Chapter Text
The world beyond the tank was vast and boundless, its inhabitants free to soar to heights limited only by the imagination.
In the past, Luka had found himself enamoured with the sights and sounds beyond his crystalline prison, taking in every flash of blinding light and every cacophony of reverent praise as if it were the finest ambrosia. Each transient spark of radiance impaired his vision, but the stark white glow was reminiscent of the brilliant stars he used to admire from afar when a semblance of freedom had still been within his grasp. Likewise, every whisper of his name melded into an amalgamation of shapeless noise, endowing brain-splitting headaches upon him, yet he never uttered a word in protest.
Back then, Luka had endured it all. It hurt, but what hurt more was the all-consuming loneliness that threatened to envelope him whole the second the spotlights died.
Yet over time, he came to realize that he was living in a delusion, a delirium born of his own desire for connection — understanding . As much as he liked to pretend and revel in his own fantasies, he knew he would never be part of their world. Thus, his false paradise collapsed with time, folding in on itself until it vanished into bleak nothingness.
In its place emerged a new utopia, a blissful universe within his own head where he was the sole resident. No one could ever comprehend his flawed mind, so all he could do was retreat further into himself.
Even with masses of people flocking to observe him each and every day, Luka felt isolated. They all admired him, put him on a pedestal like he was some sort of god. Yet each word of condescending praise also made him feel lower than low, as if he were nothing more than a beautiful doll on display.
All in all, life inside the tank was numbing and dark, akin to floating in a desolate galaxy devoid of stars.
Luka only ever interacted with the outside world when his owner ordered him to show off for the amusement of his patrons. He didn’t particularly enjoy it, but to this day he remained obedient. Deep down, he knew that he had no power. In his mind, compliance was the only survival strategy, so he followed his owner’s every order meticulously.
His reward for being a good pet came in the form of food — yet never too much lest he grow to become anything more than the humans’ ideal. Luka’s mind surmised that perhaps this was his owner’s strange way of demonstrating care. He knew that above all, he was valued as a prize, and as long as he was valued, he would be allowed to live. His owner was simply monitoring him to ensure that he wouldn’t lose his worth, to ensure that he would survive .
Was this what they called love?
Perhaps love was concern and control, strict reign over the object of your affections in their best interest. Harsh regimens and strict rules, hardly any room to breathe. For the longest time, Luka believed that love was meant to be suffocating.
That was, until she came along.
It was a day like any other. The aquarium was closing down, the voices slowly fading, thinning out until all that was left was silence.
Soft white light was the only illumination that remained, a sight that reminded Luka of the moonlight that he used to bask in before his capture. It was artificial, yet it brought him an unparalleled sense of comfort.
He relished the momentary tranquility, holding it dear as if it were the most precious thing he’d ever possess. Luka closed his eyes and simply listened to the sound of water flowing, each oceanic reverberation melding together in an aquatic lullaby. For a moment, everything felt fine.
But nothing could ever truly be his, not even solace. Like everything else in his life, his enjoyment of the brief quietude was snatched from him in an instant.
A crash was what awakened Luka from his blissful illusion. It was a violent contrast to the peace that had permeated the atmosphere only moments earlier, and for the first time in a while, Luka was roused from his perpetual daydream. He whipped his head around, swimming in circles to find the source of the noise. After a few seconds, he finally noticed it — a darkened silhouette faced towards his tank, observing him from afar.
Typically, Luka didn’t pay much mind to the people he saw cleaning after dark. He never found any of them particularly interesting, as they all worked with the same dispassionate fervour that seemed to suggest they had better things to do. It didn’t help that they all tried to pretend he didn’t exist. However, something about the way this new person carried themselves sparked curiosity in Luka. They were far more attentive than the others, and more importantly, they had acknowledged Luka’s presence by staring straight at him.
Hesitantly, Luka swam over to the edge of his glass enclosure, placing both his hands on the clear surface of his cage. He tapped the window gently in an attempt to convey his interest to the newcomer.
To his relief, they listened and stepped into the light. Beneath the artificial fluorescence stood the most gorgeous human Luka had ever laid eyes on. She was ethereal, her beauty a blessing from a magnificent deity above. Her skin was a tanned and sunkissed shade, a sharp contrast to the luminous white that surrounded her, and her earthy brown hair framed her face perfectly, complimenting her complexion in a cascade of delicate tresses. When Luka met her gaze, he found himself mesmerized by oceans of silvery grey, frozen under the weight of her intense stare.
She slowly approached the tank and pressed her palms against the imprint of Luka’s. The only thing separating them now was a layer of glass. Luka felt his heart kickstart into overdrive, and for a second, he thought his illnesses were about to claim him at last. The sensation was new, but after a momentary pang of dulled panic gripped his senses, he realized that there was nothing to fear.
No, he wasn’t having a heart attack. He was simply feeling enthusiasm for the first time in his life.
The beautiful woman mouthed something, but her voice was muffled by the restrictive walls of Luka’s enclosure. Desperately, Luka shook his head and pointed to his ears.
She couldn’t reach him. No one could.
For a moment, she simply stared at him, a stunned silence enveloping them both. Then, she ran, her footsteps fading away as Luka watched her go. A forlorn feeling overtook his heart. Luka didn’t know what he was expecting, but he certainly didn’t think that she’d just leave.
Perhaps she thought he was a monster. He had heard the word permeate the crowds that observed him each day, propagating in a flurry of hushed whispers. Luka was a monster — unworthy of care and understanding, undeserving of the slightest bit of companionship.
Luka wallowed in his own self-pity, shrinking in on himself as he allowed the loneliness to consume his entire being once more. He was no stranger to the feeling, as it often occupied the forefront of his mind. Perpetual isolation was Luka’s singular state of being — all he had ever known and all he would ever know.
But despite his pessimism, Luka felt a small ember of hope blaze to life within his chest as he heard a loud splash up above followed by rippling waters. As he turned his gaze upwards, he saw the same captivating woman watching him from above, peering over the edge of his tank as though she were a being from a heavenly realm. Even through the murky waves, her presence was overwhelming, and she was nothing short of alluring.
The young woman extended a hand towards the water, ready to strike the surface once more to get Luka’s attention. Before she could do so, Luka swam towards her. In one elegant motion, he poked his head into the room connected to his tank.
Once again, Luka felt his breath catch in his lungs. The lady was right in front of him, staring at him with a curious yet warm expression painted across her features. It was unlike anything Luka had ever seen before.
“Hey there,” she greeted Luka, her voice gruff yet melodious. To Luka’s ears, her words were akin to a breathtaking aria, a soothing song that reached the very depths of his disturbed soul. Although he wanted to say something in response, he found that all he could do was stare. He was unable to move beneath the woman’s curious gaze, petrified as though he were subjected to a nerve-inducing spotlight.
“Hello?” the woman tried again, frantically waving a hand in front of Luka’s face.
He had been zoning out again, stuck in his own bubble where time was nothing more than a nihilistic concept. It wasn’t rare for him to forget that the world would continue moving forwards, even if he lost himself in the brilliance of a singular moment.
“Pretty mermaid prince,” she called out, leaning even closer. “Wait a second, do mermaids even speak human languages?”
Luka’s brain processed the lady’s words. Once he realized what she had said, he was immediately snapped out of his daze.
“Prince?” the word felt familiar on the tip of his tongue, yet at the same time, it felt all-too-foreign. “How did you know?” Last Luka could recall, he didn’t tell anyone other than his owner that he had been a prince prior to his capture.
“Oh, so you do speak!” the woman exclaimed excitedly, her face lighting up instantaneously. Once again, she edged even closer to the water; she was so close to the pool that Luka could have sworn miniature waves were lapping at her chunky rubber boots.
“Indeed,” Luka confirmed.“Now please answer my question,” he demanded, a sharp edge working its way into the inflection of his voice.
“Ah, right.” she muttered. “Well, the sign in front of your enclosure said that you were a mermaid prince. Is it true?”
Hesitantly, Luka nodded. He didn’t realize that his royal status prior to being imprisoned would pique the interest of the humans, but perhaps they found it noteworthy. Although he hadn't interacted much with the people that passed by his tank, he had always assumed that the absolute awe that glimmered in their greedy gazes indicated that they found something about him fantastical. Yet he had believed that it was simply his mere existence as a mermaid that evoked wonder. Never did he consider the multifaceted nature of human emotions.
“What was it like back home?” the woman inquired. Her steely eyes seemed to shine with flecks of curious starlight as she locked gazes with Luka. “Being a prince must have been… exciting.”
“Quite the opposite, actually,” Luka answered softly, recollections of his past flooding back into his mind. He didn’t often think about his life prior to being captured, as he saw no point in actively reminiscing. Melancholy pulled at his heartstrings for reasons he couldn’t quite discern. “It was predictable and mundane in a comfortable way. I’d drift from day to day, following the orders of my father in preparation for my ascension to the throne. To be honest, my life now isn’t far different.”
The woman nodded silently, listening intently. “I see,” she muttered, her stare remaining fixated on Luka, “so you didn’t have any free time, interests, hobbies, or anything?”
Before Luka would stop himself, he felt a laugh bubble up within his chest, working its way out in a near-dissonant symphony. He wasn’t sure why he was laughing. Luka never found his situation funny nor saddening. His life had never been his, but all he could feel as the thought crossed his mind was a sense of gratitude.
Luka liked the fact that he had always been told what to do. It showed that the people around him had his best interests in mind, and as such, he owed it to them to fulfill their wishes. That was why confusion clouded his thoughts as pity seemed to waltz about in the woman’s eyes.
“I didn’t have time for anything so frivolous,” Luka responded after a long pause. “I was too busy concerning myself with more pressing matters.”
He almost felt offended when the stranger’s eyebrows knit themselves into a worried frown.
“Is something the matter?” he asked, unable to stand the burden of the woman’s sympathy any longer. The pit of Luka’s stomach seemed to churn, much to his discomfort. “You appear to be upset.”
The silence that ensued was tense and fragile — delicate like shards of flawlessly-transparent glass — yet Luka found that the look that graced the woman’s visage was anything but crystal clear.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” the woman sighed. “It’s just… I couldn’t possibly imagine being happy with living my life for someone else.”
Luka frowned. Was she serious? To him, there was nothing better than a sheltered existence — a life under the refuge of a guardian’s love. Being free was synonymous with fending for oneself.
“You’re strange,” Luka said, his monotonous voice breaking through the palpable hush that had descended upon them. “I’m not ‘living for someone else’. I’m being cared for . The people around me tell me what to do because they want what’s best for me.”
The woman raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Luka’s expression as if she were hoping to catch a glimpse of any insincerity that shone through his tranquil demeanour. Twisted satisfaction swelled in Luka’s heart as he realized she wouldn’t find what she was looking for. He was perfectly content with the status quo.
“If that’s how you see it, then good for you,” she finally conceded. The worry never quite left her dazzling moonlit eyes, but Luka tried not to let it bother him too much. “But doesn’t it get lonely staying here all by yourself? Don’t you miss your family?”
Luka felt a headache beginning to manifest as he was plagued with question after question. Fortunately for him, he had long since been trained to carefully conceal his symptoms under a front of serenity. He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts before responding.
“Family…” the word felt foreign on Luka’s tongue after so long. “No, not really.”
“Do mermaids not value family?” the woman asked, raising an eyebrow. Her gaze was pointed; its piercing brilliance seemed to search Luka’s very soul.
“I’m not quite sure,” Luka hummed. “To be honest, my father never allowed me to interact much with the commoners. As such, my experiences are not reflective of those of a typical mermaid.”
“I see,” the woman muttered, a slight frown etching itself into her forehead. Luka could see the worry engraved within each crease of her tan skin, but he chose to ignore it. She really didn’t know the first thing about him, so who was she to judge?
“I take it you value your family highly?” he shot back in response.
A sense of indignant self-righteousness began to overcome Luka’s better senses. Something about the way the woman pitied him got on his nerves. He didn’t need her sympathy. He was perfectly fine where he was. If she knew so much about living a blissful life, then she could explain everything about what made her existence so great to Luka here and now.
Predictably, the woman before him nodded, a smile dancing across her lips.
“My parents aren’t really in the picture anymore,” she shrugged nonchalantly, “but my brother means the world to me.” Her grin grew impossibly wider, illuminating her face as her eyes seemed to glow with the radiance of a thousand moonbeams. “He’s the only reason I’m working this boring dead end job.”
“Interesting,” was the only word Luka could manage to utter after taking in the absurdity of it all.
The woman before him had been left alone to fend for herself in a desolate world without a semblance of security, yet she was content with her life. Although in the prime of her youth, she had no issue with toiling away to act as a provider for her brother. In Luka’s opinion, it was easier to simply live a tranquil life of compliance, devoid of the difficulties of choice and the struggle of survival.
He couldn’t possibly imagine being happy with living his life for himself.
Before the ensuing awkward silence could truly sink in, the woman glanced at her arm. A rather obnoxious gasp slipped past her lips, nearly causing Luka to flinch in wake of the sudden noise.
“It’s 11:30 already? I’ve gotta hurry and close this place up.”
She stepped forward, gently patting Luka’s head, entangling her fingers in locks spun from the most aureate of sunshine.
“What are you doing?” Luka asked her.
The woman’s gesture puzzled him, as he had never had another mermaid or human bid him farewell in such a manner. With caution, he grasped her wrist and moved her hand away. The warmth of her skin bled into his freezing fingertips as if thawing permafrost. It was satisfying, comfortable — but Luka didn’t think his owner would like the idea of a random human ruining the perfect styling of his hair.
“Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable?”
The woman’s words were alien to Luka. No one had ever asked him how he felt, for it was always a matter of little relevance. It took him a few seconds to truly work out an answer to her question, but ultimately, he shook his head.
“No, it was nice…” Luka trailed off, feeling his damp cheeks burn, “but please mind the hair next time. My owner has a stylist come in every few days to meticulously arrange it with waterproof gel.”
The woman laughed, a charming ring in the midst of a marine symphony. For a second, Luka’s heartbeat became erratic before he carefully stilled its frenzied beating.
“Alright, noted,” she replied. “By the way, my name is Hyuna. I just thought it’d be best to introduce myself now since we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other this summer.”
She stood back up, turning her back to make her way to the door. Before leaving, she shot him one last smile — its beauty rivalling that of all the distant constellations that Luka had ever admired.
Hyuna was different, unpredictable, but for once, Luka found that he didn't mind the change that came with her presence.