Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was once known to be a civilization that lived in the depths of the sea. They had tails like a fish, but the upper body of a human and they were called, Merpeople. It was said that they expanded their clans by choosing living humans to become their partners. A lone fisherman sitting in his boat waiting for the fish to bite. A princess traveling from a far off kingdom. It didn’t matter where they came from.

There was only one way for them to tell who was their “one” and it was by their eyes. One look into a human’s eyes and they would know for sure. It was like they had the ability to look into someone’s soul. Some say that after they had found their beloved they would persuade them to come live their life under the sea. Not without consent of course. That was the key. The human must honestly and wholeheartedly agree in order for it to become a reality.

The Merpeople were beautiful, elegant and kind beings and for a while things were at peace, but mankind and it’s fear of the unknown all but wiped out the entire civilization. No one knows for sure if there are any left in the world.

“But merpeople don’t actually exist do they Mama?” A little boy with a head of wispy brown hair and complexion like that of a warm sunset put his hand on his mother’s arm and questioned with uncertainty.

The boy’s mother smiled, “It’s a story that’s been in our kingdom for generations, whether or not you would like to believe it is up to you.” She patted her son’s head gently.

“One day,” the child said indignantly, “I’m going to find myself a merperson and follow them into the sea! Living here is stuffy and I want to marry who I want to marry!”

His mother’s smile quickly faded and was replaced with a sad one. “My dear son, I will never make you marry someone you do not love, that wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“No I wouldn’t. Not ever.”

“Not even if something bad happened to our kingdom?”

“You deserve to be happy,” she said, “If the cost of that is the kingdom I would gladly give it over.”

The boy looked a bit confused, but then smiled brightly and hugged his mother tightly before laying his head back on a pillow and pulling the covers up to his chin. His mother, the queen, kissed her son on the forehead and made her way towards the door.

“You’ll be there for my wedding when I do find my ‘one’ right mama?”

“Yes, Lance. That will be one of the most happiest days of my life.” She smiled and said proudly.

“Goodnight mama!”

“Goodnight, Lance.” And the door shut slowly. Only an essential amount of light broke through from under the door so the room wasn’t pitch black.

The Queen had lied.

Lance had not known it at the time and neither had the queen that she had, in a way, lied. She would not be there for Lance’s wedding and he was to marry a person he did not love. The kingdom entered into a dark time and the King and his son struggled to pick themselves up for the majority of Lance’s childhood and teen years. The only true comfort Lance found was by sitting on the sandy beaches of the ocean outside of the castle.

There was a spot where no one ever came and eventually he claimed it as his special hideout for when he needed to breathe again. Spending his time being cooped up in the castle for too long had really wore down on him. Sometimes he went there and cried, which was usually on gloomy days when it was raining and the waves were rougher, as if the world was crying with him and sympathizing with his pain and loss. There were days where he just watched and listened to the waves roll up the sand and back down again, pulling loose shells back with it. It calmed him. He felt at peace. If only for a moment, he could pretend everything was alright then.

Chapter Text

“...Lance.”

“...Laaance!”

“Lance!”

“I’m up! I’m up! What is it Shiro!” The teen threw his pillow at the older man, glaring at him in annoyance at being woken up so early.

“It’s time to get up you have only a few hours before we meet the princess.” He said with a warm smile, but there was concern beneath his expression too.

Lance let out a dejected sigh.

“Fine I’ll get ready, but just because you’re my bodyguard doesn’t mean you get to dote on me like you’re my dad or something.”

It ended up sounding harsher than he had meant it and a look of hurt flashed across Shiro’s face. Before Lance could apologize though, the man ushered him into the bathroom and told him to clean himself up while Shiro chose the prince’s outfit for the day. Lance hummed the tune of a familiar song Shiro always whistled as he walked through the castle gardens outside and quickly bathed. Once he was done he wrapped himself in a towel and made his way out of the bathroom over to where his clothes lay neatly on the bed. He noticed Shiro had left already. Lance made a mental note to go and apologize for snapping at him like that. In truth, Lance had always felt that Shiro was more of a father than his actual father was. Lance did love his father, but after his mother’s passing a rift seemed to grow between them. He busied himself with running the kingdom and Lance didn’t see much of him except at an occasional dinner party or the day of his birthday.

At first, he had thought it was weird when his father appointed a personal bodyguard to him. When Lance was introduced to Shiro the first thing he’d noticed was the fact that he had a mechanical arm. Lance was fourteen at the time so it didn’t look so much intimidating as it did intriguing. The nineteen-year-old boy who had just left the battlefield eight months prior for treatment and therapy still had the warmest smile in the whole world and just about anyone would agree with Lance if he’d mentioned that out loud. After listening to Shiro tell him about the daring and dangerous battles he’d found himself in the middle of, Lance immediately began looking up to him with admiration and respect. The more time they spent together the more Shiro began caring for Lance and not out of duty to his king, but because he cared for Lance as if he were his own family. Shiro had been there laying a comforting hand on his shoulder whenever he needed it and Lance really couldn’t thank him enough.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Lance finished dressing himself and made his way out of the bedroom. He walked down the corridor to the stairs where he could hear the faint mumbles of a conversation being held. Stopping to listen, he picked up on his father’s voice.

“My son will be here shortly I assure you. Youth these days,” His father rambled, “always staying up late doing who knows what and then feeling entitled to sleep in the next day like they don’t have their own duties to take care of.”

He looked a bit frazzled and embarrassed. It kind of pissed Lance off because his words were hypocritical of his own actions. He really didn’t want to start a fight so he ignored the rest and trudged down the stairs. He noticed Shiro standing at the bottom of the steps silently observing the conversation. A forced smile was noticeable when his father began rambling once again, this time directly to Shiro. Lance took a deep breath and then let it out to calm himself before walking down further. He made his footsteps more audible once he reached the last set of stairs and stopped just behind Shiro as the man turned around to face him. Guilt climbed its way into Lance’s expression without him meaning to and Shiro noticed it. Lance opened his mouth to apologize and half the sentence came out as a whisper, but Shiro understood. He’d always understood. He’d been with Lance long enough to learn to read him well.

He patted Lance’s head twice in acceptance and Lance sheepishly looked to the side, fixing the parts of his hair Shiro drew out of place. A quiet, low chuckle escaped the man and then they both turned towards the group standing in the main entrance hall. His father looked at him expectantly and his eyes seemed to be ushering him to come closer and to make a good impression for his soon-to-be in-laws. Lance forced back a sigh that was threatening to come out and walked over to the guests with Shiro behind him.

“There you are Lance, what took you so long you’ve kept King Alfor waiting.”

Lance’s right eye twitched slightly.

“I’m sorry, I took too long in the bath.” He said and forced a fake, embarrassed smile. He would’ve stayed in the bath longer if he could, but then his father would have been really pissed.

“You have nothing to worry about Lance, we weren’t waiting very long.”

King Alfor dismissed the king’s comment. He looked like a kind man and he held a reassuring smile that reached his eyes. Lance had heard only good things about him, nothing bad whatsoever, not even a war started of any kind since his reign began. He thought it would just turn out to be a hoax, though, because no one real could be that peaceful and kind. As far as first impressions and appearances go, it didn’t seem to be a lie yet.

“Father, I don’t know why you insisted I get married this suddenly, but I have to object to this.”

“Allura please don’t start this again now. I just want what’s best for you.”

A blue-eyed girl wearing a purple gown stepped out from behind King Alfor and turned to give him a disapproving look, but it was laced with affection and understanding. Her demeanor felt nicely inviting and she was beautiful, Lance could acknowledge that, but as much as he liked girls he liked boys the same way too, preferably even more.

Allura let out a huff in defeat and her father patted her arm affectionately. Lance’s father walked closer and whispered in his ear, “Go on Lance introduce yourself to your bride-to-be.”

Lance was more than peeved at this point because of that comment, but he didn’t have the heart to be rude so he did as his father asked. Allura looked like she was trying to have some kind of glare-off with her father, but he was smiling too happily at her to take notice. Shiro was still standing in the same spot he was in, glancing over at the both of them together.

“Nice to meet you Allura, I’m Lance.” He held out a hand to shake and he could feel his father intensely eyeing at him from behind. Be more polite, he was probably thinking. Lance didn’t give a fuck anymore.

Allura seemed to be looking him over as soon as he spoke, but she then hesitantly shook his hand in return.

“Nice to meet you too.” She said, slightly unsure.

They held each others’ gazes for a while and Lance noticed that her eyes were full of determination and independence. Lance was envious of that. A quiet cough was heard from behind him and he let go of Allura’s hand. He turned around to look at Shiro, a slight blush was appearing on his cheeks and his eyes were wide as he tried to stop himself from staring at the princess too much.

Lance smirked. Well, well, well what have we here? he thought. The silence that had manifested over them only lasted a few seconds more before his father interrupted it.

“Ah! So shall we get today’s events started? There’s tea waiting in the main dining hall.” The king ushered everyone down the corridor leading to it. Today was going to be a long day.

It seemed to drag on for hours and although he did not mind Allura and her father’s presence, he did mind his father’s. They had tea, they played some activities like badminton despite Lance being vocal about his displeasure at participating and Allura proceeded to beat his ass at it 21-0. Now they were in the dining hall again eating dinner and Lance’s father tried to keep initiating conversations with King Alfor and Allura. Lance just poked his fork at some peas on his plate, elbows on the table and his head leaning against the other hand. While his father and King Alfor were in a deep conversation about yearly traditions Allura noticed Lance’s tired and bored demeanor and gave him an empathetic look. She understands too.

Why does everyone understand something about me me except my father? It’s like he doesn’t even try.

Lance had had enough. It was too much at this point. In the midst of King Alfor sharing stories from Allura’s childhood, Lance slammed his fork down on the table and stood up, looking at his father with pure loathing.

“Lance, son, what seems to be the problem?” his father asked.

“This. Everything. Today. Me being engaged to someone I don’t even know or even love.”

He was trying not to scream out loud, but it proved to be difficult and Lance ended up getting louder with each sentence he spoke.

“Lance we’ve talked about this it’s for the good of the Kingdom and your future.”

“My future? My future? You didn’t even think to ask what I wanted for my future! I’m not a little kid anymore you can’t just decide you want me to marry someone I don’t love because it’ll help the kingdom! You weren’t thinking about my future at all!”

“It’s what your mother would’ve wanted!” The King yelled back at him.

Lance was furious.

“You don’t know what mom wanted for me! You never even asked her! You were always too focused on the stupid kingdom that you didn’t even think to put your own family first!”

Before he could process the movement he felt a stinging slap against his cheek. Lance’s eyes went wide and so did his father’s, as if he himself didn’t realize what he had done until now. Lance put his hand up to the now reddening spot. Tears threatened to leak out, but he urged them back down.

“Mom would have never made me marry someone I didn’t love. She told me that even if it cost us the kingdom she wouldn’t have ever done it because it wouldn’t have been fair. Did you even love mom? Or was your marriage just an arrangement like this too?”

And with that Lance took off and exited the room. He ran and he didn’t look back.

He had to get out of the castle because he felt like he was suffocating in there. He ran down the corridor and out the main entrance. It wasn’t before long that his feet seemed to take him to the only place his brain was automatically programmed to go, his hideout. The sun was setting and the waves only sounded like a soft, low growl at this point.

As soon as he reached a patch of sand near the structure of rocks he would always lay on, Lance let out a scream. He let the tears fall because no one would be able to see him like this now. He screamed until his voice went hoarse.

“Why did you leave me?” he cried.

“You broke your promise!”

“You said you’d be there for my wedding! You said you wouldn’t force me to marry someone I didn’t love!”

“Momma, why did this happen?” He looked up at the the sky. It was getting dark now, but he didn’t want to go home yet. He didn’t really want to go home at all.

Lance sat down in the sand and stayed there until the moonlight was reflecting a blue glow across the water. His tears didn’t seem like they had stopped yet so he just curled up into a ball. His hands went around his knees and his head lowered as he let out sniffles and tears dripped from his eyes onto the sand below. He felt so lost right now. Looking back all these years, Lance noticed his father didn’t seem to even take his son’s interests under consideration in anything he just kept telling Lance to do this and do that whenever he was around. He didn’t really know exactly what he wanted in life and whatever interests he had, his father had brushed them off really quickly, trying to get his son into archery and other recreational activities. He knew that his mother’s death had taken a toll on the both of them in similar ways, but he never imagined his father would have changed like this because of it.

If only mom were here still.

Lance let out a silent sob. He breathed heavily as he felt his damp face become wet again. As he cried harder he was suddenly stopped by a dull thump as something hit the sand near his left foot. Lance opened his eyes and glanced over at his foot finding a oyster shell lying there. He felt confused. It was just a single shell how did it get there? What surprised him even more was when it began to open up on its own. Lance had stopped crying now, but his face was still damp. He took the shell in his hands and looked inside, his eyes widening. There, sat in the middle of the shell was a iridescent, white pearl. He hesitantly reached inside and dug it out of the mollusk. While examining its smooth texture in awe, Lance heard a splash in the water a little ways in the distance. He looked up and in the glow of the moonlight he saw a flicker of red and when he blinked again, it was gone.

That was a tail. He observed.

“No, no that can’t be right.” He patted his cheek. His eyes were just playing tricks on him, he mused.

“You’re just tired because you’ve been out for too long crying.”

He sighed. He needed to go back otherwise his father would probably make even more of a fuss. He could only imagine the lecture he was going to receive once he returned. Lance remembered the pearl in his hand and went to go rinse it off in the water. After he was done he looked at it again. Weirdly, holding the pearl made him feel at peace. It was like it was helping mellow out his mood. Lance stood up and placed the pearl in his pocket. With one last glance at the ocean he turned away and walked back to the castle with a strange sense of calmness.

Chapter Text

His walk back to the castle was a quiet one. Lance listened to waves of the ocean slowly fade in volume the further back up the shore he went. The cicadas were buzzing loudly in the trees and as annoying as that was, the bright full moon and the stars illuminating the sky distracted and calmed him. Not to mention the pearl in Lance’s pocket he clutched the whole time. As Lance walked up the wide steps of the back entrance of the castle, he felt a pit a dread growing in his stomach but, tightening his grip on the pearl again, all worried thoughts he had about confronting his father dissolved into nothing.

Lance closed the door behind him as quietly as he could, but it squeaked loudly enough that he could hear two pairs of footsteps striding down the hallway at once.

“Lance! There you are, I was so worried.”

His father did appear to have a worried expression on his face and so did Shiro who came up behind him, but Lance couldn’t tell whether or not his father was the one who was more concerned or if it was Shiro. Lance almost regretted thinking that as soon as the thought bubbled up. Almost.

“He must be tired Your Highness maybe he should sleep first before you start reprimanding him.”

Shiro was trying to save him. Lance was grateful for that and he looked at Shiro with a thankful and relieved expression.

“I’m not going to reprimand him.”

Lance and Shiro were both surprised at that statement.

“...You aren’t?” Lance asked.

“No. It was wrong of me to raise my hand at you. I’m sure you must have been so stressed through everything that’s been happening. I didn’t notice and I can see that I definitely made it worse. I am sorry.”

Lance was at a loss for words, as was Shiro, but he seemed to read the situation as non-threatening and walked back down the hallway to Lance’s room to lay out pajamas for him to sleep in.

“I really do mean it when I say I only want what’s best for you. I think I went about it the wrong way and was blinded by the kingdom’s problems to notice any damage I was doing to you.”

Deep down Lance wanted to believe that, but for some reason; or by his own stubbornness, he was still felt very upset about this whole situation. He wanted nothing more than to run away again, but doing that would probably lead to actual negative consequences.

“After your mother...passed away-”

Lance went rigid. He realized he had never actually had a proper conversation with his father involving his mother after her passing. He felt his throat close up and he could feel wetness well up in his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that evening.

“-it was hard for me to take care of myself let alone my dearest and only child.” the King paused searching for the right words. “I thought that I would only do you harm by not being a good father and role model so I threw myself into my work for the Kingdom and your sake in hopes of bettering myself and handling my emotions.”

“Pushing me away only made things worse.” Lance tearfully said. His father looked at him guiltily and agreed, “You’re right about that and I know that now. I’m sorry, Lance.”

A hand made its way to his right shoulder and Lance looked at it and then back at his father’s pitiful expression. The king squeezed it once and stepped back. Lance lifted his own arm up and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck while looking down at the floor. His father sighed, “I will try to do better Lance, in return, will you at least give Princess Allura a chance?” And at that request Lance’s eyes flashed up in hurt surprise.

“You still want me to marry her? After what went down at dinner and this conversation we had just now?” Lance knew he was getting worked up again, but he was too tired to care now and that saved him from a full explosion of anger. His father was trying to connect with his son, that he could see, but why did he still not understand that he did not want to marry Allura, let alone fall in love with her. His mother’s promise had always been something he looked back on in his mind. The king was now looking at him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and a bit of annoyance.

“Lance, this kingdom is looking forward to its prince marrying and becoming a good leader after I’m gone. Will you try for my sake?”

Lance narrowed his eyes.

“Why do I have to be married to do that? Don’t try to guilt me into this. I don’t need that.”

As Lance said this he decided it wasn’t worth starting another argument with his father. He would give up. He would accept his fate and go along with whatever his father wanted. His mother’s words be damned. She was gone and he had to accept that so maybe it was time for him to forget the promises she made too.

“Okay.” Lance told his father, “Okay, I’ll try.”

The king’s face was full of joy then and he squeezed his son’s shoulder affectionately. “Thank you, Lance.” Lance just nodded and forced a smile before yawning and swaying a bit with weariness. His father walked him to his room before turning down the hall to go to his own for the night. He gave Lance one last smile before disappearing from his sight. As soon as Lance got into his room and shut the door behind him he let out a noise of defeat and slid down the door to the floor. He felt like he was losing his sense of self for sure now. Exhaustion enveloped him suddenly so before he ended up passing out right there on the floor, Lance got up and went to change into his pajamas. As he was in the middle of removing his trousers he heard something drop out of his pocket and onto the carpet with a thump. The pearl, he remembered.

Lance finished dressing and then bent down to pick up the pearl. He rolled it around in his hand for a few seconds before staring at, mesmerized by the natural glow it seemed to give off. Once again, a sense of calmness surrounded him. With some peace of mind Lance felt like he would be able to sleep without waking up in the middle of the night for once, like he always seemed to do. Setting the pearl on the nightstand by his bed, the prince climbed in and shut off the lights with a single clap, tucking himself under the covers for the night. Lance turned out to be right and he slept through the whole night without waking up once and in the morning he was feeling okay for once despite the emotional difficulties he knew lay ahead of him.

The next few weeks consisted of a lot of lunches, tea times, and outdoor activities. Lance had tried to put on a smile and fake his happiness just so his father wouldn’t confront him about his attitude, but he felt the mask he consistently procured each day slipping and Shiro and Allura seemed to notice it too. His father had planned a party and Lance absolutely hated the parties the king would throw, they were all too uptight and stuffy and proper. He knew he needed to get out for a little bit, he needed to go to his special place on the beach, but he didn’t know how to leave without being noticed. He was twisting the pearl in his hand anxiously, he had stuffed in his pocket before coming down to the party due to how calm he felt while holding it. It wasn’t until Shiro and Allura pulled him to the side near one of the many large Areca Palms his father had put around the castle, did he get his chance to escape. They were waiting for an opening, for his father to be too preoccupied with King Alfor and the other guests to take notice of Lance’s absence.

Shiro kept a lookout while Allura told him that as soon as there was an opportunity to run, to take it. She smiled at him kindly, “I like you Lance, I want us to be good friends. I probably should’ve come to you sooner after seeing how you felt since the first time we met, but I want you to know that I’m against this marriage situation just as much as you are.” Lance felt happy and grateful to her. “Thank you, Allura. You’re already a really good friend.” He told her with a smile and Shiro looked at the both of them fondly before telling Lance, “He’s busy talking to King Alfor and Duke Coran I think this is your chance to go now.” Lance nodded and patted his friend on the shoulder before winking and shooting finger guns at both Shiro and Allura playfully while sneaking out the back door of the ballroom. There was a path around the outside of the castle that led past the back door he usually came out of to get to his place on the beach. Excitedly, Lance ran down the path, pearl still in hand and he felt like he could finally breathe again.

Taking off his shoes and rolling his pant legs up he continued heading down to his hideout only to let out a loud yelp at what he saw. There was a black haired boy sunbathing on the big rock at his hideout and not only that he had… a red tail? Lance couldn’t believe it he’d thought his eyes were playing tricks on him that night. Somewhere in the midst of Lance’s surprised outburst, the boy had seen him too. At the noise Lance made he had fallen off the rock he was laying on and had ended up on the sand, dazed from the impact. Whatever surprise Lance’s mind was in the middle of processing immediately stopped when he heard the boy groaning in pain. He quickly ran over to help him, but hesitantly touched his hand because he didn’t know what he should do.

The boy lifted his head up, meeting Lance’s dark blue eyes. And at that moment Lance felt something. He couldn’t place any words to go with it yet, but he felt like it was something good. Something he’d been meaning to find for a while and he finally had. The boy grabbed onto his hand and his gaze fixated on Lance’s, his expression changed from surprise, to hope, to confusion, then to wonder almost all simultaneously.

Where would this lead?

What could this be? They both thought at the same time.