Kelp

Kelp

A Mermay Prompt

(Note: aggression(it has begun))

Masterlist

Prev / Next

“Y/n.”

“No! Nope! Nu uh!” You shook your head and pulled away. “I’m not eating what is basically sea grass! Do I look like a cow to you?”

Cross held out the kelp to you. “A what?” His head tipped to the side like a big puppy.

“A cow.” Realizing that wasn’t an explanation, you gestured how big a cow was. “It’s a big land animal with four legs that eats grass. The bulls have these long curving horns so they can fight off predators.”

His eyes widened. “It has four legs and weapons??”

You snickered at his reaction. “Yeah, there’s a whole sport around bull fighting. It’s really dangerous even though cows aren’t predators.”

“They’re not predators… and they’re dangerous? Have… Have they killed anything?” His eyelights were tiny in his sockets.

“Oh, yeah. I don’t know the details, but I know that many people and animals have died to a rampaging bull. It’s not fun.”

Cross didn’t respond.

Looking back at him, you finally noticed why. The guy looked absolutely terrified. Of cows? Well, you hadn’t done the best job explaining their softer side. You cleared your throat. “But they can be really gentle. When I was little, I went to a ranch and got to feed one. That was fun.”

“Mm…” He mumbled, still staring into space.

“Cross?”

His eyes snapped to you, he shook his head and sat straight. “Anyways! You still have to eat this.”

“Noooo!” You stepped out of his reach. “You can’t make me if you can’t catch me! Ha!”

Cross grinned smugly at you. “You remember how you learned about this type of conversion?”

Your eyes narrowed suspiciously. “…Yeeaahhhh? Horror told me. Why?”

“Heheheh.” Came a familiar chuckle behind you causing a chill to go up your spine.

You spun around to face Horror, who had sat himself right in your pathway.

He waved his fingers at you. “Hi.”

A glare was shot at Cross. “Two against one is unfair.” You pouted, earning another chuckle from Horror.

Cross shrugged. “I planned ahead. And Horror was the only one of us that can get on land without getting stuck.”

You crossed your arms, careful to keep an eye on Horror’s curling tentacles, and grumbled. “I still don’t want to…”

A sigh came from Cross. “Y/n. If you want to be a siren, you have to ease into the diet. If you convert without preparing, you’ll throw up everything we feed you. It’s an annoying process but a necessary one.”

Horror hummed in agreement.

“Uuuggggghhhhhhh! Fine! But it’s gross!” You stormed over and carefully took the soggy greens. “…..Gross.” Your nose wrinkled at it.

Both sirens laughed at you and waited patiently, looking away for your comfort.

It looked and felt so gross. Your gag reflex had you sticking your tongue out and looking away. It was necessary. It wouldn’t hurt you… right?

An idea came to mind.

You spun on your heel, much to Cross’s confusion, and marched back to

Horror. His tentacles moved out of your way as he gave you an amused look. Splitting the clump of kelp vaguely in half, you offered him half and his eye dilated at the offer.

“Y/n, he doesn’t-.” Cross started.

“Shut up, Cross. If I’m going to eat this, I’m going to share.”

You could have sworn Horror’s eye flickered into a heart for a second. He gently took the clump and held it close. He grabbed a droopy leaf and held it up, waiting expectantly for you to do the same.

With a small groan, you lifted up a piece, maintaining eye contact, and copied him as he ate his.

Oh, that was salty!

Your face pursed at the taste, gaining another chuckle from the tall siren. Once you got past the sea water… it didn’t taste… bad. Just like a sea salad.

Horror smiled and encouraged you to continue. You both ate your section of sea weed without much other than a few tense expressions as you bit into the next leaf.

Before you knew it, your hands were empty and Horror was licking his fingers.

“Was that so hard?” Cross teased his eyes darting between you and Horror.

“Yes.” You snapped back. “But… it wasn’t… terrible.”

Horror chuckled again and leaned over you. “Lil… baby.”

You gasped, offended. “Excuse me?!?”

Horror was leaning over you and… purring? Was that purring or a different type of whistle? And how did he do that? You could feel the sound in your ribs. When you looked at him, his eyes were closed as he leaned towards you.

A growl from Cross startled you.

“Horror.” Cross threatened. His claws were digging into the beach as if he would come after you.

Horror’s eye opened slowly and you shivered. His eye blazed with a protectiveness you hadn’t seen before as he glared at Cross.

The purr melted into a growl.

That… wasn’t good.

You were between two aggressive sirens. And neither of them seemed to notice you, fully focused on each other.

Deciding to back out of this situation, you slowly stepped away from Horror. Surely they wouldn’t start a scuffle randomly, right? You didn’t want to risk it.

You bumped into a writhing tentacle.

It immediately gripped your leg, Horror’s attention shot to you with a glare that could kill, and you froze. Would he hurt you while he was like this?

With a small gasp, Horror’s expression snapped from angry to scared. Him and his tentacles reeled away from you.

“…Horror?” You asked. Was he okay?

With a whine and a pained look, Horror turned and retreated into the water with less than a splash, leaving you staring after him.

What…

What just happened?

“Are you okay?”

You looked over at Cross. There were marks in the beach where his hands had dug into the rocks.

“What happened?” You asked, still tense.

Cross’s face gained a purple hue. “Uhhh, Horror forgot himself for a second… It’s okay. He, uh,” He gave the water a quizzical look. “He didn’t want to hurt you.”

Comforting.

“You sound surprised.” You raised an eyebrow at Cross.

“Well, he,” Cross grumbled. “He doesn’t like people. Except for Nightmare, I guess, but Nightmare spoils him.”

“Spoils him?”

Cross waved his hand dismissively. “He helps Horror hunt. Which is du- unnecessary, Horror can hunt for himself, and Boss doesn’t help anyone else.” He grumbled and crossed his arms. “It feels like he only helps Horror because Horror’s an octopus too.”

Oh.

Big boy was jealous.

When Cross finally looked back at you, he startled at your glare.

“Cross.” You growled slowly. “Do you know why I met Horror? How I learned that whistle?”

He shook his head.

“Because he was starving. I sat on this beach and waited for one of you to show up when he found me. He was hungry and he saw an easy target. Do you remember why I survived?”

“You fed him?” He answered, uncertainly.

“Yes. And when I offered the first sandwich, he stopped whistling. I was terrified. But I offered again. I can only imagine what it was like for him. Starving for days maybe weeks, when, what you thought was going to be your next meal, offers you food instead of running away when they had the chance. How would you feel if you were starving, attacked someone, and they gave you pizza?”

His mouth opened and closed a few times before he answered. “…Horror was starving?” You nodded. “But… he can lure, right?”

“If you mean lure like ‘sing and people will walk off a cliff for you’, no.” You shivered. “Horror can’t lure. His whistle only removes fear. I could have walked or run away at any moment, even while he sang, and he could do nothing to stop me. Cross, he can’t hunt like you and Killer. Didn’t you know?”

Cross shook his head. “Sirens can’t affect other sirens, so we never knew. He had a whistle, we assumed it worked. He never told any of us otherwise.”

You looked back across the water. “From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t like talking around you. He talked to me, a lot, the other day. Maybe he talks to Nightmare too?”

“That… would make sense.” Cross said. “Oh my stars, this entire time…? And we never noticed? No wonder I’ve never seen him eat when Boss is asleep.”

The birds and waves filled the silence for a moment.

“…Are you okay?”

You looked back at the siren and shrugged. “Better than I should be, worse than I could. Why?”

“He grabbed you.” Cross’s face was tense with concern.

“Yep. And let go immediately after. His tentacle didn’t hurt me, Cross.” You scolded.

He didn’t look sorry as he changed the subject. “Come here. I need to give you some magic for the conversion.”

Your face wrinkled humorously as you walked toward him. “You make it sound weird.”

“The anti-drowning siren maker then.”

“Nope! The last one was good!”

Siren

A Mermay Prompt

Masterlist

Prev / Next

Seeing your soul had been weird. Cross apparently had to directly pull your soul out of your chest to give you more direct magic than a monster candy could. It was weird seeing your glowing soul. Cross had explained human souls to you and what their colors meant. It was cool, knowing that your soul reflected yourself.

He hadn’t shown his own soul. He just hovered his hands around your soul and purple magic moved like mist into the little glowing heart.

You had tingled all over, similar to Killer’s candy but not as aggressive. This time you felt alert instead of jittery. Cross explained that it was because of whose magic it was. Killer was an excitable predator, abounding in energy the others didn’t share. Cross was more alert and calm.

You were curious of Horror’s magic.

Over the next week, you had sold all of your stuff and donated the money to various nonprofits you trusted, your diet had slowly changed as you were far more willing to eat what the boys offered you, and your legs had gone from sore to in pain constantly. Horror said that was normal so you didn’t mind.

The day finally came.

You walked down the path to the beach for the last time, wearing only a t-shirt and a skirt.(Yes, a skirt. It wasn’t your idea, Cross warned you not to wear pants for the transition as anything in the way of the legs will cause great discomfort and pain. So you wore a skirt.)

“Oh, look at you! All dolled up, suckerfish? What’s the occasion?” Killer teased and winked between the other two sirens.

“That I brought something.” You smirked, hands behind your back.

Killer got excited. “A surprise?? Let me see!” He started pulling himself up the beach.

Both Cross and Horror stopped him.

“Killer, no. You’ll beach yourself and drown.” Cross lectured.

“You’re just a coward!” Killer grinned.

You spoke up. “Killer, you’ll want to be in the water for this.”

To both Cross and Horror’s amazement, Killer backed up into the water again. “What is it?” His tail kept thrashing in excitement.

You pulled out the frisbee.

“YES!!!!!” He cheered. “Throw it!!!”

You did. Cross and Horror flinched as the water exploded between them and something flew past their heads. They watched Killer expertly swim out, catch the flying disk, and bring it back.

“What is that?” Cross questioned as Killer tossed you the frisbee.

Much to Killer’s dismay, you didn’t throw it again. “It’s a frisbee. I’ll explain later.” You looked around. “So now what.”

Cross turned his attention away from the frisbee. “One of us will take you into open water where you will be given a more powerful dose of magic. The magic not only starts the conversion, but also numbs you to any pain you might feel. One of us just needs to hold you upright until you are officially a siren. Since Killer started the process but I took over feeding you magic, we can’t predict what form your lower half will take. If it had been just me or just Killer, you would turn into the same species as whoever.”

“That makes sense.”

“We’ve decided to let you choose who you want to help you through this last step. But, y/n.” Cross grew serious. “This is it. After this there’s no going back. People on the land will shun and attack you on sight. If you have anything else to do, or if you don’t want to go through with this, this is your last chance.”

You waded into the water. “Perfect. Let’s do this.”

“Hell yeah!” Killer encouraged.

Cross nodded. “Who do you want to take you?”

You looked around. Cross was pushing himself off the beach and into the water, probably for the last time. Horror sat where he was, half on the beach, staring at the ground. And Killer was excitedly trying to grab at the frisbee in your hands. He was the only one that seemed relaxed and cheerful while the others looked stressed. You suspected the aggression from the other day might have something to do with you as neither Cross or Horror could look you or each other in the eyes.

Reaching forward, you placed the frisbee in Cross’s hands. “Can you hold on to this for me?” When he nodded, you turned to Killer. “Killer.” He perked up at his name. “Since you started this, would you like to help me finish it?”

They all froze.

Killer’s eyes went wide and he stammered. “I… you… You want me to…?” He pointed at his chest, his red soul twitching in confusion.

“Yes.” He’d apologized. It was about time you let him know you forgave him.

“Y/n.” Cross said with concern. “Are you sure?”

Killer frowned for half a second before slapping a big grin on his face. “Yeah, suckerfish! Do you really want a shark siren to be the first face you see after converting? Why not Cross? You like Cross.” He gestured dramatically at the larger siren.

You shook your head. “I didn’t ask Cross. Killer, I asked you.”

The same twin stars from that night stargazing lit up his sockets. They shimmered at you before darting towards Cross and going out again. “Whatever you want, suckerfish.” He winked and grabbed your hands to pull you out to sea.

“I’m not losing that nickname, am I?” You sighed.

“Nope~!”

Cross and Horror shared a look of concern but didn’t stop Killer as he dragged you into the water. He took you a quarter of a mile from the shore before stopping and glancing back at the others.

“I, uh… I’m not sure I remember how to do this…” Killer confessed. “Uh, what does Cross do?”

You smiled. “He sends magic directly into my soul. Here.” You focused and summoned your soul. With enough magic and practice, Cross had managed to teach you how to summon your own soul. It was weird but you got used to it easily.

Killer openly stared, his own soul spinning and twisting before it finally settled into an upside down heart. The eyelights were back. “O-Oh. Okay. I remember now. Hold on to me.” He guided your hands to his shoulders.

You held on and tread water as his hands circled your soul. He hesitated.

“You’re sure you want me to do this? No one would question if you wanted Cross or Horror instead.” He almost begged. “I could hurt you if I’m not careful. And we both know I’m not very careful!” He grinned.

You nodded. “I trust you.”

His soul stuttered and his face turned a reddish color. That was all he needed though. Killer immediately sent his own magic into your soul. A lot of it.

The effects were instant, you were filled with so much of the energy that Killer’s magic gave off that you started shaking. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything as his intent spread into you.

Care, want, need.

Your soul responded.

Acceptance, forgiveness, trust.

Killer didn’t falter but spared you a glance. “This’ll be really weird.”

The only thing you knew was you felt an intense need to move, fight, do something! Killer’s hands left your soul to grab your hand and guide you. He started swimming you around in circles, pulling you until you started moving. It was slow at first, getting used to moving when both of your legs had fused together, but it wasn’t too hard after you figured out the proper movements.

Just up and down and up and down.

You started picking up speed. Killer grinned at you as you matched his pace on the water.

“You’re doing great, suckerfish!” He encouraged, before speeding up a little and letting you go. “But it’ll be a while before you’re as fast as me.” He teased.

Taking him up on the challenge, you took a deep breath and dove into the water, speeding past him.

“Hey!”

You startled yourself with a chirp-like whistle that was supposed to be a laugh. But when Killer whistled back at you, you squealed the ticklish noise, no longer bothered by it.

Killer reached to grab and push you around as you raced. You bumped into him back and twirled towards the surface of the water again, following pure instinct.

You burst out of the water completely, a sense of weightlessness hitting you at the peek of your jump, before you fell back in the water.

Overjoyed, you twisted to see that you were, in fact, a dolphin siren. Your whistles and squeals filled the air as the others approached, Cross still holding that frisbee.

“And here I was thinking you’d be an urchin.” Cross teased.

You went to give him a retort but only chirps and squeaks made it out of your mouth. Your hand instinctively went to your throat. Had you lost your voice?

“Oh. Oh stars, I forgot about that.” Cross grinned sheepishly at your confused face. “So, uh, your whole body changed, maybe not so much outwardly but, your lungs had to change to breathe underwater and your vocals had to change to use a siren song. You might not be able to talk for a while…”

You crossed your arms and Killer spoke up for you. “And you didn’t think to mention that before the conversion?”

“I just forgot, okay? I haven’t converted someone before and I forgot.”

Killer grinned when you raised an eyebrow. “Unprofessional.” He said for you with a smug look. You swatted at him.

Cross sighed. “Sorry about that, y/n. You shouldn’t have to deal with this for more than a week but we’ll see. In the meantime.” He offered a hand and a smile to you. “Would you like to meet the others?”

Hideout

A Mermay Prompt

Masterlist

Prev / Next

“Let go of me!!!” Water rushed through your hair and ears as he dragged you downhill, deeper into the ocean and further away from your pod.

“Hold on, hold on!” The squid tried to calm you. “I just have to get you somewhere safe first! Also! You’re not being very… appreciative! I’m saving you, y’know!”

“You’re not saving me!!! I was perfectly fine!!!” You thrashed. “Get your suckers off me!!!”

“Wow! You’re really new! You don’t even know that Killer would kill you! I mean, it’s in his name, but good for you for not judging, I guess!” He shot you a smile over his shoulder even as he swam.

“I know he can kill me!!”

“Oh…” He frowned. “You’re just dumb then.”

“Hey!!!”

He shrugged. “Dream really knows how to pick ‘em. Did you know he found another useless siren before you?”

You’d had enough. Growling, you bared your teeth and bit into the tentacle that held you. The taste that hit your tongue had your face coiling in disgust. It tasted like pastels and paint. Gross.

The tentacle twitched and Ink glanced back at you again.

“What are you doing? Oh, you’re biting me. Stop that. It won’t help you.” He sounded so calm and unaffected by the bite that you faltered. Could you even get away if he wasn’t hurt by you?

Your answer came when you pulled away from the bite and a chunk of tentacle came off. You could bite through the limb.

You attacked again.

“I mean in, pal. Leave my arms alone.”

You ignored him.

“Hey.”

Bite.

“Dude.”

Bite.

“I said stop!”

You were whipped around through the water and spun. The tentacle left your waist and you steadied yourself, ready to run. Or well… swim.

Ink floated over you, his tentacles curling around and over you, caging you in as he spoke. “Do you know how long it takes to grow those back? Besides, they don’t taste good.”

Your eyes darted around, looking for an opening. He was much bigger than you and had the advantage of ten extra arms, one of which was wounded but still working. He did seem pretty oblivious though. So maybe you could outsmart him.

“Why are you doing this?” You asked.

Ink smiled and the question mark was back. “What do you mean? What am I doing?”

You stared blankly at him. Was he serious? “…You’re taking me away from my home.”

“Oh! Was that where you lived? I’m sorry! We’ll get you a new home as soon as we can! Nightmare is a bit of an urchin when it comes to territory. You won’t be able to go back until he leaves.” Ink informed you.

“I… I was living with Nightmare.”

“…”

“…”

“…Oh.” Ink backed up and displayed his tentacles. “You worked for Nightmare?”

“Well, not exactly? But we do call him Boss.”

His left eyelight changed into a target. “But you would do what he said if he asked?” The water was turbulent with how much his tentacles were moving. It made it hard to focus.

“Well, yes. He’s been very nice to me.” You gently paddled backwards with your tail. He was starting to scare you.

The question mark was back but the target stayed. “Why do all of you say that? How is Nightmare nice? Tell me. He has torn apart entire islands, sunken ships, he’s massacred pods upon pods of sirens, he attacks Dream on sight, and he has taken each of you from your homes. How is he ‘nice?’” He threw his hands in the ai- water as he spoke.

He was so absorbed in his rant that he didn’t notice you’d moved just out of reach.

“Nightmare didn’t take me from my home. Cross did.” You turned tail.

“What- Wait! Come back!” Ink startled.

You swam. You swam as fast as you could. You didn’t know where you were going but anywhere was better than with this strange squid siren that thought you were evil. He was fast too. You could feel him gaining behind you. You twisted between and around the boulders on the sea floor but, as long as you were moving, he was right behind you.

Getting a risky idea and taking a chance, you darted into the first small cave you found and froze, not letting yourself move a muscle.

The rush of water stopped outside.

“Hello? Where did you go? Human siren? I’m not gonna hurt you and I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ink called. “What do you mean ‘Cross did?’ Hello? Are you even over here?” He sighed. “You’re not here are you? Did you go this way?”

He continued to mumble and chatter further and further away until you couldn’t hear him anymore.

You didn’t move for several minutes afterwards, careful to make sure he was actually gone. When you were certain, you slowly dragged yourself further into the cramped cave and laid down.

Nightmare could find you. He would feel your fear and come find you.

One thing was for sure, you didn’t like Ink. He was big and mean and scary. Not that the boys weren’t big or scary. They just never belittled you like Ink had. You weren’t dumb. Living with the boys was the smartest and best decision you’d ever made.

Who was Ink to judge your decision after he kidnapped you?

You growled softly, aware that he could still be nearby. Now you didn’t know where you were, Killer was injured and panicking somewhere if Dream hadn’t killed him, and Dream knew Cross somehow. He said something about Cross being new to the ocean and not knowing what to do. Like you.

That made sense with Cross’s floppy dorsal fin indicating that he came from captivity. But if Dream knew him first, why was Cross with Nightmare now?

Wait.

Oh my stars.

Dream was Nightmare’s brother, wasn’t he?

“Ugh!” You blew bubbles that dispersed like clouds, covering the small cave in fog. You had a god of puns to punch if you ever found one.

Literature

A Mermay Prompt

Masterlist

Prev / Next

“Uuggghhhhhh!” You groaned, lying dramatically across a boulder. It had been so long since you’d read something and it’s not like you could just find a book. You lived in water now. You know, the one thing paper can’t touch. And reading online was out of the question too. Water and electricity mixed just as well as water and paper. Beaching yourself to ask someone on land wouldn’t end well unless you were insanely lucky and you were starting to like those odds.

“…What is it, y/n?” Nightmare interrupted your thoughts.

“Nothing…”

If Nightmare had glasses, he would have looked over them at you. “If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be acting dramatic about it. Either tell me or go groan at Killer.”

“…”

“. . .”

“Mmmm-Do you know what books are?” You propped yourself up on the rock you had draped yourself over.

Nightmare looked down at you, amused. “You miss your old hobbies.”

Stars that was fast. “Yeah. You know what books are?”

He smiled. “Little one, I was alive when they invented the printing press. Yes, I know what books are. I’m disappointed they haven’t made one that can exist in the sea.”

“Right? It’s stupid and frustrating!” You huffed, flopping across the rock again.

Chuckling echoed through the water. “Grow to be as old as me, and you won’t need new stories. I know more tales than you could have possibly heard in your lifetime.”

You perked up and looked at him. At your sudden positivity, Nightmare gave you a side eye. “…Can you tell me one? Please?

He laughed. “I guess I could since you were so polite. Hm… Did you know that the oceans weren’t quite so big originally?”

Intrigued with a dumb smile on your face, you shook your head.

“Well, as I said, the oceans used to be much smaller. For every drop of water there was an inch of land and all the land was connected. A land dweller could traverse the entire world on foot if they so pleased. Among those on the land were the gods and goddesses, only four of which I will speak of in this story for time’s sake.

“The goddess of life and the god of creation brought flora and fauna to the land and sea, bringing beauty and grace to an otherwise barren canvas. Their work echoed down for thousands of generations into the life you see today.

“However, the god of death brought rot and violence for all things must come to an end with time. He left much space for Life and Creation to work with before a person died of old age as he became complacent in his job and would rather rest than work.

“The last goddess, the goddess of emotions, took the emotions of creatures and beings and gave them empathy, letting them understand each other better. A man would grieve and another’s empathy would encourage them to comfort him.

“Because of the gods’ efforts, the world entered a state of peace and balance. Many lived on the land and in the water and trade existed between the two. Some of the gods also decided to change form to live in the water.

“But human and monster kind misunderstood the goddess of emotions’ responsibility. They believed she was the reason they felt pain and anger so they attacked her.

“Nym, the goddess of emotions, was gravely injured and, with help from Life, was turned into a tree by the water that you may know now as the Tree of Life. Before she perished, Nym split her power in twain, placing them in the form of two brothers of the sea. The guardian of positivity and the guardian of negativity.”

You gasped. “This is about you??”

Nightmare gave you a patient smile. “It is but a story, little one. As I was saying;

“The goddess of emotions managed to live in the form of the tree. Life looked after the Tree and it bore fruit of two kinds, dark and light, respective to Nym’s children, that had powerful capabilities when consumed. Life set the children in charge of each type of fruit, claiming that they were in charge of protecting the fruit and the Tree together.

“But the men and monsters discovered the Tree that Life guarded and argued amongst themselves. ‘Surely, if Life herself guarded the Tree, it must have the key to immortality!’ They said. ‘But let us not make Life angry, lest she forget us and leave us in the hands of Death.’ So they approached as friends. Life was fooled by their friendly faces and introduced them to the children of the Tree. Upon meeting, the men and monsters tried to befriend the guardian of positivity, all the while the guardian of negativity avoided them. He did not feel safe near them.

“One day, the guardian of negativity was beached under the Tree and Life and the other guardian weren’t nearby. The men and monsters of the land, seeing only one guard by the Tree, attacked the child and cut down the Tree, taking its fruit. Half dead, the guardian of negativity ate one of the fruit and it gave him power. But the power came at a cost.

“The guardian went into a frenzy and grew into a leviathan that dripped with hate. He tore apart the land dwellers and ate as much fruit as he could find before attacking the Tree that gave him life and vanishing into the deep. When his brother arrived he found his mother destroyed and Life weeping over the stump. He somehow found one last apple and, in an effort of revenge, ate the apple and pursued the guardian of negativity.

“The goddess of life cried over the loss of her friend for so long that the skies opened and it rained across the entire world. A great flood of tears drowned the world in water and salt, making the oceans toxic when consumed. The sudden growth in tide tore apart and destroyed the land, devastating entire kingdoms.

“The guardian of positivity was still chasing his rampaging brother, getting closer as time went on. The fruit had made him a leviathan as well, granting him powers he had not yet used. When he finally caught his brother, he was met with a monster the likes of which none had seen before. A snarling beast that destroyed everything in its path.

“When he called to his brother in challenge, the beast turned on him, ready to destroy. The fiercer of the two guardians easily overpowered his brother, forcing the guardian of positivity back against the shore where, when he was struck, he was turned into a statue of stone for five hundred years.

“Enraged and slightly wounded from the fight, the corrupted guardian retreated into the depths of a great crevasse where he finally came to his senses and realized what he’d done. Grieving the loss of his family, the guardian didn’t leave the crevasse for six hundred years when a stupid shark siren ignored the territory markings and entered the leviathan’s domain. However, despite his stupidity, the siren was rewarded for his bravery with a guardian by his side. The leviathan ventured out into the world for the first time since his frenzy to gaze upon a vastly different ocean.

“He quickly discovered that his brother was alive and had escaped his stone prison as that very brother attacked him on sight. Another battle was raised by the twins that flattened and sank part of the land.

“But the corrupt guardian lacked his rage from his last fight and had another problem to look after. The stupid shark siren was attacking his leviathan brother!”

You giggled.

“Cease your laughter. The idiot could very well have died.” Nightmare gently scolded. “The guardian learned that day that someone else’s life is more important than an old grudge. The guardian, for the first time in his life, turned tail and fled, the shark siren in tow.

“The grudge between to two brothers still hasn’t ended, but they each found their own new family to care for.”

“…”

Nightmare turned back to whatever he had in his hands.

You shot upright. “That’s it??”

He raised a brow at your outburst. “Were you expecting some sappy ending full of forgiveness and reconciliation?”

“Have you talked to your brother?? Maybe he misunderstood what happened! You couldn’t have just stopped talking to him because of a fight!”

“Do land dwellers not cut ties over complications such as these?”

You paused. “…They do. You’re right. But you should still talk to him!”

“What is there to speak of? He attacked me after the Tree fell.”

“Sounds like you attacked each other.” You pointed out.

Nightmare looked down at you. “If you wish to pick apart my tale, I will not share another with you. Now go. The boys are waiting on you.” He shooed you away.

You huffed but obeyed, swimming away in the direction you could hear Killer chattering someone’s ear off.

Nightmare had a brother. And a mom and adoptive mom by the sounds of it. Though you didn’t know what happened to Life besides that she cried the oceans into existence. You hoped she was okay. If Nightmare was still alive, maybe she was too.

And Killer met Nightmare first, apparently. Crazy shark tried to get himself killed twice. Once by Nightmare and once by… if his name was Dream, you were gonna punch the god of puns or something. Positive and negative. Oh my stars. If his name was anything but Dream you’d be shocked. Everyone had a weird name down here.

Behind your tail, Nightmare smirked as he sewed the last few words of his tale into a sheet of kelp, careful to get the spelling correct.

“New family to care for.”

The Grate Papyrus!

“Some are born grate, some achieve grateness, and some have grateness thrust upon them.”

Colors

A Mermay Prompt

Masterlist

Prev / Next

“Y/n?”

You tensed at Dream’s voice. You didn’t want to see him. You didn’t want to talk to him.

“I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.” You felt him shift closer to your hideout. “I can tell you’re in there. I won’t force you to come out, but I’d like to talk.”

“…”

“…You said you work for Nightmare?”

“I never said that.”

“…No. I guess you didn’t. But you live with him willingly?”

“……Yes. What’s it to you? Are you gonna attack me like Ink did?” You growled, bristling in your little cave. You glared at the entrance but, due to the bit of twisting the opening did, you couldn’t see out of the cave.

“Oh my stars- No. I will not attack you. No one should be attacking you this early into your new life. And I will have a discussion with Ink when I see him.” Dream sounded disappointed and angry. “He may be naive, but that is no excuse for his continued behavior. He will not go unreprimanded. I will make sure of it.”

Yep. They were brothers.

“You sound like Nightmare.”

Dream didn’t immediately respond. “…I’m not certain if that is a good thing or not.”

“Do you hate him?”

“My brother? No. No, I don’t. Our relationship is… complicated.”

“Complicated like attacking him after your mom died?” You accused, immediately regretting your choice of words. You could have been nicer about that. He had been very nice to you so far.

“……He… He told you about mom?” Dream sounded sad and surprised. When you didn’t immediately respond, he sighed. “I did not mean to attack him. He was scared. I was scared. There was blood and dust on mom’s stump. I just wanted answers. I hindsight, I should not have approached him in his violent state. Frenzies are easier to wait out than to calm. But I was not calm either. I got myself sucked into a fight with him and I haven’t been able to talk to him since. I promise you, I mean my brother no harm. I only wish to talk.”

That… sounded legit. “And Ink? What does Ink want?”

“Ink wants to feel.” Dream replied without hesitation. “He has no soul and believes saving people might help him develop feelings like most beings have. However, he follows me without question. If I tell him not to attack Nightmare, he will immediately stop. I’m sure of it.”

“You’re talking about me~!” Ink’s voice startled you and you backed further away from the opening of the cave. “Who you talkin’ to, Dream?”

“Ink.” Dream’s voice was threatening. “Do you remember that human siren I had you take to safety?”

“Oh! The pretty dolphin one?” The squid sang.

“…Yes. Did you attack them?”

There was a pause.

“Maybe? I don’t remember. I do remember them running though. Oh! They said that Nightmare was their Boss so I did attack them, yeah.”

Dream sighed. “Ink, you can’t just attack someone that works for or with Nightmare. Y/n wasn’t going to attack you.”

“Tell that to my arm.”

“What?”

There was a pause in sound as the water shifted slightly, most likely Ink showing Dream the multiple bite marks.

“…Y/n, why did you bite him?” He said seriously.

You growled. “He wasn’t letting me go! I don’t appreciate being kidnapped!”

“Woah! They’re here?” Ink wondered. Undoubtedly looking around trying to find you.

Dream groaned. “Ink, leave y/n alone. Don’t attack them. Don’t touch them. Y/n, would you please come out. We can take you back to Nightmare if you really want to go back.”

Oh, you really wanted to go back. The boys were probably worried sick. But it could be a trap for all you knew. Dream had immediately attacked Killer on sight. Speaking of which.

“What happened to Killer? Is he okay?” Your glare made it into your voice.

“Ah. Killer is… hurt. He is very difficult to dissuade from violence. He has attacked me before in my leviathan state which most would consider that equal to pleading for death. He was very lucky that Nightmare retreated that day. I almost killed him. On accident! I do not wish death upon anyone!” Dream quickly corrected himself. “If… If I could get close to Killer, I could heal his wounds. But I doubt he would let me close of his own accord.”

“I wouldn’t either if you shot me with a harpoon.” You growled.

Dream sighed again. “It was in self defense. I do wish he would not attack me on sight every time he saw me.”

“So are we going back to see the bad sirens?” Ink interrupted.

“Excuse me?!” You roared. Bad sirens?? What were they to Ink??? Dogs???

“I told you to stop calling them that.” Dream sighed a third time. His words calmed the water and you felt your anger leave you.

You inched forward. “I… I do want to go back. You won’t hurt me or my pod? Again?”

A gentle smile was in Dream’s voice. “We will not hurt anyone for as long as the water is calm.”

That was probably the best you would get.

It wasn’t a trick.

They really took you back to where you last saw Killer. There were a few stray sharks in the area, munching away at the fish you’d caught earlier but they didn’t give you any trouble as you swam past.

There were particles of dust and magic in the water that set you on your toes. Or fins, or whatever.

“Where’s Killer?” You asked.

Dream shook his head. “I don’t know. I had to break away and retreat when Horror, Cross, and Dust all pounced at me. Killer should be fine, I only shot him twice, but he was losing consciousness when I last saw him.”

“And you’re only telling me this now??” You snapped.

Ink’s eyes shot to you at your outburst, a target in one eye. You shivered and backed up.

“Y/N!”

A blur of black and white shoved its way between you and the other two sirens. The rush of water shoved you apart.

Arms wrapped around you from behind and pulled you away from Dream and Ink. A voice spoke above you.

“Y/n, are you okay?” Cross practically growled as he glared across the water at Ink.

“I’m okay.” You responded, hugging his arms to your chest when a flash of color caught your eye. You looked back at Ink to see him flared up, tentacles spread in intimidation.

His stripes were rippling, one moment grey and the next a vibrant rainbow. The colors were mesmerizing. Like staring at oil. Reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, indigos, and violets. Every color shifted and twisted, getting bigger and brighter with every passing second. It was absolutely beautiful.

You couldn’t see.

The water moved, someone was calling your name, and someone else was yelling. You turned your head to realize that someone’s hand was over your eyes.

“Y/n? Y/n, can you hear me?” Came Cross’s terrified voice.

“I… I can hear you.” You mumbled, clearing your head.

“Oh, thank the stars!” Cross sighed with relief, hugging you close.

The hand left your eyes but you were facing Cross now. You could hear Dream chewing out Ink behind you. Something about testing boundaries and power happy sirens.

“What happened?” You asked.

Cross frowned. “Ink doesn’t always use his voice to catch food. His body can change color quickly and it hypnotizes everything that looks. Even sirens. We’re lucky Dream stopped him before he could get caught in it too.”

“…He’s not a squid, is he?”

Cross scoffed. “No. He’s a cuttlefish.”

“Oh…” That was concerning. You curled into Cross’s chest.

Cross looked down at you. “You want to go home while they’re busy?”

You nodded.

He switched from hugging you to holding your hand, giving you the freedom of movement, before heading home.

One last thing occurred to you and you chuckled.

Cross raised a brow at you. “What are you laughing about?”

“I always knew cuttlefish were soulless.”

Cross burst into laughter.