Colors

Colors

A Mermay Prompt

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“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.

Sharp Teeth

A Mermay Prompt

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“Uh, Dust? You awake?”

No answer.

Cross shot you a concerned look from the opening of the dark cave. “I brought a new friend. If… you wanted to meet them.”

“…”

“…Okay. We’ll leave you alone.” Cross swam back to you. “I guess Dust isn’t up yet and neither is boss so you can’t meet them just yet. For right now you can stay in my cave until we find you a better one.”

You nodded. It was really cool down here. Last time you were here you just saw Cross’s cave, your human eyes unable to see much farther than what was in front of you. Now, you could see that his cave was settled next to several others with a small crevasse in between that got deeper in one direction. You couldn’t see the bottom of the crevasse in that direction, it just turned black at a certain distance.

Cross had sent Killer and Horror out hunting, prompting them to share, before showing you around. He didn’t enter anyone else’s cave and encouraged you to do the same. Not that you wanted to. Especially with two unknown sirens in the mix. That didn’t mean you weren’t curious.

After following Cross back to his cave, he laid down to rest and encouraged you to as well wherever because you needed rest after all that. His cave was plenty big enough and gave you a lot of space to choose from as he settled down.

You awkwardly settled yourself next to him. Not close enough to touch but not too far away. Cross smiled at you before closing his sockets to sleep.

You closed your eyes too.

…

Several hours later, you realized that you couldn’t sleep. You had too much energy. Killer’s magic was still stirring in your system, and there was so much you hadn’t seen yet. You could breathe underwater! A gift like that was not to be wasted.

Careful not to wake Cross with your movement, you slipped out of his cave to explore a little.

The crevasse wasn’t quite as pretty as Cross’s den, but that didn’t matter all that much. Little fish darted around the caves in schools and, when you looked close enough, you could see crabs and shrimp picking food particles out of the water. They all shied away from you when you got close but the curious shrimp came back. When offered, they inspected your hand and started cleaning it. You let them for a minute before moving on. You had energy. You needed to move.

Inspecting the terrain, you swam up and down the crevasse a few times until something shiny caught your eye. You looked over to see something in the darkness of Dust’s cave glittering at you. You slowly approached to get a better look but made sure not to enter the cave.

The little shiny thing shimmered and moved. Maybe it was a small fish? That would make sense with it being such a bright blue color. A red one joined it a little to the left. You smiled. It was cute. They almost looked like eyes staring back at you.

They blinked.

Wait…

You reeled back as the eyes shot at you a hooded skeleton launched into view. He grabbed your tail when you tried to get away and opened his mouth to bite.

His teeth looked sharp as needles as you noticed something strange in his mouth.

A second jaw.

In a whirlwind, something tackled Dust and sent you both in different directions.

“Hey, Dusty~! How’s it going?” Killer sang as Dust shoved him away.

“You can’t keep every kill to yourself, Killer.” Dust snapped.

When you finally got a good look at your attacker you realized you still couldn’t see all of him. His eel half was stretched out to reach where he was but he still sat comfortably in his den.

Killer gave him a cheeky grin. “I’m not~.”

A hand gently grabbed your elbow and you turned to see Horror next to you. He nodded at you and Dust noticed.

“Horror. What is going on? Who is that?” Dust questioned.

Horror tipped his head at you. “Friend… We helped her… convert.”

Dust sighed. “Well, keep a leash on your pet. I thought they were an intruder.”

You squeaked in indignation. A pet!?

“Heheh.” Killer chuckled. “Maybe we should get a leash.”

You screamed at him as Horror held you back. You were gonna kill him. Oh my stars.

“Not pet… Y/n is a friend. Helped… me.” Horror defended. He seemed surprisingly comfortable talking to Dust.

The eel raised a brow at you, still addressing Horror. “Well then, let me know if you need any help with them.” With that he retreated back into his den. He didn’t turn around though. He just backed up, his long coiled end pulling him in.

It was creepy.

He flashed a toothy grin when he caught your eye before vanishing in the darkness.

You shivered.

“Wow.” Killer commented. “That was fast.” Horror nodded.

Confused, you trilled in question, hoping they’d understand you.

Killer turned towards Cross’s den. “Dust likes you already. He offered to help. Dust never offers to help.”

“You.” Horror butted in with a smirk. “You make helping… hard.”

Killer shrugged. “Skill issue.”

You laughed.

Killer and Horror led you back to where Cross was still sleeping. Killer pounced on him.

A flurry of bubbles and a roar was all you could make out of the chaos that happened before Killer hurried back to you.

“KILLER!!!!!” Cross roared.

“Crossy~!” Killer sang. “Dust almost killed y/n and you were too asleep to do anything about it!”

You blushed at Killer’s bluntness. It was your own fault. You shouldn’t have left.

Cross’s eyes found you next to Horror. “Are you okay, y/n?”

You nodded but Horror pushed your face to the side. You squeaked as he unceremoniously flipped you over by the tail and showed Cross the small scratches you got from Dust grabbing you.

Horror’s voice came out in a slight growl. “Someone wasn’t… watching them.”

“They were supposed to be asleep.” Cross deflected.

You chittered in annoyance and gestured aggressively at Killer, indicating that his magic made it hard to sleep.

Killer gave an innocent grin. “I’m sorry, y/n. What did you say?” He teased.

You screeched and thrashed in Horror’s hold, trying to get at Killer for the second time today.

“Would you look at that. It hasn’t even been a full day and you already can’t stand Killer.” Cross pointed out. “Welcome to the pod.”

“Hey!” Killer glared playfully. “I’m the life of the party and you know it!” Horror shoved him.

“You yourself are a party, Killer.”

You froze as the new voice boomed around you and the currents of the crevasse grew quick and violent. What was that?

“Boss!” Killer cheered. “You’re up!”

Still upside down, you stared with wide eyes down at a singular cyan eye in the darkness of the trench, the eye itself was huge. It narrowed when it saw you.

“What is this, Horror? Why is there a stranger in our home?” Came the voice of the darkness. You shivered and curled towards Horror.

Horror let you go and you hid behind him. “This is…y/n. We met them… on the shore. Befriended… Killer and Cross… Fed me. They asked to… be siren.” He said slowly yet proud.

The narrowed eye softened and blinked at you. “Ah. Welcome, y/n. Let me introduce myself.”

The currents violently shifted again as the darkness rose from the trench, becoming solid in the form of giant black tentacles that reached out and pulled a giant skeleton siren out of the trench, which you could see the bottom of now that he wasn’t there. As he came into the light you noticed that one eye was covered in a thick substance that looked like it was dripping.

“I am Nightmare, guardian of negativity and the darkness. I am proud to be the first leviathan to welcome you to the oceans.” He tipped his head politely.

You chirped back as politely as you could.

Seeing a kraken on a regular basis was going to take some getting used to.

Semi Aquatic

A Mermay Prompt

(Note: …Horror)

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“Hello? Cross? Killer?” You called across the water.

No answer.

You could have sworn you heard something. You shrugged it off and set your bag down. The bag had more people food in it. You figured that whichever siren you saw first could have it so you sat down with a sigh and waited.

The wind wasn’t blowing very fast today, which was nice. It made things easier to hear. You sat back on your hands and closed your eyes, just listening.

There was sound everywhere.

The waves crashing on the rocks, the birds and seagulls singing, and the low, steady whistle of wind blasting through your alcove. The whistle called your attention, low and deep, it sounded like when the sailors would blow across those beer bottles.

Wait.

But the wind wasn’t blowing that fast.

You opened your eyes and searched for the sound. It was kind of echoing around everywhere but you finally managed to pinpoint a direction. Looking into the water, a broken skull stared back at you. He only had one eyelight under the fissure in his skull as he rose out of the water revealing his lower half.

He was a siren.

His bottom half was clearly octopus and his tentacles heaved him onto the beach and towards you. He kept that deep whistle going as he got closer. The tune was nothing special, just a deep note that would change pitch every now and then, but it still sounded pretty. You smiled at him but he didn’t smile back. He just crept closer and reached for you.

Oh! Was he hungry?

You turned away from him to rummage in your bag and pulled out the sandwiches you made. Turning back to him, wow he was close, you offered the food to his extended arm.

The whistle abruptly stopped.

And your fear came back full force.

You froze, hand still extended but noticeably more tense. Your eyes locked with his and he suddenly looked uneasy, staring at you as if he expected you to slap him. After a few moments of prolonged eye contact, his gaze shot down to the food in your hands.

Maybe he really was just hungry.

Ignoring the fact that he just crawled across the beach to get to you, probably to eat you, you offered the sandwiches again, pushing them into his hand.

He didn’t hesitate.

The food was snatched from your grasp and consumed before you could even flinch. He licked his fingers and looked at you hopefully. His whistle started up again.

“No, no. It’s okay.” You interrupted his whistle and pulled your bag around. “I’ve got more. You don’t have to convince me.” You pulled out a few more sandwiches and offered them to him. With how much pizza Cross ate the other day, you brought enough food to feed a party of twenty people.

The siren eagerly took your offering and ate silently as you slowly fed him more when he finished his.

You talked to pass the time. “I brought these for a friend. He’s a bit bigger than you, you might know him. Cross?” The siren glanced at you and made grabby hands for more food. You snickered. “Though, I don’t think there will be any left for him, huh?” He didn’t answer.

You rambled on about this and that, the weather, the superstitious townsfolk, the coral you’ve seen, the birds in your area. Everything and anything that crossed your mind. You had nothing else to do.

You ran out of sandwiches.

That made you pause. You looked down in the bag to see that it was, in fact, empty, and the octopus still wanted more. You showed him the empty bag. “Sorry, sir. I don’t have any left. You ate them all.” You explained, desperately trying not to lose yourself to your fear.

He looked at you, then the bag, then back at you. His expression was unreadable and you were slowly shrinking as he continued to stare.

A clawed hand reached for you, just as slowly as before, but this time without the whistle. Your eyes darted between his hand and his eye, trying to discern his intentions. Was he not whistling because he wasn’t going to hurt you or because he knew you wouldn’t run?

His hand landed on your head, lifted up, and patted you a few times. You blinked.

Was…

Was he petting you??

“Mmh.” He hummed. “Thanks.”

With that, he pulled away and sank back into the water without another word.

You stared after him.

You…

You hadn’t even got his name.

Literature

A Mermay Prompt

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“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.”

when I tell you I’m sitting at 1:00pm (AWST is my Timezone) WAITING to see the notification that you’ve posted the next part to your mermay list.

Each post scratches that little part of my brain, I’ve been searching for literal years for siren content where m/c is also a siren.

I love your work SO much (totally went through all of the other things you’ve tagged in your masterpost, everything is so good)!!

Your writing and your art is phenomenal, I can’t wait to devour the next parts of your mermay content c:<

p.s - what’s your name?? :o

Omg! Thank you! 😭

I’ve been having a lot of fun writing these stories and I am ecstatic that you like them! I’ve been trying so hard to keep this up and I’m always happy to see that someone enjoys my content!

Also, you can call me Blind. I’m not ready to tell people my real name just yet.

(How did you make the text so small??)

Recycle

A Mermay Prompt

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Recycle day!

You tossed your custom, tightly woven nets over your shoulder and lifted your gear out of the car, a smile on your face. While you hated that there was junk in the water, you had to admit it was fun to collect trash like Easter eggs. The water would push and hide everything in different places and you just had to search. That’s what the nets were for.

Most of your gear was already on when Cross showed up. You heard him beach himself behind you.

“Hey, y/n. What are you-?” His voice cut off with a splash.

You turned around to see him much further away than normal, staring at you with his head being the only thing out of the water. He was almost glaring at you.

“Y/n.” He almost growled, his voice low and tense. “Why do you have a net?”

You glanced at the nets you’d set on the ground. “Oh! It’s recycling day. I like take a few nets and try to clean up as much trash as I can from the water. I don’t… I don’t hunt or anything. I use nets because trash bags are hard to carry around in the water while nets are much easier.”

“Mmm.” He kept his distance and didn’t speak as you finished putting on your gear.

Once that was done, you slowly grabbed the nets, careful not to scare Cross, and just as slowly waded into the water. You glanced at him and he stared back with a guarded expression. “…Would you like to help? You don’t have to.” You offered one of the nets to him and turned slightly away, leaving yourself open and unthreatening.

His eyes narrowed and glanced between you and the net before backing up.

You shrugged. “Your choice.” Nozzle went in your mouth and you got to work.

The first part was always the easiest. Large clumps of trash could easily be scooped up into your net leaving you to grasp for the smaller pieces that tried to drift away. Plastics, styrofoam, metals, and glass all made their way into your net. You were careful to keep the fish out of the trash in your hand. The other nets were tied to your belt(no fanny pack this time) and gave you a little resistance as you swam. Nothing you couldn’t handle.

You felt Cross follow close behind you, watching you work, and figured looking at him while he was skittish would probably scare him off so you didn’t.

Until he swam at you.

You didn’t have time to turn around before an arm hugged you from behind to hold you still, something on your belt clicked, and he darted away again.

He didn’t speak and when you turned around you couldn’t find him. You checked your nets. One was missing.

Maybe he decided he would help.

When your net was full, you tied it off and headed back to the beach. Hauling yourself and the heavy, water-laden net was difficult but you managed. Once done with that, you went in for another round, this time without a companion.

Your net was halfway full when Cross came back, hauling a full net of trash. Your smile beamed at him as he sheepishly approached.

“I… I saw that you closed yours.” He looked down at his bag in embarrassment. “I don’t know how to close it.”

At least he was trying.

You gestured for him to hand you the net and you slowly showed him how to tie it off. Then you offered him another net.

He snatched it and shot off towards the beach.

The rest of the day was spent collecting trash and teaching Cross a few things when he had questions.

Until you found an intact glass bottle.

You gestured excitedly at Cross and swam up to the surface of the water. He was going to love this! He followed you.

Water ran down your face as you surfaced and pulled the nozzle out of your mouth to talk to Cross. You poured some of the water out of the bottle. “These bottles make cool sounds when you blow on them! Watch!” You took in a breath, put the bottle to your lips, and blew.

The same eerie tone from the other day filled the air but this time you could feel the small spike of fear you had at the sound. Your breath wavered and broke out the sound, overwhelmed by the memory of the strange siren. He’d almost killed you, hadn’t he? His hand had reached for you and there was nothing you could’ve done. You weren’t afraid of him when he approached because of the song. Was that how he normally hunted? Sing you into a state of peace and attack you while you didn’t understand what was happening? You could still hear that haunting tone.

The bottle was yanked from your hands.

“What do you think you’re doing, y/n!?” Cross snapped, worry lacing his voice. “Do you have a death wish?!?”

You just stared down at your now empty hand. He’d almost taken your life and you might have just called him. What were you thinking?

Cross seemed to finally notice your expression and his hands grabbed your shoulders. “Y/n? Have you heard that sound before?” His eyes searched your face.

You didn’t look him in the eye. You just nodded.

“Was it from a siren?”

Nod.

“….Holy shit, y/n.” He sighed and hugged you. “How are you alive?”

You found your voice but it cracked. “I… I brought you food… heheh, he ate it all. Sorry.” You leaned into the hug.

“You have got to be the luckiest little urchin I know.” He gave a breathy chuckle. “Are you okay? Did he touch you?”

“I’m fine. He…” You blushed in embarrassment. “…He pet me…”

“Pfft!” Cross laughed and pulled away to look at you. “He pet you??”

“Yes! I don’t know why! He… He just… He said ‘thanks’ and then left.”

“Woah! He talked to you? What did you feed him?” Cross grinned at you, his genuine smile calming your nerves.

“Just some homemade sandwiches. Nothing special.” You shrugged it off.

“Yeah, pizza is better than whatever you could make.” He teased.

You punched him. “Rude! My food is awesome!”

He chuckled at you and grabbed your fists as you swung at him. “Sure. Live in your denial. I’m not changing my mind until I taste it.”

“Fine!” You were now trying to get your comically small hands out of his with little success. He kept grinning at you as you struggled. “I’ll try to get some to you, if the others don’t eat it first.”

“Others?” Cross became serious again. “Did you meet a different siren?” His voice strained with worry.

You shrugged. “Just Killer. He’s been surprisingly nice to hang out with for the past few days.”

“Killer came back?!?” You yelped when Cross yanked you forward to check every possible surface he could find, which finally freed your arms. “Did he hurt you?? Are you okay?? Oh my stars, y/n!!” He fussed.

“Cross! It’s fine! He didn’t hurt me.” You weren’t going to tell him about that night on the cliff. “We played with a frisbee the other day. He’s chilled out since then.”

Cross deflated into the water with a sigh, his head still peeking out. “You’re gonna give me a soul attack. I’m gonna die.”

“Oh you big baby.” You teased, slashing water on his face. You glanced down at the half-full net on your belt. “C’mon. I still have work to do. You can yell at me while I clean.”

He did.

Cross lectured and fussed over you for the rest of the day, constantly touching you on your arms and shoulders as if he expected you to disappear.

At least he wasn’t avoiding you and your nets anymore.

You smiled.