“It’s funnier to do it this way,” Venus smirked at him - and finally Mercury blinked as he took in Venus’s full appearance underwater. He hadn’t really seen him yet - just his human form, and the top-half of his siren form. Venus was silent as he studied him, arms crossed over his chest as his tail whipped from side to side.

Mercury’s lips parted as he suddenly noticed faint glowing stripes on Venus’s skin, wrapping around his arms and chest, one circling around his neck glowing brighter than the others. “Wow,” he couldn’t stop himself from saying, hand going out to trace one of the glowing stripes on his arm. “I didn’t know you had these.”

“They only appear underwater,” Venus answered - Mercury glanced up, realizing suddenly how close they were. He blinked, warmth spreading over his cheeks; and Venus noticed, judging by the smirk that tugged at his lips.

He didn’t move his hand away, however, instead tracing more of the stripes up his arm, onto the one that wrapped around the top of his shoulders and traced over his collarbone; until Mercury was floating right in front of him, both hands on Venus’s shoulders as he looked straight at him, the yellow in his eyes glowing brighter.

Without wasting another second, Mercury initiated another kiss, pushing forward to close the gaps between their lips. Now that he didn’t think he was in danger of suffocating, Mercury could pay a lot more attention to the kiss - and he did, his mind hyperfocusing on every sensation: the warmth of Venus against his front versus the extreme cold of the ocean; the faint taste of strawberry on Venus’s lips; and how Venus’s hand wrapped tight around his upper arm, fingers flexing as the seconds passed.

After another second, Mercury pressed in more, testing the seam of Venus’s lips in a mirror of his earlier action; his lips parted as he smirked into the kiss, and Mercury’s heart skipped a beat as he traced the edge of a sharp tooth with his tongue, a shiver running down his body as a sharp thrill echoed through his chest. Mercury’s hand flew up, his fingers threading against the short hairs at the nape of Venus’s neck, careful of the braid, and he leaned into the kiss more as his heartbeat sped up. His other hand traced up Venus’s cheek, tracing the edge of the fins that splayed out - they were weirdly soft, a silky texture like his hair, and Mercury’s fingers stroked the edge of one as curiosity ran wild.

Venus made a rough sound against his lips, pulling back after another second, his own breathing a little rougher as Mercury blinked and pulled in his own sharp breaths. “Okay,” Venus finally said, his voice even rougher than normal, “that was nice, pipsqueak… but not what I brought you here to do. Come on,” and again, he wrapped his hand around Mercury’s wrist, pulling him along as Mercury’s other hand pressed against his lips, the ghost of Venus’s touch still echoing in his mind.

They were swimming faster than Mercury could’ve ever hoped to - the water streamed against his eyes in such an irritating manner that he had to duck his head, his gaze falling to Venus’s tail as it curved back and forth in the water, pushing them along. It gleamed orange and yellow, the scales seemingly reflecting every little bit of sunlight that passed through the ocean’s surface.

“So where are you taking me?” Mercury finally shouted.

“You’ll see!”

“All I can see is water!”

“You’ll see,” Venus insisted again, fingers flexing against Mercury’s wrist. “Just wait, pipsqueak.”

Mercury narrowed his eyes, but finally just let go, looking around instead. True to his words, all he could see was water - but they were going down now, the sunlight getting weaker and weaker as the seconds passed. Am I going to be able to see? Mercury thought for a second, twisting to look down into the fathomless depths below. Let alone survive down there? Isn’t there like… a certain pressure depth that humans can handle… He shoved the thoughts away and refocused on Venus ahead of him, remembering his earlier promise. Everything will be fine, Mercury, he told himself. Stop worrying and just enjoy it.

Finally, they blew past a point where Mercury’s eyes suddenly adjusted as he blinked hard - an ethereal glow filling the water, emanating from countless plants littering the sea floor. Color littered the sea floor - fish darting around, other creatures Mercury couldn’t even start to name, coral, seagrass, and rocks rising from the sand.

 “Wow,” Mercury said, his lips parting. “That’s…” he stopped talking when Venus drew to a stop, letting go of Mercury’s wrist so that he could float, twisting downwards and studying some of the plants that were somehow glowing, a dim silver that made it much easier for Mercury to see than he thought it would.

A school of fish suddenly blew past them, silver shimmering in its wake. Mercury blinked hard and followed them into the distance with his eyes. “You see this all the time?” He finally muttered - half to himself, half to Venus. “It’s so… pretty.”

“Hello,” someone called out behind them - Mercury turned around to see another siren, one with long blue hair that trailed behind him as he twirled in the water. “Did you see my fish-” The siren paused when his eyes landed on Mercury, grinning suddenly. “You brought a human here, Venus?” The siren floated closer, head tilting as he studied Mercury, the fins on the side of his head suddenly flaring with different shades of blue. “I didn’t expect that from you!”

“Oh, shut up, Neptune,” Venus grumbled from behind him.

Neptune grabbed a random patch of seagrass, his other hand digging into the sand beneath him as he trailed closer. “I’m just having fun, Venus, calm down! You’re always so mean,” he pouted. Mercury blinked and then waved as Neptune stared at him, blinking one eye and then the other.

“Hi… I’m Mercury,” he finally said, sending him an awkward smile. A fish suddenly darted past his face, and Mercury watched it’s progress, his lips parting. Then he shook his head and refocused on Neptune. “Sorry, this is the first time I’ve ever seen… anything like this,” he added.

“Oh, you’re fine,” Neptune said, elongating the last word. “It’s so pretty down here, I like it a lot more than the last place we were at! Anyway,” he turned away from them, floating back up into the water and twisting in place. “Bye!” And then he was gone, leaving Mercury blinking and wondering if that had really happened.

“Is he-”

“Trust me, pipsqueak,” Venus said, suddenly a lot closer as he slung an arm around Mercury’s shoulders (sending him off-balance a little bit before Venus’s tail wrapped around his ankle and set him straight) and sent him a wicked grin. “He’s always like that. You get used to it.”

“So how many sirens are there in your… group?” Mercury paused, unsure how to refer to the sirens at large. “I mean, I’ve only met you, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus - and now Neptune, but is that all?”

“No,” Venus said, shrugging at him. “But I don’t know the rest of them well. They tend to hang around the others more. You probably won’t meet them. If Saturn, Uranus, and Mars are around here… you might see them again. It’s not like I track them all.” He looked away from Mercury, the faint stripes glowing brighter. “I just brought you down here to show you the ocean floor anyway. I figured you’d like it,” he was almost inaudible by the end of his sentence, his mouth twisted to the side. Mercury just grinned and leaned up, pressing another kiss to his cheek.

“I do!”

“We can’t be down here long, since the breath thing wears off eventually - but feel free to explore, pipsqueak. I’ll be here.”

Mercury grinned again and whipped around, swimming a little closer to one of the small sea creatures he’d seen earlier - as his shadow crept towards it, it scuttled away as little puffs of sand followed the air behind it. This is so cool, Mercury inwardly thought, his grin widening even more. I’m on the ocean floor!

Almost like a repeat of the first time they’d met, Mercury was caged within Venus’s arms as he swam upward, the surface approaching faster and faster. This time, however, Mercury wasn’t trying to squirm out of Venus’s grip - instead, he wrapped an arm around his neck and settled further into it, almost exhausted. When they finally broke through the surface of the water, Mercury realized suddenly that it was almost sunset.

 His lungs took a second to readjust, and he coughed a few times, but Venus helped him up onto the rocks before letting him go and sliding back into the water. Mercury crouched on the rocks for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and looking at Venus. “I’ve got to go back,” he muttered, brow furrowing. “I told them I’d be back before it gets dark.” Then he grinned. “But that was fun! We should do it again.”

Venus just gave him a satisfied expression, like he was saying I knew you’d like it, and Mercury rolled his eyes good-naturedly before standing up and brushing wet sand off his hands as best as he could. “I’ll see you later?” Venus nodded, not moving an inch - Mercury started walking off the rocks, stepping carefully as possible. His bag was still where he’d left it, though now it was covered by a fine layer of sand thanks to the wind.

As Mercury crouched over to pick up his bag, the hair on the back of his neck rose, a sudden paranoia sweeping through his chest. He twisted his shoulders as the humid air settled over him, the way his clothes stuck against his skin suddenly only intensifying how off he felt. Turning around, he eyed Venus in the distance as his lips twisted into a frown. There was a sudden sound behind him; and even from this far Mercury could see Venus’s face twist in a weird mixture of fear and anger - and then Mercury felt someone grab both of his hands, pulling his arms behind his back so hard it hurt.

“I told you it’d work,” a rough voice said behind him, followed by a cruel laugh. “Now tie him up, we need to get the Siren up here.” Mercury swallowed hard as someone stepped past him - and then the person roughly grabbed his chin, forcibly making him look them in the eyes - and it was Simmons.

“And see,” he said, face morphing cruelly. “I told you we found ourselves an excellent tip to get what we want.” He threaded his hand into Mercury’s hair and pulled mercilessly, forcing him to stand taller. He could see Venus in the sand further off, in human form now as his eyes jumped between Mercury, Rosen, and Simmons, anger obvious in every line of his body. “Come on, Siren!” Simmons called out, his hand twisting in Mercury’s hair again as he resisted the urge to cry out from the pain. “You come over here and we won’t hurt him… or you can stay over there, and…”

Behind him, Rosen twisted something onto his wrists, his shoulders screaming in pain as he thrashed, trying in vain to get away from them. Venus finally kept approaching, his lips curled in anger, eye twitching. Mercury met his eyes and frantically shook his head, motioning him to go back to the water - but Venus seemingly ignored that, continuing to step slowly over the sand towards them.

“Come on,” Simmons whispered, shuffling place - and Mercury finally noticed he was holding something behind his back, a cold feeling worming through his chest.

“Venus!” He cried out, a hand slamming over his mouth tightly a second later; Mercury continued shaking his head frantically. Get out of here, he yelled inwardly. I’ll be fine!

The moment Venus was close enough, his hand whipped out towards Simmons’s face, seemingly catching him by surprise - he lurched back with a hand over his eye, blood already leaking down, and Mercury grinned behind Rosen’s hand. Take that, he thought, satisfied - and then his eyes widened as Simmons used Venus’s proximity to his advantage, hand lifting off his now-bleeding eye to stab something into Venus’s neck. No!

Venus immediately stumbled once, his eyes going distant - and then he crumpled into to the ground, and Mercury’s heart stopped. “Knew that would work,” Simmons said, sounding triumphant as Mercury just stared at Venus’s crumpled form on the sand. “The other hunters said it knocks them out like nothing else, and they’re out for hours.”

Behind him, Rosen laughed, his hand finally leaving Mercury’s face - but he stayed silent, eyes locked onto Venus. “Now we’ve just gotta carry the dang thing out of here. Back to the docks, and we’re finally out of this insipid town.” Simmons reached down and slipped Venus’s still form over his shoulders, none-too-careful, and Mercury thrashed against Rosen’s grip. Simmons looked at him with one raised eyebrow before smirking cruelly.

“Get rid of him.” Mercury’s eyes widened - he’d guessed that they wouldn’t let him live, but still. Rosen’s hand wrapped around his wrist, so tight that Mercury had to clench his teeth together - and then he marched him towards the dock, leaving Simmons behind.

“What are you-?” Mercury twisted in vain, his shoulders screaming in pain again.

“You don’t want to go in the water? I thought you liked the water, Mercury,” Rosen scoffed from behind him, nails digging into Mercury’s wrists. He continued thrashing against Rosen’s grip even as he realized that it was fruitless - they’d tied his hands behind his back in such a way that any movement at all sent pain racing up his spine. Rosen paused at the end of the dock and turned Mercury around, eyes on his, lit up in cruelty. “I’m going to enjoy telling your Siren that I let you drown,” and then he pushed Mercury off the dock.

The water closed over his head as he sunk like a rock - and unlike earlier, when Venus had been close, and he’d been aware he was in no danger - now Mercury was panicking, pulling harshly at his wrists until they burned so badly he had to stop, choking back a cry as he kept his mouth closed. His chest began to burn, and Mercury finally looked up at the surface of the ocean above as his mouth gasped open against his will, the sudden awareness that he might actually die this time pressing in.

Chapter Text

Water flooded into his mouth, and Mercury thrashed against the ropes holding his wrists back as a burning sensation rose in his chest until he coughed, inhaling more water. The burning intensified. More panic set in. His eyes slammed closed as he pulled at one wrist and then the other. Sparks of pain arced up his arms as he realized without even looking that the skin on his wrists had been rubbed raw, and more fear flooded in as the ocean’s surface drifted further and further away. As the seconds passed, the sea around him became colder and darker, and Mercury’s vision began to darken as his heart stuttered. A strange calmness set in, a sudden awareness that it was futile to keep trying. Mercury closed his eyes and went limp - and the last thing he felt before his awareness winked out was a cold hand against his upper arm.

The next thing Mercury knew, he was lying on his back. His eyes shot open and caught the last blinding rays of sunlight, and he groaned and immediately leaned over and coughed as water flooded out of his mouth. His chest ached, the ache spreading into his limbs and head, igniting an almost bone-deep exhaustion. “Wha-” He groaned, coughing a second time.

“Mercury!” A face hovered over his, blurry and indistinct as Mercury struggled to pull his mind back to focus. “You’re okay! What were you doing in the water? And where’s Venus? You almost drowned!” Mars’s face came into clarity, the worry obvious in his furrowed brow and downturned mouth.

“Almost?” Mercury coughed again, more water following. “It feels like I did.” It hurt to talk, his throat burning just like his lungs. Every breath felt like someone was stabbing a knife into his chest. He went to move his hands, to put pressure on his chest and relieve some of the pain - but as if his brain was suddenly becoming aware of the fact that they existed, he groaned in pain as white-hot agony spiked up his arms and into his shoulders. “My hands,” he pushed out, and Mars’s face disappeared from his field of vision as he felt a sudden loosening at his wrists, and the immediate, obvious pain from them being held behind his back disappeared.

Still - when Mercury tried to lift his arms up and look at them, a flare of agony echoed through and he froze and put them back down on the ground. Mars looked at him again, his eyes studying Mercury closely. “I know you’re not okay, Mercury, but can you breathe alright?”

Mercury took in a breath - it still felt like knives stabbing into his lungs, but he was at least breathing. “I-” Mercury paused and licked his lips, wincing at the salty taste. “I can breathe.”

“What happened?” Mars finally asked, helping Mercury sit up and cough a couple more times. “You’re lucky I was just coming back. Except for Venus, nobody’s around this area usually! And… where is Venus?”

The memories came flooding in as if Mars’s words were the key to remembering, and Mercury immediately tried to stand up, regretting it as he slumped back down with an almost-whimper of pain. “The… the hunters. They showed up, they must have been watching and trying to find the best time to-” He winced again. “They used me as bait and knocked Venus out with… something? I don’t know. But they took him.” Mars’s head tilted to the side, anger rushing into his eyes.

“Who took him?” Mars’s brow furrowed even more, his eyes darting about like Simmons and Rosen would be hiding around the corner.

“I don’t- the hunters. Simmons and Rosen.” Mercury shuddered. “They were staying at our inn. They gave me the creeps… I should have figured this out before, and now Venus is going to get killed because of me-” Mercury paused when Mars’s hands settled onto his shoulders and he leaned in, eyes locked onto Mercury’s.

“Where, Mercury? You need to tell me.”

Mercury winced again, his head aching. The hunters had said something about where they were going, he knew it - but the memories stayed frustratingly out of reach, his head still aching from the almost-drowning. “Maybe… I don’t know,” he finally replied, almost a whine. “I can’t think.”

Mars stared at him for a couple more seconds before he let go of Mercury’s shoulders and stood up, pacing in the sand in front of them. “Okay,” he muttered. “Just need to get… Saturn and Uranus and Neptune… and we’ll figure this out.” He whipped around, eyes on Mercury. “You get back home. Don’t put yourself in more danger.” Mercury nodded, struggling to get to his feet as his chest burned with the slightly heavier breaths he was taking. Mars gave him another look, and then he ran towards the water, disappearing almost immediately, only a single ripple in the water marking where he’d dived.

“Ugh,” Mercury groaned - finally, he stood up, wavering in place for a couple of seconds before he managed to stabilize himself. He pulled his arms up and looked at his wrists, eyes widening immediately. The skin of his wrists was red, irritated - when he ghosted a touch over one of them, a flare of pain immediately lashed out, and his arm shook. It was obviously rope burn - the distinctive red, bruised skin wrapped around his wrist almost like a bloody bracelet. Mercury let out a nervous laugh that transitioned into an almost-sob, squeezing his eyes shut.

“I need to get help,” he finally muttered to himself, biting his lip to hold back the torrent of tears that wanted to flood out. “Jupiter will know what to do, which means… I need to go home.” He turned around and took a couple of steps toward his bag, inwardly and outwardly wincing at the exhaustion that ached through his entire body. When he stooped over to grab his back, Mercury’s eye twitched as he almost fell over, barely catching himself with one hand - which immediately flared up in pain. “Are you serious?” he huffed, pulling his bag over his shoulder and ignoring the aching.

This walk home was going to suck - but who knew what was happening to Venus at this point? Mercury would willingly suffer a million times worse if it meant this had never happened. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before taking quick but careful steps towards the path.

When Mercury finally saw the silhouette of the inn in the distance, he let out an audible sigh of relief, making several of the people who hadn’t already been glancing at him give him weird looks. He was already walking slow enough for it to almost be a spectacle, his entire body aching - and his lungs still burned, every breath a flash of pain. Still, he kept walking, intent on getting back and alerting someone to what the hunters had done. He wasn’t going to give up while Venus was at risk.

His eyes slid closed as he took another deep breath, ignoring the way his chest ached. “Almost there,” he whispered to himself, his voice raspy and broken. “Just a little longer.”

He stood up straighter, clutching his bag’s strap a little tighter before continuing to walk forward, heading for the door of the inn. He couldn’t look quite as messed up as he felt, or they were likely to force him up to his room to rest before he could even tell them what was going on. He placed a hand on the doorknob and flexed it against the metal before twisting and pulling the door open. “Jupi-” His voice died immediately when he saw who was standing in the middle of the lobby.

Sol turned to look at him with his head tilted slightly to the side - Mercury looked away from his intense gaze and darted his eyes about the room, quickly noting where everyone was. Jupiter and Erebus sat at the tables together, looking vaguely scolded, while Earth and Luna were both at the desk - which Sol had been facing before Mercury walked in.

“Sol,” Mercury said nervously, his raspy voice making Sol’s eyes narrow.

“Mercury,” he said, a manic grin crossing his face. “Where have you been? I came back early and expected to see you all here - but instead my messenger was apparently out and about.” His grin transitioned into an almost pout, and Mercury nervously shuffled in place.

“It’s a long story, but listen-”

“Long story? Oh, Mercury, we’ve got time,” Sol said, his eyes wide. “Feel free to tell us. I’d love to hear this.”

“It’s-” Mercury paused again, another wave of exhaustion passing through as he dropped his bag. Immediately following the wave of exhaustion was an overwhelming wave of anxiety, and finally Mercury opened his mouth and spoke, unable to hold anything back.

“I keep getting almost kidnapped and this one time I almost got kidnapped I was saved by someone who ended up being a siren named Venus and then I saw him in my dreams and apparently I’m his soulmate and also I keep visiting him and I kept falling into the water so I got sick once and-” Mercury huffed in another deep breath as his throat ached, but he kept going. “I visited him again today and he took me down into the water but when we got out and I was about to leave two men showed up and they tied me up and knocked Venus out and then took him with them while one of them knocked me into the water and tried to drown me but another siren showed up and saved me and I had to walk back here and we need to do something!” Mercury drew in a final deep breath before coughing harshly, throwing a hand against the wall to keep from collapsing onto his knees.

Everyone else just watched him with wide eyes and open mouths, the shock obvious in every line of their bodies - except for Sol, who suddenly let out a sharp bark of laughter. “HA! Mercury, you got me GOOD! You should tell jokes more often.” He looked at Mercury as he continued laughing, but his grin suddenly fell, his laughter cutting off as soon as it’d started. “Wait. Did that actually happen? You met… so they did come here. Ha, I knew they’d follow the clues I left!” Another second, and Sol’s expression turned stormy, an angry grimace curling onto his lips. “Did you say someone knocked out and kidnapped Venus?”

Mercury blinked, almost feeling whiplash from Sol’s quick mood changes. “Yes - wait, you know them?!”

“Know them? I made sure they’d come here!” Sol started pacing across the floor, his hands flexing at his sides as if he was itching to fight someone. “Who was it? Where’d they go? I’m going to-” Sol shook his head, his teeth gritting. “Mercury!” He turned around and whipped towards Mercury as he leaned back into the wall, almost shrinking against Sol’s anger. “Oh, calm down, Mercury, I’m not angry at you.” Mercury let out a nervous laugh in response, but otherwise stayed silent. “Who saved you from drowning?”

“Uh - Mars?”

“Did you tell him that Venus was taken?”

“Yes,” Mercury said, his brow furrowing. “Why?”

“Where?”

“I don’t-” Mercury pressed a hand to his forehead and fished for the memories of the moment the hunters had left, the anxiety pressing in harder as Sol’s stare intensified. “The - the docks,” he finally gasped. “One of them mentioned the docks. But- Mars doesn’t know that, I couldn’t remember when he asked me.”

Sol just nodded, his eyes suddenly flaring bright orange, an inhuman glow. Mercury blinked hard and let out a nervous sound, and a second later Sol pulled back and strode towards Erebus and Jupiter. “Erebus, Jupiter!” he called out, sounding almost too happy, “Looks like we’re going on a bit of a trip,” and the happiness turned menacing, an almost-growl in his voice.

“Wait, wait,” Mercury said, throwing his hands up in the air, ignoring the brief pain that sparked through his arms, and the urge to cough that sprung up in his chest. “Just Erebus and Jupiter?”

“Just Erebus and Jupiter,” Sol repeated. “You, Earth, and Luna are staying here,” he emphasized, pointing down at the floor. “I don’t want to have to think about where you three are when I deal with things up there. Erebus and Jupiter know to stay out of the way.” He sent Mercury a sharp grin, flashing fangs Mercury hadn’t realized he had. They looked familiar, something dinging in the back of Mercury’s mind - but he was too focused on the irritation rising to the surface. Sol suddenly waved one hand in the air and disappeared into the first floor hallway, leaving Mercury staring after him.

“Mercury, are you okay?” Jupiter asked, approaching with his hands out like Mercury was a wild animal about to attack. “You look horrible. And did you say you almost drowned?”

“The hunters tied rope around my wrists and pushed me into the ocean,” Mercury explained, watching as Jupiter’s eyes widened. He held up his arms, and Jupiter stared at them for a second, obviously taking in the irritated red skin as his brows furrowed in anger. “I’m fine, though!” he argued, immediately proving himself wrong as he launched into a hard coughing fit that sent him careening into Jupiter. “I just- I just got a little-little water in my lungs, I’ll be fine, Jupiter,” Mercury struggled out, coughing the entire time.

“You’re obviously not fine right now, Mercury,” Jupiter said, his mouth downturned. He helped Mercury stand back up and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Listen, I agree with Sol. You’re not coming with us.”

“What?” Mercury burst out, almost shouting, his hands thrown in the air. “Listen, it’s my fault that Venus got kidnapped. If I hadn’t-”

“If you hadn’t gone out there today, they would’ve gone after you another day, Mercury. They were obviously after something, and they knew what to do to get it. You can’t blame yourself - but you also can’t come with us. I’m sorry, Mercury, I’m not budging. And you know Sol isn’t either.” Mercury huffed an angry sigh before slinking over to the desk and shoving himself into a chair beside Earth and Luna. Luna gave him a worried look before getting up and walking away, and Mercury internally wondered where he was going.

Sol stalked out of the back rooms with a manic grin on his face, and Mercury blinked hard as he realized that his eyes were still glowing an inhuman orange. “So you really aren’t human..?” He finally asked, not even meaning to say it out loud - but Sol’s eyes jumped towards his, his grin growing.

“Nope!” His fangs flashed in the light again, and briefly Mercury wondered how he’d never noticed them before. “Not at all. I just took this form so I could blend in a lot easier. Needed to pick you 4 - 5 - up somehow!” His eyes jumped to Luna coming back in from the kitchen with a glass of water when he upped the number, and Mercury frowned harder, blinking again.

“Wait, you meant to get us this whole time? It wasn’t coincidence?”

“Oh, I’ll explain it all later, Mercury.” Sol tossed a dismissive hand his way and strode towards the door. “Jupiter, Erebus, come on!” Without waiting another second, Sol pushed the door open with almost too much strength - it flew back into the wall with a bang that echoed through the entire lobby, making Mercury jump and give a short cough. Jupiter tossed him a worried look as they followed - Erebus was a step behind Jupiter, and he closed the door behind them, frowning the whole time.

“So they’re seriously just going to leave us here?” Earth laughed. “Jeez.”

“Here, Mercury,” Mercury suddenly heard from his side, and turned to see Luna holding out a cup of water to him. “Your voice sounds destroyed, you need to drink some water. Have you rested at all since you almost… drowned?” Mercury stayed silent as he drank the water, the refreshing coolness almost making tears spring to his eyes. Luna frowned at him as if he knew the answer just from Mercury’s silence.

“So what happened, Mercury? You visited Venus and then some… hunters? Showed up?”

“No, it was - the hunters were Simmons and Rosen! We were right to be suspicious of them from the start.”

Earth groaned, throwing his hands in the air. “Damn! We should’ve told Jupiter about our suspicions. Maybe we could’ve avoided this.”

Mercury sighed and shook his head. “Who knows. You know what Jupiter said earlier - they were obviously after something, and they knew how to get it. Even if we did tell Jupiter, it might’ve ended the same way.” He looked out the window at the dark sky high above and frowned. “I’m going after them. I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing while Venus is in danger.” He stood up, wavering in place once before he forcibly straightened his posture.

Earth eyed him. “Mercury, you look like you’re one stiff breeze away from falling down and never getting up again.”

“I’m not staying here and doing nothing,” Mercury hissed out. “Wouldn’t you want to be there if it was Mars who had been kidnapped? Or Luna? Or any other one of our friends?”

Earth’s eyes narrowed, his hands clenching where they lay against the wood. “Fine,” he groaned, standing up and pushing his chair back hard. “But I’m coming with you.”

“And so am I,” Luna piped up, his arms crossed over his chest. Earth flashed him a look, and they stared at each other for a few minutes as if they were solely communicating through eye movements - and then Earth gave a huge sigh and shook his head.

“You’re both stubborn to a fault… but I suppose I am too.” He dragged them both up with a hand on their arms. “Come on, if we’re gonna get to the docks before the party is over, we’ve got to go now. And Mercury… you’re not walking the whole way, especially if you want to have the strength to actually do something when we get there.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” Mercury blinked. “It’s not like I can float.”

Earth gave him a deadpan look and crouched down. “Just get on my back, jeez.” Mercury blinked again, surprise flooding in - and then he sighed and leaned forward onto Earth’s back, wrapping his arms around his neck while Earth locked his arms behind Mercury’s knees and grunted. “See, you’re not heavy at all.”

“Just get us there quickly, okay? I don’t even know what’s going to happen. All that Simmons told Rosen was to go to the docks… if he said anything else, I can’t remember it.”

“We don’t even have any weapons, Mercury, what are we supposed to do?” Earth adjusted his grip as he spoke, and Mercury frowned.

“We’ll figure something out when we get there. Just go,” he replied, pointing towards the door as he tightened his grip. “We can’t be too far behind Sol, Erebus, and Jupiter.”

The air outside was humid, and Mercury immediately regretted not changing his clothes - they’d mostly dried on the long walk home, but they were still just damp enough to be annoying, even worse in the humidity. He had to give Earth directions to the dock in town, so he couldn’t even rest for long, just heaved in deep breaths and closed his eyes for as long as he could whenever Earth didn’t ask him where to go next.

It was mostly deserted in town, since it was late enough that everyone without somewhere to go had gone home, but still several people tossed questioning looks towards Earth with Mercury on his back and Luna at his side. Nobody asked, since nobody was dumb enough to question who they recognized as Sol’s… men? Mercury still wasn’t sure what they were considered, and he’d worked with Sol for years.

Still, as they approached the docks, it got quieter and quieter - and suddenly Mercury swore he could smell smoke. “Earth,” he said, tapping against Earth’s shoulder with hand. “Can you smell smoke?”

“Huh, Mercury? I- huh, I can. Where’s that coming from?”

Both of their gazes darted around, but with the dark sky above there was no obvious tell for where the fire could be; still, as they approached the docks Mercury felt apprehension rise in his chest. The smell only got stronger, and now Mercury could see flickering orange light in the distance, the familiar cracking and popping that ignited memories - both the ones of his almost-death, and the dream with Venus. “Earth?” he finally said, blinking. “I think the dock is on fire.”

“Why would the dock be o-” They finally stumbled through the entrance of the alleyway and looked directly towards the docks, and Earth immediately stopped talking, freezing in place. “The dock is on fire.”

“How is it on fire?” Luna asked from Earth’s side - Mercury glanced down at him and saw him peering into the distance with one hand on his forehead. “Mercury, you’ve told us before that they don’t keep flammable materials around here, it’s too dangerous to risk the dock…”

“I think I have an idea,” Mercury said, slowly, before he shook his head. “Earth, let me down. We need to figure out what we’re going to do.” He slid down Earth’s back as he let go, stabilizing himself with a hand on Earth’s shoulder. Briefly pressing a hand against his wrist and hissing against the flare of pain, Mercury looked back towards the raging fire in the distance - now that he was able to look carefully, he realized that it wasn’t the dock that was on fire, but ones of the boats moored against it.

“I have a feeling I know exactly which boat we need to get onto,” Mercury grimaced, pointing towards the inferno. Earth and Luna followed his pointing and echoed his distasteful face, but the three of them started walking towards it, careful to avoid any of the few people still on the docks, who were running away from the fire with frantic looks on their faces. “So, we just have to get onto the giant boat… and then I’ll find Venus, and help him out of wherever he’s been imprisoned, and then we’ll get off the boat.”

“But Sol, Erebus, and Jupiter are on that boat… and they’re going to be searching for Venus as well. In fact, the other Sirens are probably going to show up at some point, too,” Luna countered, frowning. “What are we going to do about that?”

“Well, if we’re already on the boat, they can’t really do anything about it, can they?” Earth grinned. “Come on, the gangway’s still down - and it’s not on fire. We’ll just have to sneak across it and try not to be seen.” He stepped forward without waiting another second, and Mercury exchanged a glance with Luna and shrugged before following, crouching and staying in the shadows. His entire body still ached, but it was easy to ignore when Mercury reminded himself that this was the only way to make sure that the hunters were dealt with, and Venus was saved. He technically could’ve left it to Sol, Erebus, and Jupiter to deal with… but he never could have lived with himself.

“Guys,” Earth whispered, motioning. They were finally at the gangway - and the crackling of fire was far more intense here - but it was also concentrate in the back of the boat, where Mercury could finally see figures in the distance. The three of them quickly bolted up the gangway and behind a wall; Mercury leaned out and glanced where he’d seen the silhouettes only to see nothing but the fiery inferno continuing to devour the back of the wooden ship. He narrowed his eyes but turned back around.

“We need to hurry. I don’t think this ship is going to last very long. That fire’s growing by the second… and it’s got a lot of fuel here.”

Earth and Luna both nodded at him, and Mercury slid along the wall of the ship until he saw a raised platform close by - he inclined his head at Earth and Luna and then the three of them scrambled over to the hatch - it was shut tight, but when Mercury tested the handle it easily lifted - and the entrance yawned before them, dark, damp, and unendingly warm. Mercury swallowed hard before stepping onto the first rung with careful feet - his eyes adjusting to the dark after another second; he clenched the rungs tight in his grip and slowly made his way down until his feet touched the ground again. Earth and Luna followed close behind, but the bang of the hatch closing behind them startled Mercury, and he barely stopped himself from jumping.

“Why isn’t there any light in here?” Mercury finally whispered, almost hissing the words back to Earth and Luna. “I’d expect there to be at least a little…”

“Who knows,” Earth whispered back. “Let’s just get down to the lower levels, that’s probably where they’re holding him.”

“If there is a lower level. We don’t know the layout of this ship, after all,” Luna said from behind the two of them, and Mercury sighed at how true that was. They could’ve already gone the entirely wrong direction on accident.

“Oh, be a little optimistic, Luna,” Earth said, almost a scoff. The three of them froze when a beam of light lit up a hallway in front of them, someone suddenly coughing.

“Is someone there?”

Mercury tossed a hand back to Earth and scrabbled at his shoulder. “What do we do?” He hissed quietly as possible.

“Just wait!” Earth crept a little past him, towards the other side of the hallway that connected the one where they saw the light. He paused there - and Luna and Mercury both waited with bated breath as the light got closer and closer, and someone approached.

“Hello!? Man, I’m starting to hear things. First some weird crackling and now whispering?”

The person speaking finally walked into the junction between the hallways - and Earth immediately jumped forward, using his bodyweight to shove the person’s head into the wall. There was a loud bang, and they immediately passed out and slid to the floor. Mercury huffed a surprised sound. “What?” Earth said, looking back at him as he dusted off his hands and then picked up the flashlight the man had been holding. “Now we have a flashlight!”

“And we know the people down here don’t know the boat’s on fire… how, I have no idea,” Mercury added, coughing after a second as he leaned against the wall and took in a couple of deep breaths. “Come on, we need to get going down. If Venus isn’t on the lower levels, we’ll… figure something out.”

The three of them moved quicker now, down the hallway opposite where the man had come from - they didn’t have any time to waste, so Mercury found himself wishing to every deity that had ever existed that they’d find their way to wherever Venus was. And if they got there and discovered Sol and the others had already gotten Venus out… then they’d deal with it from there.

“Lots of bridges left to cross,” Mercury muttered to himself. Earth looked back at him with one raised eyebrow, and Mercury just shook his head and shrugged, not wanting to explain his thoughts at this point. They finally approached a point where the hallway hit an end point, sloping down into another staircase split in two. “Come on,” Mercury said, taking point this time with his brow furrowed. “That fire’s gotta be getting worse by the second, we can’t risk staying in here too long.”

Earth tossed him the flashlight, and Mercury caught it with a hiss as his wrist burned - Earth sent him an apologetic glance, and Mercury just shook his head and pointed the flashlight down the stairs as he took the steps two at a time. He could hear a sudden hissing, a weird sound that made his head buzz, and Mercury shivered. He stopped on the stairs and looked up towards Earth. “Can you hear that?” He whispered, hands over his ears.

“The buzzing?” Earth nodded, grimacing. “What is that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Mercury frowned, clutching the flashlight tighter in his hands before continuing. “Come on,” he whispered behind him. “Let’s hurry.” It was getting warmer, and Mercury knew exactly what that meant. The stairwell branched off into several paths, and Mercury made a snap decision, following the one path that made the hissing grow louder every second. He hefted the flashlight a little higher, but then they turned a corner and there was a large wooden door in front of them, the hissing so loud it had to be coming from that room - and in the crack below the door, light leaked through, lighting the hallway up just the slightest.

Mercury pressed his lips together. “Be ready for anything, I guess.”

He closed his hand around the handle for the door and pulled quickly, readying his stance just in case someone was inside - but the room was completely empty, the only sound the hissing noise. Mercury cautiously stepped inside - and his eyes were immediately drawn to the massive tank in the back of the room, where Venus was floating, unconscious.

“That… does not fit the appearance of this ship,” Earth said from behind him, and Mercury couldn’t help but agree. These siren hunters were the real deal, then, if they had something like this in their ship. Earth wandered over to a weird panel with blinking lights, and Mercury let out a weird noise.

“Don’t touch anything! We don’t know what those do,” he hissed at Earth, darting forward to the tank after another second. He studied Venus’s unconscious face, weirdly relaxed and blank in a way Mercury had never seen it - and finally Mercury slammed a fist against the glass as if it would wake Venus up, a bang echoing in the room. Mercury suddenly noticed a door in the wall opposite the panel where Earth was standing - and a second bang rang out from that room, as if someone else had been startled. “Hide,” he hissed at Earth and Luna, creeping towards the door and hiding where he couldn’t be seen by the person opening it. Earth and Luna scrambled in opposite directions, Earth hiding behind some boxes piled in the corners of the room, while Luna scrambled behind a sheet of fabric laid over another pile of boxes. Mercury held the flashlight aloft, his hand trembling just slightly as he waited with bated breath.

His eyes jumped towards Venus again, his hands tightening around the flashlight. The door opened, and someone stepped through with a strangled curse, following it up with “These damn tanks, always making weird noises.” Mercury narrowed his eyes at just how familiar the voice was, fury writhing to life in his chest. Rosen stepped past the door as it swung closed behind him, and Mercury immediately lashed out with the flashlight - it slammed into his head and Rosen was immediately out, sailing directly down to the floor with a sound that made Mercury cringe before shaking his head with a grimace. “Did he really not know the boat is on fire? He didn’t seem rushed at all.”

Mercury stepped over his prone body and towards the panel against the wall, his eyes running over every single label and button, until finally he spotted one that looked promising - Release. He pressed the button and the hissing sound ceased, an unnerving silence filling the room for a brief second before there was a sudden grinding sound and the water level in the tank began steadily lowering. “Earth, I can’t carry him,” Mercury finally said. “You’re going to have to.”

Earth sighed but stretched his arms. “Yeah, I can do that. Just keep a hold of that flashlight in case we need it. By the way… nice hit, jeez.” Earth sounded genuinely impressed, and Mercury bit back a grin as he watched the water level finally lower enough that Venus was left in his human form at the bottom of the tank… naked. As a hatch in the front of the glass suddenly started opening, Mercury let out a high-pitched noise and whirled around, spotting the sheet Luna had hid behind. He kept his eyes focused high in the air and snatched the sheet off the boxes, immediately turning and heading for the tank. When he reached the tank, he threw the sheet on top of Venus and huffed a quick sigh of relief.

“There,” he breathed out, before doubling over in a sudden coughing fit.

“Mercury,” he heard, Luna’s hand pressing onto his shoulder. “We’ve got to get out of here, that fire’s going to be so much worse now.”

“I know,” Mercury rasped, his throat burning. “Just need a second. Earth, can you get Venus, please?”

Earth groaned, but carefully pushed Mercury aside as he leaned down and heaved Venus over his shoulder; he also kept a hard grip on the sheet around Venus so it didn’t fall, to Mercury’s relief.

“There’s got to be another exit in here,” Luna said, walking over to the door that Rosen had entered from. “I don’t think they’d only have one exit if they’ve got… this back here.”

“I think you’re right, Luna,” Mercury took another deep breath and then straightened up, following Luna into the room. It looked like a stereotypical office, almost - papers littered the large desk in the middle of the room, and bookshelves laid against every wall, laden with books. And then - “There!” - Mercury pointed towards the ladder neatly laid in between two bookshelves. “That’s got to go up. We’ll just have to hope that wherever it leads us isn’t on fire.” Earth finally came through the door with Venus still limp on his shoulder - Mercury’s brow furrowed at the sight. “Earth? Can you even go up a ladder still holding Venus?”

“It’s going to be freaking hard… but we’ve gotta figure out anyway,” Earth responded, one eyebrow arched. “It’s not like we can wake him up… can we?” The three of them paused and all looked at Venus on Earth’s shoulder. “Mercury,” Earth finally said, jerking his head towards Venus. “You try and wake him up, I’m definitely not.”

Mercury tossed him a deadpan look but strode over to him, a frown developing. “Venus!” he called out, patting one hand on his cheek. “Venus,” he tried again, this time patting harder. But there was no response, not even a twitch - and Mercury frowned deeper. “Maybe they gave him another dose of that knock-out drug?” He bit his lip at the thought, and finally turned back around to face the ladder. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.”

There was suddenly a loud sound behind him - a gasp of surprise from Luna, and then the sound of someone hitting the floor - and Mercury whipped back around to see Earth surprised, his hands in the air while Venus was flat on the ground, tangled up in the sheet. “What?”

“Well,” Earth said, blinking. “I think he woke up.”

“So you dropped him?!”

“Hey, he pushed out of my grip! I didn’t drop him,” Earth gave him an affronted look.

“Venus!” Mercury dropped to his knees beside Venus - he was blinking harshly, with one hand against his forehead, the other holding him up. “Are you okay?” Venus’s eyes jumped to him, then darted around the room they were in - and he hissed, hand flying from his forehead to wrap around Mercury’s arm and pull him down against Venus.

Mercury made a surprised sound, but otherwise didn’t react, just stared up into Venus’s eyes. “Venus, we need to get out of here,” he urged, his eyes darting to the hallway they’d originally come from. Orange light flickered, barely visible, and Mercury struggled up as Venus followed him, still gripping his arm tight as if the moment he let go, Mercury would disappear.

“This boat is on fire,” he added, and Venus’s eyes widened. Luna was still at the ladder, and Mercury finally just motioned for him to go up, handing him the flashlight just in case; he scrambled up it quick as possible, disappearing a couple seconds later. “Earth, you go too. We don’t know where this goes.”

Earth nodded, his eyes narrowing. He tossed an apologetic look at Venus as he passed - though Venus wasn’t even looking at him - and then scrambled up the ladder after Luna. “Come on,” Mercury said, wrapping a hand around Venus’s wrist and pulling him towards the ladder - only the sheet fell off him, and Mercury immediately slammed his eyes closed. “Clothes,” he squeaked out, his grip on Venus’s wrist dropping.

“What happened to you, pipsqueak?” was the only response - and Mercury cautiously opened his eyes to see that the chiton had reformed on Venus (was it just something that he could do, then? Mercury considered that for a moment before throwing the thought to the side and focusing on his face again). He was staring down at the Mercury’s wrist, his eyes narrowed in anger.

There was a sudden sound behind Venus, and Mercury’s eyes darted up to see Rosen there, his teeth bared, eyes wide with anger. Blood trailed down the side of his head and dripped onto his clothing, and the fire glowed behind him, having eaten into the room with the tank. “Venus!” Mercury choked out, pulling Venus back with him just as Rosen lashed out with a pole of some sorts.

“Oh, Mercury, you’re still alive?” Rosen growled, his lip curling as his gaze passed between Mercury and Venus. “I’m surprised. I thought you’d drown when I dropped you in the ocean. Guess I’ve got to do it again - and make sure this time,” he took another step forward, hefting the pole in his arms - Venus shoved Mercury backwards and lashed out, latching his hands around Rosen’s arms. Rosen shouted and dropped the pole, and at the same time Venus shoved him backwards - and he dropped straight down into the fire, immediately screaming, a sound so guttural it made Mercury wince.

“Easy,” Venus said, his teeth bared, eyes glowing orange in the fiery light. Mercury watched him for a moment, a warm feeling in his chest - and then the fire reached the doorway, and he frantically reached out and pulled at Venus’s arm.

“This entire room is about to be on fire - and considering all of the kindling this room has, I don’t want to be here. Go!” He said the last part a little harsher, actually pushing Venus towards the ladder until he grabbed it and started climbing - Mercury immediately followed, throwing one last glance at the crumpled, burning form of Rosen just outside the doorway. Above, the heat only grew worse and worse, and Mercury breathed out a shaky sigh as he wondered how bad it gotten on the ship’s deck.

When he was finally out into the humid night air, Mercury felt another cough rising up his chest, but pushed it back as he looked to the side and saw a blazing inferno of fire - it had completely devoured the back half of the ship, and was quickly approaching the front. And in front of them… Mercury tensed, his chest growing cold when he registered that Simmons stood on the ship’s deck, a tight grip on Luna with a knife at his throat. Earth was standing in front of Simmons, his hands clenched tight at his sides, his entire body a line of tension.

Venus shoved Mercury further behind him as he hissed, a sharp, angry noise. “Let him go,” Earth yelled, his hand clenching and unclenching as if he was holding back the urge to punch. Simmons’s attention was entirely focused on them, so he couldn’t see the dark shape crawling over the side of the ship - but Mercury could, biting back a gasp as he realized it was Mars. From Mercury’s vantage point, he could see Earth’s entire body suddenly relax, and he knew that Earth had seen Mars too.

“Why are you even doing this?” Earth hissed, moving to take a step forward before Simmons’s grip on Luna tightened and he pressed the knife harder against his throat - Luna’s eyes widened, his gaze meeting Mercury’s, fear obvious in them. Behind Simmons, Mars finally came into the light, his teeth bared, eyes entirely focused on Simmons in a furious glare.  With a move so fast Mercury almost didn’t register it, Mars lashed out with one hand, pulling Simmons backward at the same time that Earth jumped forward and pulled Luna to the side, away from Simmons’s grip and the knife. Earth pulled Luna against him and backed away as Mars knocked Simmons to the ground and backed away to stand in front of Earth and Luna, one hand flung out.

Simmons groaned on the ground for a second before lurching back up, face shadowed. “We were so close,” he hissed. “Where did you come from?” He took another step forward to Mars, Earth, and Luna; Mars hissed at him with bared fangs, and Mercury took an aborted step forward before he realized someone was walking out of the fire behind Simmons.

“Who…?” He whispered to himself, and then the figure became clear, Sol brushing fire off his clothing like it was normal, his teeth bared, revealing entirely sharp teeth like Mercury had seen in Venus’s siren form. His eyes jumped towards Simmons; towards Mars, Earth, and Luna; and finally, towards Venus and Mercury; narrowing more with each second. His head tilted to the side, and then he stalked straight towards Simmons with an intense, fevered stare. Sol reached out and wrenched Simmons’s arm in a tight grip - the knife dropped to the ground with a clang, and Mercury watched with satisfaction curling in his chest as Simmons looked up at Sol with an almost animalistic fear in his eyes, the fire somehow growing taller behind Sol.

“Don’t touch what’s mine,” he hissed at Simmons - and then Sol threw him into the fire with the grip on his arm like he weighed nothing, a satisfied look on his face before he whirled around to face the five of them with a smile on his face like he hadn’t just tossed a man into a raging inferno. “You three?!” Sol said, clicking his tongue in disbelief, smiling. “I told you to stay behind and you come anyway?”

“Sol-”

“Helios?”

Mercury stopped talking at Venus’s question. “Did you say Helios? That’s Sol.”

“Pipsqueak, that’s Helios. I’d recognize him anywhere.”

Sol looked at them both with his eye twitching, a manic grin growing. “Venus! And Mars! I haven’t seen you two in a while.”

Mercury looked at the fire behind Sol, approaching even closer, and let out a nervous bark of laughter. “Maybe we should talk about this later? The fire’s getting closer…” Sol responded with a deadpan look. “And where’s Erebus and Jupiter?”

Sol waved one hand in the air, striding over to the five of them; out of the corner of his eye, Mercury noticed Earth release Luna and take a quick step towards Mars, throwing his arms around him in a tight hug. “They’re dealing with some of the hunters, nothing they needed me for. You five, however, are coming with me.” He kicked at the wooden side of the ship hard - it broke against the force, leaving a hole in the ship, and Mercury blinked hard as his lips parted from the surprise.

The heat against his back made him stretch his shoulders again, a short cough leaving his mouth as he rubbed a thumb against his aching wrists. Venus stared at him again with a furrowed brow, his eyes suspicious - but Mercury just shook his head shortly and hoped Venus would get the message. “Now come on, Earth, I think the others are here already,” and then Sol grabbed Earth’s jacket, pulling him away from Mars and pushing him off the boat as Mercury’s jaw dropped and he lurched forward as if to catch Earth; Mars didn’t even hesitate, diving off the boat immediately. “Oh, you want to be next, Mercury? Here!” And Sol did the same thing to Mercury, a hand against his back shoving him off the boat. His chest seized, fear pushing in as the dark, still water below him grew closer and closer - and then he hit it with a splash, an ache crawling through his entire body.

His eyes closed as he froze in the water, his lips pressed so tightly together it hurt - and seconds later, there was another splash, and Mercury’s eyes shot right back open as he felt a familiar warmth against his arm. Venus floated right in front of him, back in Siren form as the faint stripes on his skin began to glow; and then he scooped Mercury up and they swam upwards, and the moment they broke through the surface of the water Mercury sucked in a relieved breath, the fear replaced by a sudden realization that they’d gotten away and that nobody was hurt. “Yes!” Mercury wrapped his hands around the sides of Venus’s head, careful of the fins, and he leaned in and pressed a hard kiss to his lips before leaning back again as Venus just looked at him with wide, surprised eyes. “We’re okay!”

“Of course I’m fine, pipsqueak. The hunters couldn’t do anything to someone like me,” Venus said, a satisfied smirk replacing his surprised expression. “But what did they do to you?” He finished his question by looking directly at Mercury’s wrists with narrowed eyes - the bruises stood out in the flickering light from the fire above, and Mercury let out a groan and relaxed into Venus’s hold.

“Like Rosen mentioned before you, uh, pushed him into the fire, they put rope on my wrists and tried to drown me - BUT I’m okay! Mars saved me!” Mercury kept his hands on the sides of Venus’s face as his eye twitched, his hold on Mercury tightening as his jaw clenched underneath his hands. “It’ll heal fine. Besides - both Rosen and Simmons are burning now, along with all of their hunter friends!” Mercury probably sounded a bit too happy about that, but who was he to say? “So, everything’s going to be fine.”

“Yep!” Someone suddenly said from behind them, Mercury jumped slightly in Venus’s arms, his hands falling down - one wrapped around Venus’s neck for stability while Mercury turned to see who had spoken. He let out a surprised sound, his grip on Venus loosening as he saw Sol in the water behind them, Luna sitting on his shoulder with an irritated look on his face. “Everything will be fine, you two, calm down,” Sol said, but Mercury barely registered it, too busy focusing on the fact that Sol had the same fins as the other sirens did, glowing a dim yellow in the night.

“So you are a siren?!” Mercury burst out before he could stop himself. “We all knew you weren’t human, but - a siren?!”

Sol looked at him with an amused grin. “It’ll be explained later,” he said after a moment, almost singing the words. “I need to go get Erebus and Jupiter. Here, take Luna,” and Sol reached up and wrapped one hand around Luna’s neck, holding him like a mother cat might hold a kitten by the scruff. Mercury blinked and grabbed onto Luna’s arm when he was dropped into the water next to him, and Sol disappeared beneath the still waters, a yellow glow marking his progress as he headed back to the burning ship in the distance.

“Can we get back on the shore, please?” Mercury finally said, grip still hard on Luna’s arm. “I have been soaked thrice in the past day, and I already know I’m going to be sick in the morning… again.” Luna laughed beside him, and Mercury finally looked down at him, the fire still glowing in the distance making it easy to see the bloody line on his throat. “Wait, Venus! Are you okay, Luna?” Luna looked up at him, the hand that Mercury didn’t have a grip on going up to rub against his throat.

“I’m fine. Just a little scratch,” he said, shrugging. “But I want to get to shore too, so can we…?”

Mercury helped Luna climb onto Venus’s back, his arms wrapping around his neck - technically, Mercury could drag him alongside - but that seemed rude. “Let’s go, Venus,” he finally said, throwing him a grin and relaxing into his arms as a shiver ran through his body, the cold of the ocean fighting for attention against Venus’s natural warmth. “I need to get out of the water before I get hypothermia or something.”

Venus stared at him for a moment before nodding, the inhuman glow in his eyes dying down. He didn’t move, however, clearing his throat suddenly before speaking. “I’m glad you’re okay, pipsq - Mercury.”

Mercury’s expression softened, giddiness flowing through his chest as he leaned up and pressed a kiss onto Venus’s cheek, even as Luna rolled his eyes behind him. “I’m glad you’re okay too, Venus,” he grinned; and then they started moving, and Mercury melted back down. The aches and pains from everything settled back into his bones as he grimaced, but still... the hunters were dealt with, and Mercury was with Venus. So he was happy.

Chapter Text

They ended up on the shore not too far away from the dock - in the distance, Mercury could still see the fiery inferno devouring the ship, lighting up the shore with dim orange light. Somehow, the rest of the dock seemed fine, untouched by the fire - and remembering how Sol walked out of the fire suddenly, Mercury blinked. Did Sol have powers over fire or something? He’d walked into the fire untouched to pick up Mercury back when he’d… Mercury reached down and drew a hand over the burn scars on his legs, brow furrowing. He’d have to ask someone about that at some point.

Blurry figures approached in the distance from the direction of the docks. Mercury squinted, trying to resolve who it was, but the headache pressing in alongside the dimness of the moonlight and firelight made it so hard he finally just gave up. He guessed it was Jupiter and the others, anyway - nobody else would have a reason to be out here at this time of night unless they wanted to deal with the fire.  Mercury’s guess was proven correct when the figures moved into the moonlight, revealing Sol followed by Jupiter, Erebus, Saturn, Uranus, and… Neptune? Neptune held a weapon, one that Mercury recognized as a trident - he was dragging it in the sand behind him, holding onto one of the tines.

Behind him, Venus grumbled something that Mercury couldn’t hear; he turned his head and looked at him, but Venus just gave him a deadpan look and arched one eyebrow, staring until Mercury turned back around. Beside them, Earth was fussing over the cut on Luna’s throat - he’d somehow torn off a strip of the bottom of his shirt and was wrapping it around Luna’s neck while Luna just stared into the sky with an annoyed look on his face. When he caught Mercury looking at him, he tipped his head to the side and shrugged; Earth looked over at Mercury too and sent him a thumbs-up - Mercury bit back a laugh and looked back at Sol and the others again.

Sol looked normal again - well, as normal as he usually looked - the only exception being his eyes, which glowed in the moonlight. He raised one hand in the air and pointed towards the ship, his grin widening - the flames exploded higher, somehow growing hot enough that even on the shore Mercury could feel the air heating up - and then he closed his hand, and the fire disappeared immediately, like it had never existed in the first place, leaving the shell of a half-burned ship still moored to the dock. Mercury’s jaw dropped open, a confused sound escaping, and he rubbed at one eye as if it would make things clearer.

…So, Sol could definitely control fire. Or at least it looked like he could.

“Did you just-” Earth sounded just as bewildered as Mercury felt. Sol just stared at them with the same wide grin on his face, until Earth looked at Mercury with his lips pressed together. “…Okay? You know what, at this point you could make the moon disappear and I’d just take it as it is.” He threw his hands in the air and turned around, tying the strip of fabric tighter around Luna’s throat. Behind Sol, there was a sudden noise - Mercury whipped his head over, only to blink at bite back a laugh at the scene in front of him.

Saturn was practically wrapped around Jupiter, his arms closed around his neck while his legs wrapped around his waist - Jupiter was unbalanced, leaning back against Uranus behind him, while Erebus had a hand over his mouth, obviously laughing, though Mercury couldn’t hear him. Uranus had his hands up, a panicked look on his face like he half-expected Jupiter to fall over onto him, and after a few moments he backed up into Erebus, hands still up. Mercury shook his head at the scene, amusement coursing through him - behind the four of them, Neptune dragged his trident around in the sand, picking up rocks and throwing them further away from the ocean.

Behind him, Venus suddenly moved, and Mercury turned around too fast, wavering in place as his hand latched onto Venus’s wrist. Panic suddenly coursed through him, and Mercury couldn’t figure out why, biting at his lip. “Wait! Are you leaving?”

Venus tipped his head to the side. “I’m literally just moving in place, pipsqueak.” His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t remove Mercury’s grip on his wrist. “Calm down.”

Mercury gave a nervous laugh and let go, scratching at the back of his head, exhaustion suddenly coursing through his limbs. “Sorry, just got… a little worried for some reason. I don’t - do you have to go back to the ocean tonight?” Sol’s laugh rang out behind him, loud and boisterous - Mercury jumped, realizing abruptly that Sol had somehow gotten much closer. Why was he-

“Don’t worry, Mercury! You’re all coming with me tonight! Nobody’s going back to the ocean yet.” His eyes roved over the sirens, glowing brighter. “Everyone else can last without you. Come on!” and Sol gestured with his head for them all to go up the path that led from the shore to the docks. Neptune was the first to go, shrugging before skipping to the path with a giant grin on his face, trident slung over his shoulder; Jupiter followed, gate a little unsteady with Saturn still wrapped around his side; Mercury could barely see Erebus’s face in the moonlight, but he could see the confusion obvious in his raised brow and the thin line of his lips. Still, he followed, Uranus close at his heels.

That left Earth, Mars, Mercury, Luna, and Venus standing in the sand. Sol blinked at them and jerked his head, and Mercury moved, not wanting to be the last one left to move. His energy flagged again, and he almost wished he could lay down and fall asleep on the beach right then and there, but then he thought of his warm and comfy bed and shook his head, pushing the fatigue back a little more. He stumbled once, and Venus’s arm latched around his, stabilizing him. Mercury tossed a grateful glance back at him - he arched one eyebrow up and gave Mercury a deadpan look, his eyes raking over Mercury from head to toe as they continued walking.

“I’ll be fine,” Mercury muttered, waving one hand in the air. “I’m just a little-” his voice broke as he yawned, “tired.” He faced forward again, and this time his eyes almost slid closed, the fatigue breaking back in like it’d never left in the first place. He paused and swayed in place - and then he was swept off his feet suddenly, limbs thrashing before he realized who had picked him up, and then he relaxed, eyes on Venus’s face.

“You’ve picked me up like this,” he yawned again. “So many times. I don’t mind, though,” and he cuddled more into the warmth of Venus’s chest, his eyes sliding closed again as the exhaustion boiled over.

The next time Mercury woke up, he was on a bed - his bed. He groaned, warmth curling through his entire body; not a pleasant warmth, but the unpleasant, harsh kind of warmth from the last time he’d been sick. Yet, at the same time he felt cold, an uncomfortable mixture of feelings that left him restless. Mercury closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath as a distant nausea rolled through his stomach, his limbs aching like he’d been run over by something. He groaned again, rolling over in bed - and then he froze when his eyes met the sleeping visage of Venus, head cushioned in his arms against the bed while the rest of his body sprawled on the floor.

Mercury stayed silent for a couple of moments, eyes roving over Venus’s peaceful expression, his eyes pressed tightly closed, head slightly rising and falling with his breaths. Mercury’s lips curled into a smile, and he fully ignored the nausea roiling harder as he moved in even closer, taking the chance to study Venus while he could. The moonlight coming in through the window set his hair aglow, the strands of orange, red, and yellow almost perfectly mixing together; Mercury flexed his hand against the sudden urge to run his hand through Venus’s hair, remembering how soft it’d felt in his hands when he braided it at the beach.

Venus muttered something quietly, his head pushing further into his arms, and Mercury blinked, letting his head fall against the pillow as another flare of unpleasant warmth followed. His head twitched to the side, eyes on Venus again - only this time, Venus’s eyes suddenly slid open, dark and entirely focused on Mercury. They slid closed again as Mercury pushed back a smile, immediately shooting open a second later as if Venus had only realized then that Mercury was awake.

“Pipsqueak,” Venus groaned, his voice somehow rougher than normal from sleep. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair as he stretched his arms, yawning once. “You’ve been asleep for a while,” he said after another moment. His eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Everyone else wanted to sleep immediately anyway, so you didn’t miss anything.”

“Oh, good,” Mercury mumbled. “I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay awake anyway,” and he yawned, immediately proving himself correct. He shook his head slightly and regretted it as another ache pressed in harder than the last, his eyes closing against the sudden pain. “Why are you down there? That’s gotta be uncomfortable,” and he threw the blankets back and patted the bed next to him, too addled to be embarrassed about offering Venus to sleep in his bed. “Just get in the bed.” Venus looked at him and arched one eyebrow, his lips parting as if he meant to say something. “Just get in the bed,” Mercury repeated, yawning. “It won’t kill you, right?” Venus rolled his eyes and shook his head - but he did stand up, stretching once as Mercury just watched, yawning again.

Venus leaned over him and crawled into the bed, keeping his limbs as far away from Mercury as possible, like he was something radioactive. Mercury just blinked, the ghost of a smile twitching onto his lips as he bit at the inside of his cheek, amusement rolling through his chest. “Why is your bed so small, pipsqueak?” Venus grumbled, practically squeezed against the wall, his legs stretching past the end of the bed. Mercury bit back a laugh, again ignoring the nausea that pressed in. He was not going to succumb to it - he hadn’t last time, he wasn’t going to this time.

“Because I’m short,” he finally muttered, “and you’re like… super tall,” and then he yawned again, throwing that thought aside entirely. “You know,” Mercury quietly said, “I’m cold.” He latched onto Venus, almost halfway laying on him as Venus froze beside him. “You don’t mind, right?” Mercury shoved in closer at the warmth Venus emanated, pressing his face into the column of his throat - Venus swallowed hard, a funny sensation Mercury could feel.

“Pipsqueak, seriously?” Another pause, and then Venus finally relaxed underneath him. “No, I don’t mind.”

“Good,” Mercury yawned again. His hand flexed against Venus’s arm, and he closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would take him soon.

Venus’s fingers suddenly wrapped around his wrist - Mercury let out a slight hiss as his fingers lightly pressed against the rope burns encircling it, but Venus’s hand fell a little off them at the sound, staying loosely wrapped. His thumb pressed against the pulse point at the junction of Mercury’s wrist and hand, almost stroking. The bruises and broken skin had grown worse since Mercury had last looked at them - they stood out obviously in the silver moonlight, the worst just above where Venus’s fingers wrapped around his wrist.

“I did that myself,” Mercury finally said, softly. “Technically all they did was wrap the rope around my wrists. I caused the bruising and rope burns by trying to get my hands out of it.”

Venus’s thumb stroked against his pulse point, a soft sensation that sent made Mercury bite at the inside of his cheek, stomach fluttering. “Still their fault,” Venus finally said - Mercury could both hear and feel his voice, the vibration in his throat against Mercury’s face. “They deserved worse,” He practically growled the last part, his thumb pressing in against Mercury’s pulse point harder, as if reminding himself that Mercury was alive and well.

Mercury huffed, pressing his lips together and leaning in further against Venus. “You threw Rosen into a raging fire - and Sol did the same with Simmons,” he pointed out. “I think that’s pretty bad to begin with.” A flash of - not exactly amusement, but something like it - went through his chest as he thought back to the fear on Simmons’s face as Sol picked him up as easily as one picked up a towel on the floor.

“Still deserved worse,” Venus huffed. “Should’ve drowned them instead.” The raw anger in his voice sent a warm spark through Mercury, the idea that someone would be so… furious for him mesmerizing. He flexed his fingers in the air, pulling his wrist out of Venus’s grip to instead intertwine their fingers, squeezing tight.

“Oh, calm down, Venus,” Mercury grinned against his throat. “They’re dealt with, we’re safe, everything’s fine.” He squeezed one more time and then pulled his hand out of Venus’s grip and wrapped it over his shoulder, fingers settling against the sheet underneath Venus. He traced the places where the faint stripes had glowed under the water, his memory flashing back to that moment even as his eyes slid closed. “You’ll take me back underwater again, won’t you?” He murmured against Venus’s throat. “That was nice.”

Venus was silent, but his hand closed over Mercury’s waist, pulling him in the slightest bit closer. “Anything you want, pipsqueak,” he finally said, voice so low it vibrated through his throat and against Mercury’s face. He hummed in response, grinning against Venus before letting sleep take him again, the contentment he felt allowing the darkness to close in like it had never left.

The next morning found them all gathered in the lobby, the door firmly shut, blinds pulled down. Sol was pacing a line in the floor; Mercury, Earth, Mars, Venus, and Luna were all at the same table while Erebus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were at the other table. Sol gave them all a wide grin, “See, I knew I’d have to come back early,” he whipped around, continuing to pace like he couldn’t stand still. Mercury fanned himself, still feeling a little warm - luckily, however, it seemed that the sickness had broken overnight or had just never managed to get bad enough, since other than the uncomfortable warmth Mercury felt fine.

“I told Proxima and Rigel I didn’t care what they said, that I was leaving,” Sol waved one dismissive hand in the air. “They weren’t happy, of course, and I’ll have to contend with that when I go back, but who cares!” He stepped over to Earth and ruffled his hair until he made an annoyed face and pushed Sol’s hand away; he just grinned wider and danced away from Earth’s hand. “I have almost all of what’s mine back!” His eyes went wild, glowing orange like they had last night.

Neptune spoke up, blinking as his head tipped to the side. “Don’t we have to leave, though? You always told us we can’t stay in one place for too long.” Sol practically skipped over to him, closing his arms around Neptune and crushing him against his chest - Neptune didn’t even fight, just continued blinking in Sol’s grip, limp.

“Oh, don’t worry! Nobody’s leaving me now that I have you all back. See, I had to leave you all so I could get your soulmates before they died, but we’re all good now!” Mercury’s jaw dropped, his eyes widening.

“Before we died!?” Earth erupted, saying exactly what Mercury was thinking. His own jaw was dropped, his hands pressed against the side of his head as his eye twitched. “So Mercury was right? We were supposed to die.” He gave a huff of laughter, a strangled sound following a second later.

“Yep!” Sol grinned like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb. “See, I had a dream about all of your deaths, and I knew exactly what it meant - usually it’s not all supposed to happen at the same time, it’s supposed to be spread out over centuries,” he shrugged. “But I made the best of it!” Mercury’s eye twitched, and he let out the same strangled sound Earth had earlier.

“So, I was supposed to die in that fire?”

“Technically! But, see,” Sol dropped Neptune and stepped over to Mercury, closing his hands over his face. “By saving you from the fire, and everything else I saved everyone else from, I solidified your fates! You each had two diverging fates, and I picked for you!”

“So that’s why you made us stay with you afterward,” Mercury said slowly, hurt blooming in his chest. Sol’s eyes narrowed, glowing brighter. Beside him, Venus reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing. Mercury ignored it, but he didn’t pull his hand away. “Not because you actually cared for us, but because of what we’re supposed to be?”

Sol’s smile dropped completely, and he leaned back with a harsh frown, letting go of Mercury. “Of course not! You’re all mine now too. I’m not letting you go. You four - five - were mine the moment I saved you. So now I have more-”

Earth interrupted, standing with a furrowed brow, hands on his hips. He looked equally as hurt as Mercury felt. “What? Employees? Followers? We’re just… prizes?”

“No!” Sol closed his eyes and pressed his lips together, turning around with his hands fidgeting against each other. Finally, he whipped around, his eyes still glowing orange - but his smile was gone, replaced by a neutral expression. “You’re mine. Just like Mars, or Saturn, or Uranus,” he gestured to each of them in turn.

“It’s a siren thing,” Saturn interrupted, giving a sheepish smile, shrugging. “You wouldn’t… I’m sure Sol could explain it better at some point, but it really is complicated.”

“Yes! Saturn gets it,” Sol’s grin returned. “You’re not prizes, or… just someone I grabbed for my sirens. You’re part of my group now, just as my sirens are.” Mercury bit at the inside of his lip again, the hurt still roiling inside, but it softened somewhat, and finally he nodded - and Earth sat back down, a short frown still on his face, arms crossing over his chest. Behind him, Mars whispered something in his ear and the frown disappeared as Earth huffed a short laugh.

“But, none of that matters! All that matters now is that none of you are going anywhere. I won’t let any hunters get anywhere near this town - those ones earlier have been dealt with, and I’m going to make sure it never happens again,” Sol rubbed his hands together in front of him, his eyes turning menacing. “I don’t need this place anymore,” he pointed around to them, “So I’ll just have a new place built before I go back to the capital. Closer to the water.”

“Why are you doing this politics thing, anyway?” Mercury blurted out before he could stop himself.

Sol’s head tipped to the side. “For fun!”

“You became one of the foremost politicians in this country… for fun? You’re so high up in the government you regularly speak to Sagittarius!” Mercury blinked, nervous laughter following, disbelief flooding his chest. “Sol, Earth got kidnapped because he was associated with you. I’ve been almost kidnapped so many times for being associated with you!”

“What?” Sol’s grin froze. “You’ve been almost kidnapped?”

“Like multiple times!” Mercury threw his hands in the air. “How do you- oh.” Mercury stopped talking when he realized nobody had told Sol about his kidnappings yet - just like he’d told them to. “You can forget that, actually, please?” Mercury closed one eye and winced as Sol’s hands flexed at his sides.

“Oh,” Sol gritted out, “Forget it? You’re telling me about this later, Mercury. And I’m dealing with it.” He stared at Mercury, eyes burning, until Mercury huffed another nervous laugh and nodded, his hand squeezing Venus’s. “But - yes, for fun! It’s actually not that hard, people just fall at your feet when you say the right things.”

“O-kay,” Earth said, clapping his hands together and standing up. He had a look of combined exhaustion and annoyance on his face, and Mercury symphathized with him... heavily.“I think that’s all we need to hear. I’m going to take a very, very long break and do absolutely nothing for a couple of days. Bye!” And he left, Mars on his heels sending an awkward smile to everyone else.

Sol blinked. “Alright, I guess we’re done talking!” He grinned. “You’re all free to do whatever you’d like, I have some stuff to deal with,” and he clasped his hands together again, grin turning menacing. Mercury nodded his head, internally thinking that he did not want to guess what Sol was going to end up doing.

He turned to Venus and stood, still holding his hand - Venus stayed seated, staring up at him. “I’m going back to sleep,” Mercury said, shrugging. “I’m still tired,” and like he’d summoned it, a yawn followed, his eyes closing with the force. “Besides, I did almost drown yesterday,” he grinned, “I think I deserve all the sleep I want.”

“Sure, pipsqueak,” Venus rolled his eyes; but he stood up, following easily when Mercury pulled him along towards the stairs. Another smile pulled at Mercury’s lips, and he ducked his head, squeezing tightly one more time before pulling his hand out of Venus’s grip as they went up the stairs.

Mercury’s eyes were tightly closed, but he could feel rough rock beneath him, the oddly close sound of waves breaking against something - and he could feel the warmth of sunlight against his face. Blinking his eyes open, Mercury frowned. “Where am I?” He took in the area around him, memories suddenly flaring to life in his head. This was where - this was the scene of the first dream he’d had with Venus! Mercury sat up abruptly, his fingers pressing into the rock beneath.

“Venus!” He called out; then he crawled to the edge of the rock, eyes darting around the open sea that surrounded the rock on all sides. “Venu-” He cut himself off when he was met with Venus’s amused eyes on the side of the rock. “Were you waiting for me to wake up?” Mercury narrowed his eyes, huffing a short laugh.

“Of course not, pipsqueak.” Venus answered, voice low. “I just felt like sitting there on the rock where you couldn’t see me.” He laid one hand on the edge of the rock and pulled himself up, wearing the exact same chiton Mercury had seen him in every time since.

“Why do you always wear the same clothes?” Mercury asked, arching one eyebrow. At this point, he wasn’t even embarrassed about asking Venus the question, he just wanted the answer. “Also, why are you never wearing clothes when you switch forms?” His face burned as he asked the second question and Venus just gave him a deadpan look.

“Because we don’t wear clothes as sirens? Why would our human forms just naturally have clothes?” He arched one eyebrow, and Mercury reached out and plucked at the shoulder of his chiton, amazed at how soft it was. “And I don’t see the need in changing what clothes I’m wearing. It’s not like they’re actual clothes, anyway. It’s just an extension of our ‘human’ forms.”

“They’re not… actual clothes?” Mercury squeaked, dropping his hand immediately.

“Technically,” Venus shrugged. Then he grinned wide, almost a smirk, crawling forward to Mercury as he laid back, a chill running through his body. “Besides, that doesn’t matter. Looks like clothes, doesn’t it?” Mercury let out a nervous sound as he looked up at Venus, taking in how his eyes burned into his; how his hair trailed over his shoulders and hung in the air above Mercury; and the almost-hidden softness in his expression.

“I love you,” Mercury suddenly found himself saying, his cheeks hurting from how wide his smile grew. Venus froze above him, his eyes suddenly wide; Mercury just pressed his lips together in another, smaller smile as he looked up at him.  He didn’t expect Venus to say it back, exactly - but it would still be nice.

Venus’s face slowly suffused with red, the color drawing from his cheeks all the way down to his neck. “Pipsqueak,” he said, the word strangled. “You-” He looked away,

“I love you!” Mercury repeated, grinning wide. He reached up and placed a hand on Venus's cheek, feeling the warmth beneath his fingertips.

Venus’s eyes slid closed, and he ducked his head. Another strangled sound broke free before he looked down at Mercury with narrowed eyes. He sighed once before he spoke again, his voice so low it was almost inaudible. _{"I love you too, pipsqueak."}

Mercury grinned wider, curling his fingers in Venus’s hair, his heart beating a little faster. “What’d you say? I didn’t quite hear that.”

Venus gave him a look, his eye twitching; then he sighed and sat back, shifting his weight from side-to-side. Mercury followed, sitting up so they were still face-to-face. “I said…” his fingers tapped against his legs. “I love you too, pipsqueak.”

“I know you did. I just wanted to hear you say it again,” Mercury laughed and leaned forward, drawing Venus into a kiss as his heart burned with joy.