Chapter Text
“…Fifty eight… Fifty nine… Sixty! Ready or not, here I come!” Armin shouted, uncovering his eyes and diving into the water leaving little ripples in his wake. Eren peeked over the rock he had situated himself on with sparkling eyes and giggled lightly, the end of his tail swishing from side to side.
The two were playing hide and seek in an underwater cavern they had deemed as home. It was roomy with a high ceiling and filled lowly with water. Rocks were strewn about under and above water for hiding under or behind and a few taller, smoother rocks to lay or sit on, perfect for the two mermaids and their antics.
Currently, Eren was on the tallest rock in the cave, the rock slightly overhanging and hiding his long, blue-green tail and tan torso with its size. It took a lot of upper torso strength for Eren to get up there, but he managed it and was quite proud of his spot.
He listened to Armin come up from under the water and pause before going back under. Since he didn’t need the air, breathing underwater just fine with his gills, Eren suspected Armin was starting to think he wasn’t underwater, finally. Eren held back a laugh. It excited him that he could deceive and hide so well. That excitement was usually what got him caught in these kinds of games and he tried his best to breathe and stay hidden.
That didn’t take long though when he peeked over the edge again and saw Armin scratching his head and looking around with his back to him. He snorted and the confused display and when he did he immediately ducked behind the rock again, but it was too late. He knew the game was over when Armin let out a loud “Aha!” and the heard the water swish as the other triumphantly swam towards his rock. Eren however kept quiet as Armin swam around the tall rock, trying and failing to find a way up. After a while he huffed hopelessly. “How did you get up there?” he whined. Eren threw his head back and finally let out all the tension through a jovial laugh.
When the laughter dulled to a few giggles he peeked over to look down at him. “I cannot believe how much you underestimate my strength! I'm offended,” he said sarcastically with a smug expression. Armin had a cute pout on his face as he looked up, having to tilt his head all the way back from right beneath the rock.
“That looks impossible,” he said, then paused. “And you’ve been eating a lot lately. How did you lug your huge tail up that high?” he smirked as Eren's smug look turned into a petulant frown.
“No I haven’t!” he exclaimed, though still he glanced back at his tail. “My tail isn’t getting that big… is it?” he finished the sentence in an unsure mumble and Armin tsked at him.
“Eren you need to find the difference between teasing and truth,” he said and started swimming towards one of the smooth rocks to lay on. The brunette scowled at him, sliding off the top of the rock and landing in the water with a large splash. The water was cold and he adjusted his body temperature to match as he came to the surface.
“I think you might be a little too gullible,” the other said, stretching over the rock on his wet belly and chin in hand. Eren shook the water out of his hair.
“Who care's… it’s not like there’s anyone here but you to trick me.” Armin’s teasing smirk disappeared and was replaced with a frown.
“Eren I know it’s been hard… but what else are we to do? We can’t go back-“
“I can’t go back,” Eren cut him off, crossing his arms in the water. “You can go back anytime.” Armin sighed and rolled over onto his back on the smooth stone.
“I’d rather be here with my best friend than in the pod being shamed for what I am," he mumbled dismally. Eren’s eyes flitted to Armin’s gills and his pointed and webbed ears. Armin's species was different from that of a "normal" mermaid. He was a shapeshifter mermaid, telling from his ears, the patches of scales and fins placed around his body and the points on the fins at the end of his tail. Armin’s tail and scales were light blue and shimmered to dark blue when he swam underwater, the fins at the end of his tail a lighter tint to finish. His scales and fins matched his big blue eyes and complimented his long blonde hair that was slicked back from his forehead from the salty water.
Eren didn’t have pointed ears, fins or scales on his body, he simply had his tail. His tail was magnificent, if he did say so himself. It changed between green and blue, depending on the light, and had tiny flecks of gold speckled about it. The end fins of his tail were also a light blue, a common trait in their species and most useful in determining gender.
Eren made a point to tell Armin he was a very beautiful mermaid, and he was, but despite his efforts the shapeshifter's mind was still poisoned by the words from members of their ex-pod that would mock his diverse anatomy. Shapeshifter mermaids were rare, very rare in fact, and instead of supporting Armin on his nature, the other pod members looked down upon him for it.
“Again we can’t go back and we can’t just swim around the entire ocean by ourselves,” he said. “It’s dangerous...”
“Well apparently, so am I,” Eren mumbled malevolently. Armin turned to him in distraught.
“Come on Eren! You would never use your ability against them or me or anybody!” he exclaimed, but Eren could only scoff.
“But they think I would,” he replied. “But I guess it’s better this way. I don’t think I want to be in a pod that can’t trust in my abilities or control." The mermaid pulled himself onto another rock like Armin had and rolled onto his back as well. He heard Armin sigh and they drifted into a thoughtful silence.
Eren thought about his banishment. His pod was strictly peaceful, to a fault. They refused shelter to outsiders, had few trading contracts, too many rules, and minimum freedom meaning no one, under any circumstances, was to go to the surface.
Although the pod was strict it was also exquisite. The pod hoarded gold and collected treasures, making beauty a rule by default. This was one of the main reasons they frowned upon Armin. It was hard to make spiked fins and odd bits of scales look beautiful, no matter how much gold and jewels you covered him in. So all they could do was sneer. They barely tried, in Eren's opinion, seeing as Armin had looked just as well as any of the rest of them with just a simple gold headchain, laid upon flowing blonde hair and little jewels dangling from it that twinked in the light. They must've been blind, because Armin was anything but ugly.
Eren was an only child, Eren’s mother not being able to give birth after him, and he was basically a brother to the family of three with how much he stayed over. Eren did his best to protect Armin from accusing eyes and they had fun being loners. His life was a happy one. Up until his parents went missing, just five years ago.
Eren’s mother and father were off from their cave to hunt, leaving Eren with Armin and his grandfather as usual, but something was different this time.
They didn’t come back.
No one knew what happened to them, but instead of sending a search party the pod increased security and blocked trades until two moons had passed. When they were certain there was no danger after the pod, they sent out a party only to find nothing. Eren was left with Armin and his grandfather, the only memory he had of his parents being the gold key hanging around his neck that they had given him as his first treasure, and they grew from there.
Eren overcame his pain. He became determined to find what happened to his parents but he kept this goal to himself and Armin. A silent achievement for them to succeed in the future. Armin promised to stay by Eren’s side until the end, and that one day they should both go to the surface together, just to spite the pod. Eren made no debate, not hesitating to agree with him. These things they kept to themselves.
But one thing they couldn’t have foreseen was Eren’s powers. Every mermaid was born with a special ability locked within them that is revealed when they fully matured. Though for shapeshifters it was always the same. Shapeshifting, of course. But that day twisted their world around. Eren was to be tested. They told him he would be in full control, that he would simply feel it inside him that moon and demonstrate it simply and easily, but they were wrong.
When Eren bit his thumb he blacked out and when he woke up again he was in chains, in a dungeon. No one talked to him, no one looked at him, they just told him to leave. When they let him go and he was finally able to talk to Armin, he learned why.
Eren was a siren, a male siren of all things, with atmokinesis powers. Atmokinesis was the ability to control water, winds and weather, boil and freeze water, summon lightning, the works. Armin had been there and had seen everything. He described how the water around him switched between freezing to unbearably hot, his core temperature unable to keep up with the mingling temperatures, and his eyes kept switching between green and gold. The guards who had stood watch were too shocked to move for a while, but when Eren hadn't let go of his hand, simply biting harder and harder and drawing more and more blood they charged at him, snapped out of shock from the smell of his blood. They never reached him however as when they just about to slam into him he thrust out his bitten hand at them and the water churned. Their tails twisted so painfully they cried out loud enough to be heard under the weight of the sea. Eren was knocked out with the handle end of a sword and dragged into the dungeon, the two mermen taken away to be checked for injuries and all Armin could do was quickly swim home to his grandfather.
From the scene Eren had displayed, the pod had concluded that he had all possible powers and that made him dangerous, too unique, that he attracted attention. It was a unanimous vote (those selfish bastards) that he be banished, never to return. But of course Armin followed him. They left their pod and traveled north as far as they could until they found the cavern.
That was one month ago. One month. Now they were bored out of their minds and alone.
But it was through this train of thought that Eren realized something he probably should have a long time ago.
“Hey Armin?” he asked. Armin hummed to show he was listening. "We forgot something really important when we left the pod." Armin's eyes snapped open at this but he didn't move, instead humming in monotone question. “Do you want to go to the surface?” He whispered. Armin was quiet for a few moments and they looked at each other at the same time.
“We’re idiots,” Armin said.
“Morons,” Eren agreed. “Well idiot, what are we waiting for?”
Armin smiled. “I’ll race ya’ moron.”
They dived under the water at the same time and hurried through the underwater exit of the cavern.
~o0o~
Eren hissed through the water as he stared up at the rapidly approaching surface. We’re going to do this, he thought. We’re going to the surface and no one can stop us. The water was illuminated by the sun straight overhead, warming the water and calling to Eren to let it see him. He looked over at Armin who was barely keeping up but looked just as excited as he felt.
They were going to the surface.
The thought encouraged him and he made one final sweep of his tail push him all the way up and he broke the surface with a gasp, wanting to taste the new air and oh did it taste sweet. The sky was bright blue and the sun was out and shining and Eren quickly learned not to look directly at it but how could he have known as he always watched it from beneath the waves?
Armin broke the surface as well and his exclamation of awe was well said as the world currently left Eren speechless. There was water in all directions, the horizon circling them in and making it as though the world was only made of ocean. The waves were small and ragged and battered Eren and Armin around gently as they took in the sky and the breeze and the water and the clouds and just everything.
Aside from the waves, it was quiet.
Eren was the first to snap out of the reverie and look over to Armin who was still gaping at the blue hues around them. Eren didn’t know what there was to do up here but he knew it wasn’t to just sight see, he wanted to play. Eren splashed Armin with an armful of water and Armin spluttered out of the dream to laugh at him.
They swam around each other, splashing, diving, racing, all the while laughing and screaming at each other. They rolled under the surface and snuck up on each other. They went deep beneath the waves and swam up with so much force that when they broke the surface they went flying. This was one of the happiest day of their lives and neither of them denied their time with it.
That is, until Armin froze. Eren was about to splash him one more time and make him ‘it’ when he saw the look on his friends face.
“Hey Armin? You okay?” Eren asked worriedly. Armin raised a hand out of the water and pointed behind Eren and he turned anxiously. What could make Armin look so disturbed?
That.
That could just about do it.
About two or three miles away was a huge ship, a huge ship, wielding three large masts that were pure white and spread open, using the winds to glide the ship through the water like a bird landing in a pond. Eren stared on in amazement. “Armin… what is that?” he asked astonished.
“T-That’s a-a-a sh-ship,” Armin stuttered. Eren looked back at him and studied his expression. He looked like a mix of troubled, scared, and in awe and when Eren raised an eyebrow at him he kept staring at the ship. He turnedback to the ship curiously and started swimming towards it until Armin grabbed his shoulder. “Wh-whoa! Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” Armin now just looked scared.
“I’m gonna go check it out, obviously,” he replied and swished his tail again but Armin held him back.
“Eren… there are humans on that ship…” he said anxiously. “I didn’t think they were real, but from what I’ve read in the tomes they’re evil, destructive creatures that really don’t like mermaids,” he voiced the last bit as a fast warning but Eren just looked back at the ship with determined eyes.
“The tomes are like what? Hundreds? – no – thousands of moons old? I thought humans were just a myth but if you’re saying there are humans on that ship then what if, maybe, they think we are a myth?” he asked.
Armin scoffed. “Around a thousand and a half moons old, thank you, and… you’re probably right,” he admitted. “But if we go check it out we stay out of sight- do you hear me? We don’t know what humans are like nowadays…” Eren nodded excitedly.
“Then what are we waiting for?” He swiftly dived beneath the waves before the blonde could answer, pushing himself forward but low enough that the humans wouldn’t see his tail from above.
As the ship approached it got longer and bigger and this boat was huge. It went well under the water and was rapidly approaching, made of dark brown wood that was probably very thick. Eren had never seen wood before so when he reached the boat he laid a smooth hand on it and felt the material. It was definitely thick, he could feel it from the outside. It was hard and had barnacles covering most of the bottom as well. Eren checked behind him as Armin was just arriving and signaled they split up and circle the boat. Armin nodded and they went their separate ways, Armin going towards the bow and Eren towards the stern.
Eren made fast time and kept low under the water, not wanting to alert anything of his presence. He finally reached the very back of the stern and breached the surface to find part of the boat hanging over him and a large piece of wood barely connected and swiveling from side to side slowly. Above the wood there were a few windows and above that a railing.
Eren promised he wouldn’t be seen but seeing the boat from just the outside wasn’t really all that satisfying. There were humans on this ship. He wanted to see everything. He couldn't settle for just the outside when this massive of a ship loomed above, probably carrying a hundred humans on board!
He whipped his head up with an idea and smiled before diving deep under the water. He kept going until he deemed it a well enough distance and looked back to the surface, put himself in the right position just behind the overhand of the ship, and then started pumping his tail with all his strength. The surface started to rapidly grow closer as his tail drove through the water and when he broke the surface he went flying high enough to catch the floor just below the railing.
He muttered a triumphant “yes!” as he held himself there for a few moments before pulling himself up more and peeking over the edge, his tail hanging loosely and swaying slightly with the ship.
What he saw was astounding.
Humans. All over the ship from where he could see. They were on the masts, in the netting, yelling at each other, laughing, talking, working, doing all sorts of things. But that was beyond his immediate vision. Before him stood a few more humans, leaning over a table with their back's to him (thankfully) and handling strange tools on something laid out over it.
The humans were blocking most of his view on the man at the wheel and Eren could only see the back part of him, but there was enough space to note jet black hair and a flowing green cape with an emblem of two contrasting wings overlapping each other. The cape was greatly decorated with black and gold lining and the man also wore a black slanted hat with two large black feathers and one red feather sticking out from it. He noticed that the emblem was also on the flag on one of the masts and he wondered what it represented.
One of the humans jumped onto the quarterdeck making Eren squirm back as he had been peeking over the flooring just a bit too much. “Just a few more hours north and we’ll be at Sina boys!” shouted the overexcited human. It appeared to be female, with ragged brown hair tied back loosely and goggles on her head. She was wearing an open brown vest over a white button up shirt and loose brown pants that sank into brown knee-high boots. All the humans wore similar foot-wear and it dissapointed Eren a bit. He had been hoping to see feet! While few also donned the same cape like the man at the wheel, their capes weren’t as decorated nor as long.
“I can’t wait to get back, it’s been ages!” said another human, a male, with greyish-brown hair who stood back from the table and placed his hands on his hips.
“I just want to drink fresh beer and eat real food,” said another male that had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Another human, that appeared to be female, walked up behind the female with goggles and hummed.
“I bet the captain can’t wait to get back too, right captain?” said the new female. This female had short strawberry blond hair and wore a plane green cape on her shoulders. Under the cape Eren could see she was wearing just a white button up and tighter black pants with a light brown sash hanging loosely on her hips. The man at the wheel grunted, uninterested, and the female with goggles whined.
“C’mon Cap’n don’t be like that!” said the crazy female throwing an arm over his shoulders. Eren tilted his head. Captain?
The man at the wheel sighed, annoyed now. “Honestly I can’t wait to get away from you Hanji,” he replied with a tenor voice. He still hadn’t turned around or taken much interest in anyone but straight ahead of him.
The female, Hanji, laughed loudly and released his shoulders. “I don’t think you’ll ever get away from me my short cinnamon bun!” She went back over to the shorter female with short hair and slung her arm over the others shoulders while the Captain growled, hunching his shoulders. “You know… if you stare at the ocean any harder I would think you want to marry it,” she said and the male, the captain, grunted again making Eren stifle a laugh. These humans didn’t look all that threatening. They were… good. They joked and laughed and had emotions just like Eren and Armin. Why did Armin think they were so dangerous?
Then Eren noticed what was on their hips. Hidden beneath their capes they all had belts with at least one sword attached in a sheath, along with a few small knives and a strange skin holding some kind of metal object. Why did they need all those weapons? Eren thought. Are they in danger? Eren stared dumbly at them and didn’t notice something slapping his tail until someone called up to him.
“Eren!” Armin whisper shouted and Eren ducked from the railing to see a very scared and panicked looking Armin. “Eren what are you doing?! Get down from there!”
“Did you say something?” Eren’s blood turned cold and he peeked over again to find the captain turned slightly to the rest of them but he still couldn’t see his face aside from his jaw line.
“No, why did you hear something?”
“Oh yeah I heard something too! Like someone whisper yelling…” Eren decided that was his cue to leave and he let go of his hold on the railing and fell into the water below. He and Armin dived beneath the waves and looked up to the surface to see two figures looking over the railing where Eren just was. Armin hit Eren on the shoulder and narrowed his eyes at him.
What were you thinking?! His signed with his hands. Eren looked back at the blonds and made a few hand gestures as well. I was curious… He put on an apologetic look. I’m sorry. Armin took in a lot of water through his gills and let it out like an underwater sigh before signaling back, so what do we do now? Eren immediately pointed at the surface and narrowed his eyes in determination. We go back up. Armin raised his hands in a way that asked, Why? Eren pointed to each of their mouths and then towards the ship. So we can talk about the ship! Armin looked between the ship and Eren and slumped his shoulders before pointing at his eyes and cutting through the water with his hand. Okay… but we can’t be seen. Eren nodded and Armin led the way to the bow. Once they were there they broke the surface right underneath a carved figurine of a bird carved into the wood and Eren stared at it in amazement.
“Humans are so strange,” Eren said when Armin rose out of the water beside him. “They laugh and talk and work like us, but in a way that isn’t underwater. It’s also really strange to see… legs.” Armin smacked him upside the head.
“You weren’t supposed to go up there and look at them Eren! What if one of them had seen you?!” Armin whisper shouted, trying to stay quiet but also wanting him to know how angry he was. Eren rubbed his head and glared at him.
“Are you joking? These are humans Armin!” Eren’s voice was rising and Armin quickly shushed him. Eren huffed. “And… Armin what’s a captain?” Armin’s eyes widened and he leaned forward.
“You saw the captain?” he asked. Eren nodded.
“Yeah. He had black hair and wore a cape that matched the flags and he was holding a wheel. I didn’t get a good look at his face though,” he said.
“The captain is a human, that is usually male, that controls the ship and the crew. They give the orders and the crew would follow him to the depths,” he answered. Eren’s eyes widened and he looked back at the ship.
“Wow…” he said in wonder. “But… why? Why would they sacrifice themselves like that?” Armin shook his head.
“Maybe because he proved himself? I don’t really know...” They sat in silence for a minute or so, the lapping waves shadowed under the boats cover. “What should we do now? I don’t want to go back to that cavern after being up here for so long.” Eren thought for a moment.
“I say we go with the ship,” he proposed. “I don’t want to go back either and I want to see more from these humans.” Armin nodded in agreement.
“Besides we have nowhere else to go. Following the ship is like… we’re going on an adventure!” he said excitedly and Eren laughed. “But I don’t want to just sit around and wait for this huge ship to reach wherever it’s going.” Eren looked at the ship in thought.
“We could get rid of some of those barnacles underneath,” he suggested. Armin shrugged.
“I guess. It’s not like anyone else is gonna do it,” he agreed. Eren leaned forward in the water and gave Armin a hug.
“I’m so glad you came with me Armin,” he said affectionately and Armin hugged him back.
“I’m glad too,” he answered. “Hey maybe we can find some of their tomes and do some research!” he said excitedly. Eren laughed and let him go before diving beneath the ship to start coaxing the barnacles off.
~o0o~
Eren and Armin had switched from scraping off barnacles to finding things to eat to playing above the waves far from the ship but always keeping it in sight. Eren had suggested Armin do what he did and take a look at the humans but he denied immediately. Armin was just fine seeing the humans from afar until they made it to land.
It had been a few hours since they had found the ship and even longer since they had breached the surface and they hadn’t left it for more than a handful of minutes. It was when land was in view that they realized they had no idea what to do when they got there.
“I mean we can’t go on land," Eren said. "For one they’ll see us, which leads to a bunch of problems, and obviously we don’t have legs like they do.” He held his gold key with nervousness.
Armin sat by in the water and furrowed his brow thoughtfully. “Well… there is one thing…” Eren’s ears perked but Armin waved him off. “I don’t want to do it today though. We’ve done a lot more today than we have in the past month,” he said. Eren deflated a little but agreed. He looked around him, at the ship a mile away, the land even further away, and the skies that were so clear and bright.
“We went to the surface today Armin,” he said with a small smile. Armin smiled back at him.
“Yes we did,” he agreed, also appreciating the view. “Yes we did.”
~o0o~
When they reached land it was dusk.
Land looked like the world underneath, only it wasn’t at all. Underwater there were hills of rocks and sand, dull and dark colors contrasting the mermaids and their beauty greatly. But land was bright, vibrant, and dry, and was covered with orange and purple light as the sun set on the ocean’s horizon. It was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.
When the shore got too close, Armin and Eren abandoned the ship for shelter. They were new to land, being brainwashed into thinking it was incredibly dangerous didn’t help at all with their situation, but they were banished and after seeing the humans so far Eren wasn’t afraid to get close. He wanted them to hide under one of the docks to still be close but Armin decided that was a bit too bold and also if they were going to get close to land he would prefer it if they were farther away from the humans.
They hid a bit of a ways off, behind a few trees that had fallen into the water, and watched as the huge ship docked and started depositing the humans. Males and females alike started wandering off the ship after about a half hour in port, other humans greeting them on the dock wit hugs, kisses, firm handshakes, some being carried off by others due to exhaustion.
“Hey Armin look,” Erem said. “It’s the human they kept calling captain.” He pointed towards the dock at a small group of humans walking with the black haired male. Again Eren couldn’t make out his face, but he recognized the decorated cape and frilly hat, along with the other humans who were hovered over the charts earlier. They were walking along the dock and the one called Hanji seemed to be talking the most out of all of them.
“He looks almost exactly like how I imagined,” said Armin, then snorted. “Only shorter.” And that’s when Eren noticed that yeah, he really was short, and laughed along with him. The laughter was cut short when Eren noticed the captain stop walking, making the rest of the group stop, and look towards their direction. Eren panicked and shut Armin up by stuffing his head under the water and sinking down as well. He peeked his head around the trunk they were hiding behind and watched as the group questioned the captain, but he just answered with a shrug and probably a snappy comment and they continued on their way.
Eren waited another minute before letting Armin come back and getting a smack over the head. “What was that?!” he said harshly and Eren rubbed his head. Smacking his head was becoming a bad habit and Eren didn’t like it at all.
“The captain looked over at us while we were laughing. I couldn’t risk him seeing us,” he said, then laughed again. “It’s like he could hear someone insulting him from far off. It was creepy.” Armin replaced his annoyed frown with a small smile and chortled as well.
“Come on you idiot. It’s getting dark and we still need to find something to eat and a place to stay the night,” he said. “And also I want to tell you something I’ve been thinking about lately- tomorrow.” Eren frowned at his friends vagueness again and knew he probably wouldn’t be sleeping tonight as Armin dived under the water with a smirk on his face. He cursed Armin internally and followed.
~o0o~
That night they made shelter in a small cave embedded in the side of a mountain overhanging the water. It went quite deep and the water was shallow but it spread throughout all of the cave floor. The two caught a few craw fish for dinner and talked for a bit about all the things they did that day. They went to the surface, they found a ship, they found humans, they found land, they broke multiple rules established by the pod and they didn’t care in the slightest.
In the end, they did more in that one day than they had had in their entire lives and Eren fell asleep next to Armin in the cool water, fed and in his element, thinking about a huge ship and red and black feathers.