Chapter Text
“You ready to change the world, Sammy?”
“Dean, we might not even find them.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “And you call me the pessimist.”
Sam smirked and opened his laptop. Dean watched as he logged their coordinates, the weather and a load of other data that probably wouldn’t come in that useful. Dean would have preferred to go out in his diving gear, swim around for a bit. They’d been leaving little peace offerings – laminated sheets of pictures of the land, the people on the research team, different vegetables (which Dean would swear was all Sam’s idea), since it was believed that the merpeople were vegetarian, and jewellery – in plastic boxes anchored to the area where there had been most sightings. In their place, someone had been leaving pearls and shells and plaited seaweed. On the thumbnail-sized cameras and sensors, mermaids had been spotted, and one in particular kept turning up roughly an hour before they refilled the boxes.
Mermaids weren’t news, not really. This area of the sea had been cordoned off for years by the government and everyone knew why, but now they’d been given permission to go and explore. Dean didn’t know why it had taken so long for anyone to try meeting them, but he’d been told by his bosses and supervisors that it was because of the same reason they left tribes alone in the jungles. Now, though, pollution was a larger risk, and after a recent oil spill and a shipwreck of chemicals near here six months ago, it had been decided to try and make contact and work some things out.
And they weren’t even sure if they’d be able to communicate. Dean planned to get over that particular obstacle when they reached it.
“Dean! Dean, we’re here. We’ve been told to go in and replace the boxes a little earlier today. Spinach is particularly popular. Also, we’re not allowed wetsuits, because they might be more comfortable if we look...more like them.”
“Are we good for flippers?”
“Yeah, I guess we can use them. Apart from that, we’re down to snorkels and lungs.”
Charlie bounced over. “Well, the water’s warm and the weather’s great. Let’s go meet some merfolk. I’ve got the pictures we’ll leave this time. I might try and explain mermaids in fandom if we see any.”
Sam rolled his eyes, smiling.
Dean stripped, acting like a cross between a penguin and a peacock in his ridiculously bright swimming gear and flippers. He grabbed a spare bag of spinach, put on his goggles, and jumped. Sam followed moments later, and then Charlie dived in after them.
They usually filled the boxes once a day, at about noon. They’d gone sooner in the hope that they’d catch someone in the act. The boat was far enough away for a five minute swim to the site, since they weren’t sure how comfortable mermaids would be with boats after the accident.
On the way to the site they didn’t talk, but raced. Charlie won, as she usually did, because Dean was too busy trying to beat Sam to notice her sneaking ahead. Dean nudged Sam in the ribs with his flippers, grinning. Sam grabbed his ankle, and they messed around until they bumped into Charlie, who had her head under water and a hand in the air signalling stop.
They put their heads under and watched as a merman, facing away from them, opened the box. He used a plastic supermarket bag to carry things from the box, and bring the ones that he would leave in it. He had dark hair and a strong body that faded into a blue tail longer than Dean thought a mermaid would have. Gills at his neck and over his ribs flickered and his tail wound around the rope that anchored the box as he changed the contents. He chewed happily on the spinach, and looked at the pictures, this time of deserts and mountains, before stowing them away in his bag. He looked at the jewellery and took that, too. He was already wearing one of the woven plastic wristbands Charlie had made when she was bored, and Dean could see her beaming.
Dean looked between Charlie and Sam, and indicated that they should move closer. Before they could agree, Dean took a breath and was swimming closer as quietly as he could. The merman turned before Dean could reach him, caught sight of him and panicked. Its tail got caught in the rope and the box swayed. Dean stopped immediately.
It untangled its tail, glancing down at the fins splaying from the sides, and looked at Dean, then Charlie and Sam. Hesitantly at first, it swam close to Dean and tapped his goggles. Curling over backwards it swam down to inspect the flippers confusedly, giving them an experimental tap and a tug before eyeing up the bag of spinach. Dean held it open for him, and handed him the bag before swimming to the surface to catch his breath. The merman followed, eating and looking again at Sam and Charlie with his head above the water. They swam over.
Dean took out his snorkel and grinned widely, and the merman gave him a shy smile in return, and to Sam and Charlie.
Charlie pointed to herself. “Charlie. My name is Charlie.” She pointed to Sam. “His name is Sam.” Then to Dean. “His name is Dean. They are brothers. I am their friend.”
The merman looked like he understood, and when Sam pointed to him, he thought about it for a moment, squinting. “My name is Castiel.” He held out some of the things he’d been planning on leaving in the box, some jewellery it looked like he’d made that he mostly put on Charlie, and showed them his collection of shells. He indicated that they should follow him, tilting his chin in the direction he started to swim in.
At first they struggled to keep up, because even though from his upper body Castiel didn’t look like he’d be any taller than Sam, his tail made him about two feet longer. He seemed to realise that they were struggling to keep up, and settled at a pace that they found easy to keep. When he overtook them, he arched and swam around to look at their swimsuits. He seemed particularly interested in Charlie’s, since it showed more leg, and he couldn’t seem to get his head around the idea of two limbs moving separately and he frequently stared.
Dean couldn’t blame him for staring, since Castiel’s tail was pretty impressive, too; when it caught the light it reflected and turned lighter shades of blue and white. In the shadows it looked black, and occasionally it flashed a bronze colour.
Castiel stopped. They’d gone further out to sea, but still close enough to see the boat. The area was shallow, and bigger boats couldn’t get here. It wasn’t really attractive enough for tourists and the seaweed was disgusting against their ankles, but Castiel didn’t seem to notice as it wound around his tail.
He dipped under the water and made some noises that they assumed was his language, and out of the murky water two more mermaids appeared and surfaced. One had red hair and bright blue eyes, and her blue tail shone the colour of her hair in the light. The other wore a smug grin and had blonde hair, with another blue tail that went a kind of gold.
Castiel grinned. “His name is Gabriel...” he pointed at the woman, “Anna.” Castiel held out the jewellery to Anna, who took it excitedly and added it to the collection that was working its way up her arms and around her neck. Castiel spoke to Gabriel for a moment as Gabriel helped himself to a small chain bracelet, and perused the pictures before turning his attention to Sam.
“I speak a bit. Mostly what I pick up from drunken campers on that beach,” he pointed to the small, ugly beach behind them. “Castiel wants to know if ‘his’ changes for Anna.”
“Her. Her name is Anna.”
Castiel smiled and thanked Gabriel, who turned to them again.
“So, what about that chemical spill a while back? Pretty nasty stuff.”
Sam nodded. “Uh, yeah. That’s kinda why we’re here, actually. We needed to know, or we’re curious to find out, what you need to survive here.”
“Space. We know you keep people away from us, and we’re thankful for that.”
Charlie pushed the hair out of her face. “We want to help. The more we know about you guys, the less likely it is that we make some terrible mistake or that some millionaire wants to rip the place up looking for oil or make you a tourist attraction.”
“I didn’t get all of that, but I know oil, and I don’t like it.”
“If we...look at you guys,” Dean started, hoping not to use vocabulary that Gabriel wouldn’t understand, “there is a less oil, noise, people.”
Gabriel nodded. Anna and Castiel were listening now, and Gabriel took to translating.
Dean grunted and let out a short laugh. “Uh, my knee’s playing up. I should try and get back to the boat.”
When Dean started swimming away, Gabriel laughed at the look on Castiel’s face.
“You want to go with them, don’t you?”
“They’re interesting.”
“Sure, that’s the reason. Come on, we can get him back faster than they ever could. Anna, grab Charlie. I’ve got the big one. Castiel gets his mate.”
“He’s not my mate. I’m sure he has no interest in attempting to reproduce with me or sharing a lifelong, emotional and profound bond –”
“Castiel. Just grab the human.”
Castiel huffed and they caught up, watching as Charlie and Sam clumsily swam with Dean between them. Castiel swam under Dean and easily carried him just above the water until they reached the boat, when he let Dean off his back and grab the ladder. He hopped up on one foot and they watched as Charlie and Sam climbed up afterwards.
Sam poked his head over the edge. “Do you wanna...come up?” he pointed to Castiel and then to the deck.
Castiel looked to Gabriel. “He wants to know if you want to go up there with them for a while.”
Castiel nodded eagerly.
Anna frowned.“You’ll miss the party dad set up.”
“I don’t want a mate, not one of them, at least. We’ve met all the others before. This is more interesting.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “We’ll tell him you forgot.”
“He won’t believe it, but thank you.”
Gabriel and Anna watched as Castiel pulled himself up the ladder, using his tail for support. When he reached the top Sam and Charlie helped pull him up.
“If anything happens to you, Castiel, we will bring this ship down.”