Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Narida woke up in a dark void, with a single floating screen in front of her.

On it are the options : vigilante: : villain: and :hero:.

Cautiously, she clicks on ‘Vigilante’.

The world goes dark.

Mer woke up in an alleyway, and realized she woke up in the middle of a patrol. "Ah shoot! Why did I fall asleep on patrol, I'm so dumb!" She scrambles to her feet, glancing around for the cause.

(Why was I asleep?)

(It appears you fell off a roof :>)

"Oh. Pog, I got concussed, cool, cool."

She lifts a hand to her face, just to ensure her mask is still on. She can't... remember why she fell off a roof, maybe her healing needs to kick in more, fix her brain up?

Mer hears a scratchy radio transmission in her comms, a robbery a few blocks down.

She frowned, she should definitely go, people might need healing, but she’s still dazed from that fall.

"Ah well, I'll be fine. Robbery, here I come!"

Mer peeks out of the alley, heading to the building, which was a Chick-fil-A. There doesn't appear to be any damage, and nobody seems hurt, but there's people on the ground inside. They're unharmed, just sitting.

"Who robs a chick-fil-a? Like seriously, why?" Mer sighs. “Guess I know what I'm doing." She’s never been very good at fighting, but she heals from injury quickly and can heal others, so she tends to get hostages out of the situation and wait for heroes or other vigilantes to beat up the actual problem.

Mer entered the building, and all heads turned towards her except one. "Hurry up please!" The person leaning up against the counter says, her green hair fluffing up in its ponytail. The worker quickly gets back to putting large amounts of various food in bags

Mer stood still, looking confused. "Uhhhh, hi? This, uh, doesn't really look like a robbery.” Cryptid turns. "Oh! Hullo! If you wanna order, you're gonna have to wait a minute” She grins from where her white T^T mask shows her mouth.

"No, uh, I came because I heard there was a robbery?”

Cryptid just stares at Mer, or Mer thinks she is as Mer can't see her eyes. She mumbles, "Can't even get lunch without getting the police called on me.”

 "Oh no, I'm uh, a vigilante? MerNARF? The 'Vigilante Healer', and all that?” Mer shuffled on her feet, which is probably not the best look for a vigilante but this is just soooo awkward!

Cryptid tilts her head, tapping her chin "I thinkkkkk I've heard of ya'. Friends with Dawn right?”

"I, uh, yeah? Wait, are you just ordering food?” Mer asked, confused.

The worker shakily pushes three large bags and twelve ice cream cones across the counter, and one large sprite. "Pretty much,” Cryptid shrugged.

Mer raised an eyebrow "Are you planning on paying for it?”

Cryptid places a 100$ bill on the counter, and pulls out a little red square.

"Oh.” Mer muttered.

"I don't steal from minimum wage, that's just cruel” Cryptid hooks up headphones to the square and puts it in her pocket.

"Oh, well, uh, enjoy your day, I guess?" Mer steps out of the way awkwardly, scratching at her neck. The bandages pinning her large feathery gills to her neck always made them sore and itchy, and if it wasn't for the black, scaled mask extending over her throat, there would be a visible silver glow from her powers constantly trying to heal them.

Cryptid nods, and starts humming. Reaching out, she grabs two of the bags and the humming gets louder, invisible hands grab the rest of her order and float clearly behind her. She salutes with two fingers* "cya Mer!”

Mer glances around, still checking if anyone is injured, just in case. Upon seeing that little display, she take a step back, and her gills try to flare out against the wrapping around her neck. For a moment there was utter silence,before it was broken by the employee. "are...we safe now or..." The employee asks.

"That was, uh, weird." Mer clears her throat "I'm not planning on robbing you, so unless you're hurt, I'm just gonna kinda.. go.”

Mer left somewhat awkwardly. "Oh crud! I'm going to be late!"

She runs to one of the water tunnels that span the city, glancing around before ducking in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ °~--{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Narida barely makes it to the cafe on time, out of breath. The trip back to the apartment had already been too long, having to run several blocks to her job instead of swimming always made it worse.

Mer’s gills are blessedly free, not bound around her neck. "Sorry I'm late! Something came up.”

"Narida! Oh thank goodness, we just got off" Tubbo says from behind the counter, undoing his apron.

Ranboo looked at Mer in mild concern. "You need a minute?”

"No, I'm fine. It's fine.” Mer said quickly. "Really, really sorry." Her gills flutter anxiously. "I heard I'm training someone on the cash register, so I can go back to the kitchen?”

Tubbo nods, grinning wildly. "Yup!” 

Ranboo looks doubtful but he is tired, so he lets it slide.

Just then, the door swung open, and a girl ran in. Narida startles, which causes the stranger to jump as well, though both settle quickly.

"Sorry I'm a bit late, my sister wanted chicken nuggets, and I couldn't say no.” The stranger holds out three ice cream cones. "Compensation.”

"Are you the new employee?” Mer asked.

"Oh! Yup that's me!” The girl replied, grinning.

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Narida said as she took an ice cream cone. "Um, I'm going to be the one training you, hope you don't have a problem with that.”

She looks up at Narida, one eye pale green, the other dark purple. Both have mischief in them. "Wonderful! More chances to meet the crew!" She grins widely, and it seems vaguely familiar, but the vigilante shrugs it off.

"Great! Just let me shoo the boys out, and we'll get started!”

The girl rubs her hands. "I can help with that!”

She runs over and starts shoving the boys all from behind, surprisingly strong for someone her size* "OUT!!”

Narida chuckles. "Maybe not that directly but yeah, something like that. Just don't treat customers like that, and we should be fine.”

"Now what?" *She bounced over to the axolotl hybrid, grinning*

Narida looked thoughtful. "Well, have you worked in a cafe before?”

"No, but I read ao3 so it can't be *that* hard.”

Narida let out a surprised snort.

"Cafe AU's, huh? It's a little bit different than fanfic makes you think, uh, sorry, what's your name?”

The girl facepalms loudly. "Ah! I forgot about that! I'm Mindima!”

Zeebur, teleports in. Mindima jumped a little.

"Hey Zee, you ok?” Narida asked, seeing just how pale the Endarian was.

Zeebur stumbled a bit.

"Hm?" They groggily glance up, emerald eyes half lidded as she nodded.

"M...I'm good”

Narida sighed tiredly. "Zee. Did you drink again?”

Mindima stared at them for a moment, seemingly thinking, before lighting up.

Mindima stared up at her with wide eyes, looking innocent

 "drink what?”

Zee blinked slowly.

"...Noooo." She smiled sheepishly.

Narida answered Mindima. "Nothing, it's nothing.”

"But you can't drink nothing, I tried.” Mindima responded, blinking up at Zee, wide-eyed.

The Merling looked confused. "Ok, Mindima, I'm just going to need a second with Zee, is that ok?”

She raised an eyebrow, dropping the innocent bit a little, “Why?”

"Just some personal stuff, I'll be right back. Oh, and the name’s Narida. Narida Mercia, nice to meet you."

She smiled, and reached out to grab Zee's arm, half-dragging them into the break room.

Mer heard her shout behind, "YOUR NAME IS NARNIA AMERICA???!”

"No, it's... nevermind. Look, I'm sorry, I'll be right back and then we can train for the job, okay?”

Mindima mumbles under her breath* "Fr'kn Narnia America…”

She waits in the front room, until she spots the chamomile tea bags. Shrieking in joy, she grabs a packet, sinking against the wall with it pressed against her face.

"Chamomile, my one weakness, nooooo..." She whispers.

                               °~--{

Zee huffs, annoyed.

"You didn't need to pull me asideee.”

"Zee, you just showed up to work drunk!”

*The axolotl hybrid ran her hands down her face, sighing*

"How am I supposed to train our new coworker when I have to keep you from coming to work hammered?”

She sighed again, gesturing in the direction of the door. "Look, Zee, just.. go home and sleep it off, I'll take care of it.”

She shrugged,"I dunno...but I'm getting.."

The Endarian collapsed, loudly thudding on the floor.

"What was that?!" Mindima shouts, muffled by the wall and door.

"Zee! Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Narida began to panic, desperately checking their pulse.Thankfully, they were fine, and she lifted her roommate and dragged her over to a couch in the break room and tried to lift her onto it.

"Uhhhh, a little help?”

Mindima ran into the room, staring at zee for a moment before walking over.

"They kinda passed out…”, Narida explained badly.

Zee murmurs quietly.

"Mhm?"

Zee slowly lifted herself up with the help of the two, standing almost a foot above them. She was dragged to the back room to sleep.

She was unconscious the moment she was horizontal.

"I was right then, though I smelled that gross crap on her.” Mindima notes, both of them walking back to the front.

Narida sighed quietly.

"They'll be ok.”

Mindima nods.

The Merling cleared her throat and turned back to Mindima, trying to smile but only half succeeding.

"So, training?”

Mindima lights up, "YUP!”

She grabs Mer's wrist, "Away we go!”

 She yanks Mer into the front room.

There's a chamomile tea bag sitting on the floor that neither of them acknowledge.

"Ok, so you're going to be running the cash register. Have you used one before?”

Mindima does an ‘eh’ gesture with her hand.

"No”

She blinks.

"BUT I CAN TRY!!!”

"Ok, don't worry, I'll show you." After showing Mindima how to use the cash register, a chaotic smile stretched across the demon's face.

"Neat! So, what do I do if there's a Karen?”

"Well, try not to yell at them." Narida is hasty to say, concerned about the look in the other's eyes. "Just get another person on shift with you and say that they're the manager, and they'll take care of it. Well, maybe don't get me, but that's the general plan we have.”

She nods,”So, don't default dance on their grave to crabrave, got it”

Mer blinks a few times.

"...No? What?”

Mindima blinks back, "What?”

"Nevermind. Yeah, just get another person on shift. If Tommy's here, definitely get him. He's great with them.”

She grins maniacally, "Well I know that much…”

"Hm? Wait, have you met the owner of many names himself?”

She shrugs, grinning evilly,"You could say that.” She says ominously.

"That's nice, it's good to know your coworkers."

Mer smiles. The rest of the shift passes without much incident.

                             °~--{

Narida walks home with Zee to their apartment. "Zee, seriously, you need to stop drinking, it's not good for you. I can't keep bailing you out with Bad."

Zee sighs softly, but shrugs, seeming uncomfortable.

"You know it's not that easy Narida...I do try, I swear, but..."

They pause, and put on a smile.

"Sometimes you can't stop that alcoholic grind”

Narida facepalms, her gills flaring out in irritation.

"Zee, that's not a thing. Just.."

She sighs deeply, pinching the base of her nose.

"Maybe don't come to work drunk? Please?”

Zee nods, and smiles softly.

"Yeah yeah...sorry it was a hangover. I had a rough night. But..."

She grins.

"I got you a gift”

"You did?”

A loud crash thunders out of the alleyway.

"What in the-!" Narida jumps, tail swinging as her claws flex on reflex and her eyes dart to the alleyway

"Who's there!?”

There's no response.

"This had better not be a raccoon.” The axolotl hybrid threatened shakily.

Zee blinks, and stares at the way the noise came from. They don't say anything, just pausing, their eyes narrowed as they start to walk towards the source.

"Zee, uh, maybe we shouldn't get closer to the mysterious noise?” The Merling asks warily. Zeebur doesn't respond, only stopping when she nears the source of the sound.

"⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⟟⌇⋏'⏁ ⏃ ⍀⏃☊☊⍜⍜⋏ ⋔⟒⍀"

Narida's time she had spent with Zeebur allowed her to translate.

That isn't a raccoon Mer

There, lying on the ground, seemingly passed out, is the Villain Cryptid.

Zee just stared.

"Oh shoot!"

Mer runs towards her.

Cryptid’s curled into herself unconsciously, jaw clenched hard.

"Fish Guts! Ok, uh, Zee, I might pass out."

Mer rests a hand on her arm as a pale silver glow emanates from her hand.

Cryptid was still out cold, but she wasn't hyperventilating anymore.

"So that's good. They shouldn't die." Narida winced, already holding her head from the healing.

Zee looks at the villain, seemingly reliving moments of their past. When Narida taps them, they blink, and start to help Mindima into the store, quickly setting her down and helping her not be uncomfortable on the hard floor. 

Cryptid doesn't appear to have any physical wounds, but is grabbing at her head and curled up even in sleep, teeth gritted and jaw tensed even harder.

Cryptid starts blinking, quickly gaining consciousness.

Zee teleported out of the alley to avoid confrontation.

Mer kept a webbed hand to her head, breathing deeply.

"Sweet Glow berries, what hit you! Owwww.”

Cryptid quickly shifts position into a defensive crouch,"Where the flip am I??”

Mer holds one hand out in a placating manner.

"An alley, I don't know! What in the Nether hit you!”

Cryptid stares for a moment,"hit...me?" 

She freezes, then groans, hands smacking over her face and falling back into a criss-crossed sitting position,"That mother-flipping beachball! I can't even listen to music!”

She drags her hands down her mask.

"Well, whatever it was, it hurts, though I guess you don't really need me to tell you that." The healer sighs, getting to her feet.

"I should go, don't tell anyone about this please.”

Cryptid waves one hand, using the other to get up, "Yeah, yeah, I already figured you out so I won't tell.”

She looks down, at a little watch that appeared on her wrist somehow, "Oh crap! I need to get back!" She waves nervously, “uh, bye!”

Narida takes a step back, allowing her to leave the alleyway while she covers her face with her sleeve.

Cryptid nods, saluting with two fingers and started climbing the fire escape.

Once she gets to the roof, though, she jumps…

…And goes straight through the floor.

Narida paused a moment, before walking on, choosing to unload what she'd just seen another day.

"Welp, that was fun. I'm going to head home and drink water for a while, wait the headache out."

She turns towards her home and start walking.

“Oh shoot, Zee is drinking isn't she.”

She starts running.

Chapter Text

Mindima jumped up through the ground and onto a rooftop.

 She stretched her wings, sore from being hidden all day. Michellea ran up to her, hugging her leg and alerting the others she was home.

"Mama!" Mellohi ran in full speed, tackling her to the ground.

   Mindima laughed, "Mel what did I say about jumping on me as soon as I get home?”

She unclipped her mask to reveal her Green and Purple eyes.

Mellohi didn't even look a little ashamed,"Not to, but Michie did it so I can too!”

Michael walked in calmly, carrying a sleeping Minie "Minx and AJ are reading”

Mindima nodded, and got up, Mellohi still hanging from her neck and trying to pull her down.

She went over and hugged Michael, Scratching behind Minie's ear briefly. "Minx! Andy! I'm hoooooome!”

Barely two seconds later there was a loud crash and two more kids ran in, both holding a well- loved copy of 'The Art of War' in hand and out of breath.

"Hi Mindi!" Miniminx's blue-grey eyes crinkled at the corners, smiling. Andy was full on jumping, almost a foot in the air.

"Heya Minx, did you get the ice creams?" She put an arm under Miniminx's arms, picking her up along with Andy jr., sweeping Michael along with her tail.

Minx nodded vigorously*"yups! Thank you Mindi!" She yawned, already leaning on her sister now that her instincts weren't yelling at her about not having a proper protector. Mindima knew from experience the crash that came after.

"No problem. How far did you and AJ get?”

Minx blinked sleepily, "We alm'st got t' th end I th'nk.”

"Ooo fun!" She grinned. Passing a door decorated with glitter and a gold star, she paused and went in.

The little piglin girl inside startled, and turned around quickly, ready to tell off whichever sibling had broken into her crypt, before seeing who it was and appearing under Mindima's wing in record time.

"Alrighty then, that's everyone, TO THE NEST!!!" She led them all to the largest room in their repurposed warehouse, the one with a large surplus of somewhat-illegally acquired Pillows and blankets of high quality. (Yes she stole them from a bunch of rich people, sue her. They could buy more).

Plopping down in the middle, she set Andy and Minx to her side, both already somewhat asleep. Michael handed her Minie, and she put them up against her wings, the two runts curling up in the excess warmth. Michael and Maeven curled up on her chest and she curled her tail around them all.

They were her kids. Maybe not always, or legally, but it was the truth.

It had been since she saved them.

She'd gotten the Twins first, both barely five with a newborn sister, all recently dumped into foster care for unknown reasons. Just appearing one day. They'd been put in a home with a long history of success cases, of dealing with the 'problem kids' until they aged out.

Nobody ever questioned how.

She'd been a villain for five years at the time, stealing mostly and helping out larger villains if they needed it. For the most part she wasn't a threat to anyone else in her line of work.

But something about these kids irked her when she saw them in the farmers market (she may or may not have been planning to rob the foster parents), as they didn't seem to notice anything that would've at least interested their instincts, or even general child interest. They also showed away from any hands or movement the fosters made towards them, stiffening up when they grabbed their hands. An immediate red flag for both hybrid and kids. She followed them home, out of interest and on the logic of ‘im a villain so moral ambiguity is allowed', and found what those fosters were doing to them.

I'll save you the details.

That's how she gets her official name, by beginning this legend. She left a note taped to the fosters’. A fun little warning to the people that did things like them. 

To those who mistreat, abuse, misuse

The childlike wonder of these children of might

Beware the creature that will be soon to strike

The Cryptid of the night

I've stood by the sides, and watched from afar

But now I have to act

And if you think that you can get away with this

Nothing to my vengeance will counteract.

 She always had loved poetry.

She'd gotten them out that night, getting them safely back to the nest, before going back and taking pictures. Of the past too, with her power, and sent it all to the CPS and police, heck, even some villains and heroes.

The people were sentenced to life in prison, and since nobody could find the kids, firsthand murder of children.

Mindima and the three got a larger family that night.

She got Maeven and Andy Jr. next. They'd been given to her by an ally, who was, at that moment, dying. He'd been stabbed several times in fatal areas and his last words were to give them to her. She found them in his house before the heroes got there, and her family grew a little more.

Miniminx' and Andy hit it off like a house on fire, despite the three year difference.

Maeven found a new love for design and aesthetics.

She got Michellea about five months ago, the four-month-old having been the last child of The twins' and Minie's birth parents, before they were found dead in an alleyway with a crying baby.

And the family grew in size once more.

∆∆

    \_^

(Timeskips are pog, lol.)

It was a few days after the incident, and she was gliding from roof to roof.

She saw a few friends, Ultima, Pesky bird, Rewind, Irene, ect. and exchanged friendly waves in passing. They all waved back. Funny how she could be friends with people on all sides.

Somewhere around the area between districts 34 and 33 she heard sobbing.

Freezing, she listened closer.

She could make out a few words, but it was mostly sobbing and squealing.

Piglin squealing and a Child’s sobbing.

She sprinted to the noise as fast as her wings and legs would let her go.

She arrived on a horrific scene.

There was a man, next to the only river in the lower districts, holding a soaking wet, limp child by the collar of her dress. She was wet from both water and blood streaming from a cut on her forehead.

He sneered at her, clearly too drunk to recognize her, " What'dya wan'!?" His speech was clearly slurred by alcohol, swaying a bit.

A high-pitched whine left the little girl, and he shook her harshly.

"Sh't up yeu l'ttl' br't!”

Mindima Shook with rage.

That was a kid.

She growled, low and a mix of a furious Enderian screech and that of a wolf.

He jumped at the noise, dropping the girl, who yelped and tumbled into the river.

Oh that was a mistake.

She jumped in, quickly snagging the sinking shape of the girl, and focused on both the music playing in her earbuds and on an air bubble appearing around the kid's head, as well as a safety boat and tether, linking back to Mindima.

Once the girl was safely on ground, she turned to the man.

Her hands shook with barely concealed rage.

Maybe I should make that kill count go up for the first time.

She shook off that thought, she didn't kill. Even real monsters like this.

She made a circle with her pointer finger and a portal opened up beneath him.

She quickly took a piece of paper, jotting down his crimes, ending in murder, so that they would know what would've happened if she hadn't showed up(and so that the kid wouldn't be looked for), and dropped it in the portal. Outside of the cell he's been put in, a nugget of gold beside it as well as a little ‘T^T’ in the corner as a calling card.

She looked at the kid, still limply laying on the softly glowing raft, breathing heavily. The blood was starting to pool. Crap.

She picked up the kid and started running, she knew two healers who would help her.

She thought for a minute about who would be best for this situation, before g

rudgingly portalling to the area she knew Leif would be.

This night was gonna be fun.

~~~~~~~

And so the family grew a little more.

Epic arts!