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Mu Tianchi swam gracefully through the water, and made absolutely certain that no one saw him glance towards his left where a sneaky little octopus was trying his best to hide. His brothers would not take kindly to their hunting mission being tracked, even if it was by someone as harmless as a little admirer. As far as he was concerned, as long as he didn't do anything to epordize the hunt, the boy could stay.
After all, he'd already been following them for a month. If his brothers hadn't realized they were being stalked by now, that was their own failing.
Li Yu, who absolutely would not take kindly to being likened to a child, was watching the royal procession from his hiding spot amongst the rocks. Anytime he thought he might have seen one of the princes even glance in his general direction he flattened himself as far as he could and hoped that some of his natural camouflage would do the heavy lifting for him.
You could hardly blame him though, the royal family was the only known school of Cecelia in this part of the oceans. And Li Yu, being of a more solitary nature, was mostly curious about how a school like that even functioned. Especially considering most squid were rather territorial and didn't like to share. The conundrum was enticing to Li Yu and he simply had to understand.
So he might have lightly... stalked the princes.
At first he had only meant it to be a cursory observation.
But then the fifth prince, Prince Jing, had caught his attention. It couldn't be helped! Li Yu was curious by nature and something about Prince Jing had captivated the lone cecaelia and he hadn't been able to turn away since.
He really was lucky that Prince Jing, specifically, hadn't noticed him yet. That would be a complete disaster.
Mu Tianchi's frown deeped as he quietly watched where the octopus repositioned himself. They were approaching deeper waters, Mu Tianchi knew from experience that the fish here, would not hesitate to take a bite out of an unwary tentacle, and his stalker's new hiding place might keep him out of sight of the princes, but it wouldn't protect him from any predators.
As much as it wasn't his business, and really if his stalker ended up losing a leg or three due to his own obliviousness, then it would technically be for the better.
"Tianchi! Hurry up! Don't lag behind!" His older brother called out. Mu Tianchi shook his head to clear his thoughts before raising a hand to let his brother know he'd heard him. It was no use worrying over someone who wasn't even supposed to be there. If he got hurt it'd be his own fault.
Li Yu watched with stars in his eyes as the princes ruthlessly hunted down the giant squids that had been encroaching on the kingdom. It really was a breathtaking sight. As always his eyes were drawn again and again to the fifth prince.
It was only thanks to this habit that Li Yu noticed.
One of the giant squid had managed to sneak up behind Prince Jing, who was already in the midst of fighting off two others. He wouldn't see it in time, let alone react. Li Yu reacted without thinking.
Each tentacle tightly gripped the sharpest stones he could find and he swam faster than he'd ever forced himself to before. When he was as close to the giant squid as he dared, Li Yu turned upwards sharply. Using that momentum, he launched all eight stones directly at the creature's eye.
The giant squid let out a screech and sank slightly.
It wasn't a fatal hit, not anywhere close to one, but it did its' job of distracting the squid from Prince Jing.
Li Yu felt all the blood in his body freeze as the giant squid turned it's remaining good eye directly towards him.
Its' full attention was solely on him.
Li Yu knew without a doubt that it was faster and stronger than he was.
There was no time to swim away.
He was going to die.
That fact came to him as simply as any other obvious statement. Water is wet, snails are delicious, and he was going to be killed by a giant squid.
Once that fact had truly penetrated his mind, it was like everything around him began moving in slow motion. He could see the squid's beak opening, as its' tentacles moved to ensare him, he was even able to notice the wicked hooks it would likely use to tear him apart. Oddly enough, where there should have been fear, Li Yu only felt a strange sense of... quiet.
He would die. But in doing so he'd give Prince Jing and the other princes just a little more time to deal with all the others.
Li Yu felt something wrap around his waist and closed his eyes, hoping that his inevitable death would be relatively quick and painless.
Then he felt his body get yanked violently to the right. Li Yu's eyes shot open and he watched as Prince Jing pulled him out of range of the giant squid. Once they were far enough away, Prince Jing released his hold and all but shoved Li Yu behind him.
Mu Tianchi had just finished dealing with the two giant squid he'd been facing, when he heard the shrieking coming from behind him. He turned around just in time to see a third move to attack his little stalker.
A rage unlike any he'd ever felt before filled him, especially when he noticed that the other wasn't even trying to get away. As if he'd already accepted his own death.
Mu Tianchi rushed forward and managed to pull him away just in time.